George William Kline, 436248 Willers Way, Houston, TX 77057

2007019, Aug 23, 2007

Feb 23, 2006

11/360260

Hubert Lacey - Dallas TX, US
George Kline - Wylie TX, US

G01C 17/00

702153000

A compass tool having a center, together with a set of orientation arrows that correspond to pairs of anatomical reference points in a human mouth. The orientation arrows are arranged to identify given orientation axes. An image (or, more generally, a representation) of a given tooth under design is located at the tool center, and this image preferably exhibits a basic tooth geometry according to the number of the tooth being designed. If the user changes tooth numbers, preferably the tooth image at the center of the compass tool is changed, as are the axis labels. The compass tool is displayed on a given portion of a display while a tooth restoration model is displayed on a primary canvas. To facilitate the design process, selection of a given arrow in the compass tool rotates the tooth restoration model on the primary canvas to a viewpoint along the selected anatomical axis. In addition, selection of the tooth image at the center of the compass tool generates an orientation graphic around the tooth model on the primary canvas.