US 12,011,387 B2Granted

Dental appliance features for preventing lisping

AssigneeAlign Technology, Inc.

InventorEric Kuo

Life of this patent

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Abstract

Dental appliances for preventing lisping. An aligner body is configured to apply orthodontic force to a patient's teeth within a dentition-receiving cavity to gradually align the patient's teeth. The dentition-receiving cavity includes a posterior teeth region having lateral walls configured to receive the patient's posterior teeth. The posterior teeth region includes occlusal cut-outs that are configured to expose occlusal surfaces of at least a portion of the patient's posterior teeth. The occlusal cut-outs allow opposing occlusal surfaces of the patient's posterior teeth to come close enough to touch each other while the device is worn over the dental arch of the patient to form an anterior seal between the patient's tongue and inner surfaces of the patient's anterior teeth in a manner as to minimize any temporary anterior bite opening, preventing lisping while the device is worn over the dental arch.

Claims9

Dependent claims

An orthodontic aligner device that prevents lisping, the device comprising:

an aligner body having:
a dentition-receiving cavity shaped to fit over at least a portion of a dental arch of a patient, and configured to apply a force to a first set of the patient's teeth within the dentition-receiving cavity;
a plurality of lateral wall surfaces shaped to be placed in contact with the patient's teeth while the device is worn on the dental arch;
and
a first occlusal cut-out region at a first terminal end of the dental arch and a second occlusal cut-out region at a second terminal end of the dental arch;
wherein the first occlusal cut-out region and the second occlusal cut-out region are surrounded by one or more lateral wall surfaces of the plurality of lateral wall surfaces with the occlusal surfaces of the patient's molars exposed and able to touch the opposing arch while the device is worn over the patient's teeth;
wherein the dentition-receiving cavity includes a plurality of upper surface sections arranged to be positioned over occlusal surfaces of the patient's teeth while the device is worn on the dental arch,
wherein a thickness of the upper surface sections is thinner near the first and second terminal ends of the dental arch, and gets thicker towards a middle region between the first and second terminal ends of the dental arch;
and
wherein the first occlusal cut-out region and the second occlusal cut-out region expose occlusal surfaces of the patient's rear teeth to form an anterior seal between the patient's tongue and inner surfaces of the patient's anterior teeth in a manner as to minimize any anterior bite opening, preventing lisping while the device is worn over the dental arch.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 17/341,177Filed 7 Jun 2021 · division
Priority: 2 Dec 2016
Published: US 2021/0290343 A123 Sep 2021
Granted: 18 Jun 2024
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification4 codes

A61F 5/58
Orthopaedic methods or devices for non-surgical treatment of bones or joints; Nursing devices ; Anti-rape devices: apparatus for correcting…
A61C 7/08
Orthodontics, i.e. obtaining or maintaining the desired position of teeth, e.g. by straightening, evening, regulating, separating, or by…:…
A61F
Filters implantable into blood vessels
A61C
Dentistry

Family

Application62/429,548Us provisional application · filed 2 Dec 2016
Application15/829,504Parent of this division · filed 1 Dec 2017
US 2021/0290343 A1Pre-grant publication · published 23 Sep 2021
US 11,026,831 B2Parent of this division
US 2018/0153733 A1Published application
US 12,011,387 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.