METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR BRACES REMOVAL FROM DENTITION MESH

A method for generating a digital model of dentition, executed at least in part by a computer, acquires a 3-D digital mesh that is representative of the dentition along a dental arch, including includes braces, teeth, and gingival tissue. The method modifies the 3-D digital mesh to generate a digital mesh dentition model by processing the digital mesh and automatically detecting one or more initial bracket positions from the acquired mesh, processing the initial bracket positions to identify bracket areas for braces that lie against tooth surfaces, identifying one or more brace wires extending between brackets, removing one or more brackets and one or more wires from the dentition model, and forming a reconstructed tooth surface within the digital mesh dentition model where the one or more brackets have been removed. The modified 3-D digital mesh dentition model is displayed, stored, or transmitted over a network to another computer.