Orthodontic appliance with embedded wire for moving teeth and method

A method of forming a generally horseshoe shaped clear flexible resilient plastic wire-imbedded orthodontic appliance for an upper bite or a lower bite of a patient, comprising the steps of:

• obtaining a plaster cast of the patient's teeth and gums;
• removing plaster teeth from the plaster cast of the gums that are appropriate for the formation of proper bite alignment;
• reattaching with reattachment means the appropriate plaster teeth to the plaster cast of the gums to form a cast of the proper bite alignment;
• attaching one or more wires to the lingual surface of the plaster teeth using a means for attachment which allows the wires to become imbedded within thermosetting plastic to be placed over the cast of the proper bite alignment;
• putting the cast in a thermosetting plastic molding machine;
• inserting thermosetting plastic in the thermosetting plastic molding machine;
• and
• heating the thermosetting plastic around the cast of the proper bite alignment;
• whereby the wires are imbedded within the thermosetting plastic after the thermosetting plastic cools.

A method of rapidly repositioning teeth from an initial alignment to a proper alignment using a generally horseshoe shaped clear flexible resilient plastic wire-imbedded orthodontic appliance for an upper bite or a lower bite of a patient, comprising the steps of:

• placing a first incremental position adjustment appliance over a patient's teeth, wherein the first appliance has at least one wire imbedded within the lingual side of the first appliance to reposition the teeth from the initial tooth alignment to a first intermediate alignment;
• successively replacing one or more additional appliances, wherein the additional appliances each have at least one wire imbedded within the lingual side to rapidly reposition the teeth from the first intermediate alignment to successive intermediate alignments;
• and
• placing a final appliance over a patient's teeth, wherein the final appliance has at least one wire imbedded within the lingual side of the first appliance to reposition the teeth, wherein the final appliance positions the teeth from the last intermediate alignment to a final bite alignment.

A generally horseshoe shaped clear flexible resilient plastic wire-imbedded orthodontic appliance for an upper arch or a lower arch of a patient, comprising:

• A plastic portion with a lingual side, a labial side, a left molar area, a right molar area, a left canine area and a right canine area, including:
• contours on the lingual side and on the labial side, wherein the contours cover the patient's teeth so that the appliance remains in place over the patient's teeth and so that the plastic portion guides the force of one or more finger springs embedded within the lingual side of the plastic portion;
• and
• One or more finger springs embedded within the lingual side of the plastic portion, whereby the finger spring applies force on the lingual side of the patient's bite to rapidly correct the orientation of a tooth in the patient's bite.