US Patent 11253338 Method of determining deformation of gingiva

Methods, systems, and apparatuses are described for determining deformation of gingiva. A three-dimensional (3D) digital model of an archform comprising a representation of gingiva and a tooth may be received. The 3D model may comprise a 3D mesh describing a surface of the gingiva, the tooth, and a contour between the gingiva and the tooth. A tooth-movement displacement may be applied to the vertices corresponding to the tooth in the 3D mesh and the vertices corresponding to the contour. A vertex-specific displacement may be determined for each of the vertices corresponding to the gingiva by solving a harmonic equation. The 3D digital model may be updated.