Ceramic processing for the direct manufacture of customized labial and lingual orthodontic brackets
AssigneeLightForce Orthodontics, Inc.
InventorAlfred Charles Griffin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of manufacturing customized ceramic labial/lingual orthodontic brackets by digital light processing, said method comprises measuring dentition data of a profile of teeth of a patient, wherein measuring dentition data is performed using a CT scanner or intra-oral scanner, based on the dentition data, creating a three dimensional computer-assisted design (3D CAD) model of the patient's teeth using reverse engineering, and saving the 3D CAD model on a computer, designing a 3D CAD bracket structure model for a single labial or lingual bracket structure, importing the 3D CAD bracket structure model into a Digital Light Processing (DLP) machine, directly producing the bracket by layer manufacturing.
Claims34
A method of manufacturing customized ceramic labial/lingual orthodontic brackets by digital light processing, said method comprising:
- measuring dentition data of a profile of teeth of a patient, wherein a scanning accuracy of the measuring is less than 0.02 mm;
- based on the dentition data, creating a three dimensional computer-assisted design (3D CAD) model of the patient's teeth using reverse engineering;
- designing a 3D CAD bracket structure model for a single labial or lingual orthodontic bracket structure including a slot;
- importing data related to the 3D CAD bracket structure model into a photo-reactive slurry-based Digital Light Processing (DLP) machine;
- directly producing the ceramic bracket in the DLP machine by layer manufacturing, wherein a manufacturing accuracy is from 2 to about 20 μm, and wherein a thickness of the manufactured layers is from 5 to 100 micrometers (μm) based on the resolution requirements of the bracket area.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.