System and method for positioning teeth

A method of planning orthodontic treatment of a patient comprising use of incremental tooth repositioning appliances, the method comprising:

• receiving an initial digital data set representing an initial arrangement of the patient's teeth;
• producing a final digital data set representing the patient's teeth in a desired or prescribed arrangement;
• producing a plurality of intermediate digital data sets representing intermediate arrangements of the patient's teeth, wherein at least some of the intermediate tooth arrangements represent different orthodontic treatment stages as the patient's teeth are moved from the initial arrangement toward the final arrangement.

An orthodontic treatment plan for repositioning a patient's teeth using incremental tooth repositioning appliances, the treatment plan residing on a computer readable storage media and comprising a plurality of intermediate digital data sets representing intermediate arrangements of the patient's teeth, wherein at least some of the intermediate tooth arrangements represent different orthodontic treatment stages as the patient's teeth are moved from the initial arrangement toward a final arrangement representing the patient's teeth in a desired or prescribed arrangement.

A method for generating appliances for repositioning a patient's teeth, comprising:

• receiving an orthodontic treatment plan for repositioning a patient's, the treatment plan comprising a plurality of intermediate digital data sets representing intermediate arrangements of the patient's teeth, wherein at least some of the intermediate tooth arrangements represent different orthodontic treatment stages as the patient's teeth are moved from an initial arrangement toward a final arrangement representing the patient's teeth in a desired or prescribed arrangement;
• generating a patient removable appliance for each of at least two of the intermediate arrangements, each patient removable appliance having cavities and wherein the cavities of appliances for the at least two intermediate arrangements have different geometries shaped to receive and resiliently reposition teeth from one arrangement to a successive arrangement.

An improved method for repositioning teeth using a plurality of appliances comprising polymeric shells having teeth receiving cavities shaped to receive and resiliently reposition a patient's teeth, wherein the improvement comprises modeling prior to a stage of treatment a plurality of different teeth-receiving cavity geometries for at least three appliances that when worn successively by the patient reposition the patient's teeth from an initial tooth arrangement toward a final tooth arrangement, the at least three appliances comprising at least two successive intermediate appliances having different cavity geometries, and wherein said stage of treatment comprises successively applying any of the at least three appliances to the patient's teeth.

A system for repositioning teeth a patient's teeth, comprising a plurality of incremental position adjustment appliances configured for delivery to the patient prior to a stage of treatment, the plurality of appliances comprising a patient removable appliance for each of at least two intermediate arrangements for repositioning the patient's teeth from an initial position toward a final position, each patient removable appliance having teeth receiving cavities and wherein the cavities of successive appliances of the plurality have different geometries shaped to receive and resiliently reposition teeth from one arrangement to a successive arrangement, wherein said stage of treatment comprises successively applying the appliances to the patient's teeth.