Patent 10192003 was granted and assigned to 3M on January, 2019 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Methods for aligning a digital 3D model of teeth represented by a 3D mesh to a desired orientation within a 3D coordinate system. The method includes receiving the 3D mesh in random alignment and changing an orientation of the 3D mesh to align the digital 3D model of teeth with a desired axis in the 3D coordinate system. The methods can also detect a gum line in the digital 3D model to remove the gingiva from the model.