A method for digitally removing one or more dental brackets or attachments from a digital dental model that includes a representation of a set of physical teeth for a patient, the method comprising receiving the digital dental model that includes the representation of the set of physical teeth for the patient with one or more dental brackets or attachments attached to the representation of the set of physical teeth； creating, based on the received digital dental model, a new digital dental model that includes the representation of the set of physical teeth without one or more dental brackets or attachments attached to the representation of the set of physical teeth by either: 1) receiving a user selection associated with a dental bracket or attachment of the one or more dental brackets or attachments attached to the representation of the set of physical teeth； in response to receiving the user selection, automatically removing the dental bracket or attachment associated with the user selection from the digital dental model； estimating a contour of a hidden area under the removed dental bracket or attachment； creating a tooth contour in the digital dental model in an area corresponding to the hidden area based on the estimated contour to create the new digital dental model that includes the representation of the set of physical teeth without one or more dental brackets or attachments attached to the representation of the set of physical teeth； or 2) automatically, without human intervention, removing the one or more dental brackets or attachments from the digital dental model； estimating contours of hidden areas under the one or more removed dental brackets or attachments； creating tooth contours in the digital dental model in areas corresponding to the hidden areas based on the estimated contours to create the new digital dental model that includes the representation of the set of physical teeth without the one or more dental brackets or attachments attached to the
