Systems and methods for tracking teeth movement during orthodontic treatment
AssigneeAlign Technology, Inc.
InventorRick Matty
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods, systems, and apparatus's for improving orthodontic treatments. In an embodiment, an orthodontic tracking template is provided for assisting in determining whether a patient's teeth are in an appropriate tooth arrangement for transitioning between a wire and bracket orthodontic treatment to a patient-removable orthodontic appliance treatment. The tracking template may include a shell portion defining a plurality of tooth-receiving cavities arranged to fit over at least a portion of the patient's teeth in an intermediate tooth arrangement without applying a tooth-moving force to the teeth or to any brackets attached to the teeth.
Claims18
A system comprising:
- one or more processors;
- a memory comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
- (a) receive a digital representation subsequent to the patient starting an orthodontic treatment plan, wherein the digital representation depicts at least a portion of the patient's teeth with one or more orthodontic appliances affixed thereto;
- (b) design a geometry for the tracking template based at least in part on the received digital representation, wherein the tracking template comprises a plurality of alternating appliance-receiving surfaces and wire-receiving surfaces shaped to fit over the patient's teeth and the one or more of orthodontic appliances,
- wherein the plurality of appliance-receiving surfaces are shaped to abut an edge of an orthodontic appliance of the one or more orthodontic appliances,
- wherein the plurality of wire-receiving surfaces are shaped to abut an edge of a wire without extending over the respective wire, and
- wherein the tracking template is designed such that a fit of the plurality of appliance-receiving surfaces and the plurality of wire-receiving surfaces over the patient's teeth is indicative of whether progress of the patient's orthodontic treatment has reached a predetermined intermediate stage in the orthodontic treatment plan;
- (c) generate a three-dimensional (3D) model corresponding to the designed geometry for the tracking template;
- and
- a fabrication machine configured to fabricate the tracking template based on the 3D model.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.