Ceramic processing and design for the direct manufacture of customized labial and lingual orthodontic clear aligner attachments

A method of manufacturing pre-formed, patient-specific, customized, ceramic, labial/lingual orthodontic clear aligner attachments (CCAA) by additive manufacturing (AM), said method comprising:

• measuring dentition data of a profile of teeth of a patient;
• 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;
• designing a 3D CAD structure model for one or more CCAA on various parts of each tooth;
• importing data related to the 3D CAD CCAA structure model into a ceramic slurry-based AM machine;
• directly producing the CCAA in the ceramic slurry-based AM machine by layer manufacturing to form a CCAA to be used with an indirect bonding method, and the patient-specific CCAA are adapted to the patient's teeth;
• wherein the 3D CAD CCAA structure model includes data representing at least a) the CCAA base (bonding area) that has recesses and/or undercuts into the bonding surface of the CCAA that are custom-shaped to fit the negative of a labial/lingual tooth surface, and contact a particular area of a tooth surface, b) fracture wall or grooves, c) a CCAA material, d) the particular tooth's profile, and e) a CCAA guide or indirect bonding jig to guide 3-dimensional placement of the CCAA onto the tooth, and
• wherein the thickness of the manufactured layers is from 5 to 100 micrometers (μm) based on the resolution requirements of the CCAA for proper retention to the clear aligner.