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US 11,026,768 B2Granted
Dental appliance reinforcement
AssigneeAlign Technology, Inc.
InventorsJon F. Moss, Lou Marzano, Eric E. Kuo, Kelsey D. Wirth
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods, systems, and apparatuses for dental appliance reinforcement are provided. One dental appliance includes a number of tooth apertures for the placement of teeth therein wherein the number of tooth apertures include an interior surface and an exterior surface, and a reinforcement rib positioned along the exterior surface.
Claims15
A dental appliance system, comprising:
- a series of dental appliances adapted to apply forces to a patient's teeth for moving the patient's teeth in accordance with a treatment path, the series of dental appliances including a first dental appliance associated with a first segment of the treatment path and a second dental appliance associated with a second segment of the treatment path, wherein each of the first and second dental appliances includes:
- a shell formed from a polymeric material having tooth apertures arranged in an arch shape based at least in part on the patient's dental arch, the shell comprising:
- at least one first arch-shaped rib integrally formed with the shell from the polymeric material and located on a lingual exterior surface of the shell, the at least one first arch-shaped rib following a contour of the lingual exterior surface of the shell along a first height of the shell;
- and
- at least one second arch-shaped rib integrally formed with the shell from the polymeric material and located on a labial exterior surface of the shell, the at least one second arch-shaped rib following a contour of the labial exterior surface of the shell along a second height of the shell different than the first height,
- wherein a thickness of the polymeric material of the shell at a location of the first arch-shaped rib or the second arch-shaped rib is larger than a thickness of the polymeric material of remaining portions of the shell that do not include the first or second arch-shaped rib;
- wherein the first and second arch-shaped ribs of the first dental appliance cooperate and are digitally modelled with the shell of the first dental appliance to determine and apply a first set of forces onto the patient's teeth to achieve a first pre-calculated displacement of the patient's teeth in accordance with the first segment of the treatment path, wherein the first and second arch-shaped ribs of the second dental appliance cooperate and are digitally modelled with the shell of the second dental appliance to determine and apply a second set of forces onto the patient's teeth to achieve a second pre-calculated displacement of the patient's teeth in accordance with the second segment of the treatment path, wherein the first pre-calculated displacement is different than the second pre-calculated displacement.
4 more elements
A dental appliance system, comprising:
- a series of dental appliances adapted to apply forces to a patient's teeth for moving the patient's teeth in accordance with a treatment path, the series of dental appliances including a first dental appliance associated with a first segment of the treatment path and a second dental appliance associated with a second segment of the treatment path, wherein each of the first and second dental appliances includes:
- a shell formed from a polymeric material and having a number of tooth apertures formed in an arch shape, the shell comprising:
- a first arch-shaped rib integrally formed as part of the shell, the first arch-shaped rib following a contour of a lingual exterior surface of the shell along a first height of the dental appliance;
- and
- a second arch-shaped rib integrally formed as part of the shell, the second arch-shaped rib follows a contour of a labial exterior surface of the shell along a second height of the dental appliance different than the first height,
- wherein a thickness of the shell at a location of the first arch-shaped rib or the second arch-shaped rib is larger than a thickness of remaining portions of the dental appliance that do not include the first or second arch-shaped ribs;
- and
- wherein the first and second arch-shaped ribs of the first dental appliance cooperate and are digitally modelled with the shell of the first dental appliance to determine and apply a first set of forces onto the patient's teeth to achieve a first pre-calculated displacement of the patient's teeth in accordance with the first segment of the treatment path, wherein the first and second arch-shaped ribs of the second dental appliance cooperate and are digitally modelled with the shell of the second dental appliance to determine and apply a second set of forces onto the patient's teeth to achieve a second pre-calculated displacement of the patient's teeth in accordance with the second segment of the treatment path, wherein the first pre-calculated displacement is different than the second pre-calculated displacement.
5 more elements
A dental appliance system, comprising:
- a series of dental appliances adapted to apply forces to a patient's teeth for moving the patient's teeth in accordance with a treatment path, the series of dental appliances including a first dental appliance associated with a first segment of the treatment path and a second dental appliance associated with a second segment of the treatment path, wherein each of the first and second dental appliances includes:
- a shell formed from a polymeric material and having tooth apertures formed in an arch shape for a placement of teeth therein, the shell comprising:
- a first arch-shaped rib integrally formed from the polymeric material on a lingual exterior surface of the shell and configured to reinforce the shell, and
- a second arch-shaped rib integrally formed from the polymeric material on a labial exterior surface of the shell and configured to reinforce the shell, wherein a thickness of the shell at a location of the first arch-shaped rib or the second arch-shaped rib is larger than a thickness of remaining portions of the shell that do not include the first or second arch-shaped ribs, wherein the first arch-shaped rib follows a contour of the lingual exterior surface along a first height of the shell, and wherein the second arch-shaped rib follows a contour of the labial exterior surface along a second height of the shell different than the first height;
- and
- wherein the first and second arch-shaped ribs of the first dental appliance cooperate and are digitally modelled with the shell of the first dental appliance to determine and apply a first set of forces onto the patient's teeth to achieve a first pre-calculated displacement of the patient's teeth in accordance with the first segment of the treatment path, wherein the first and second arch-shaped ribs of the second dental appliance cooperate and are digitally modelled with the shell of the second dental appliance to determine and apply a second set of forces onto the patient's teeth to achieve a second pre-calculated displacement of the patient's teeth in accordance with the second segment of the treatment path, wherein the first pre-calculated displacement is different than the second pre-calculated.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.