Method and kits for forming pontics in polymeric shell aligners
AssigneeAlign Technology, Inc.
InventorsRobet E. Tricca, Eric Kuo, Peter G. Knopp, Choi Woncheol, Craig R. Bruns
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and methods are disclosed for forming a pontic in a polymeric shell dental appliance, including providing a polymeric shell dental appliance of the type which is removably placeable over a patient's dentition, said shell having a concave trough which conforms to the teeth when the appliance is placed over the dentition and a location in the trough corresponding to a missing tooth; and depositing a flexible, durably affixed material in the location to form the pontic.
Claims27
A kit comprising:
- a curable silicone rubber material for filling a portion of appliance trough which has been coated with the adhesive, and
- instructions for use setting forth a method comprising:
- determining the location in the trough where a tooth is missing from the dentition, coating the trough with a bonding agent;
- and
- filling the location with the curable silicone rubber so that the location resembles a tooth when the location is filled.
An improved method for repositioning teeth using polymeric shell appliances which each have a trough to receive and resiliently reposition teeth, wherein the appliances have different geometries and are worn successively by a patient to reposition teeth, wherein the improvement comprises providing a pontic at a location in at least one of the appliance troughs to fill a gap between teeth when the appliance is worn.
A method for forming a pontic in a polymeric shell dental appliance, said method comprising:
- determining a location where a tooth is missing from a patient's dentition;
- generating a mold for a polymeric shell dental appliance with a cavity enclosing the location;
- forming a polymeric shell dental appliance of the type which is removably placeable over the dentition;
- and
- filling the cavity with a curable silicone rubber that resembles a tooth.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.