Custom dental attachment placement appliances and appliance manufacturing methods

A method of producing a custom dental anchor application appliance for mounting one or more anchors to teeth of a patient for use in orthodontic aligner treatment, the method comprising:

• forming a dental appliance, wherein the appliance comprises:
• a body having at least one anchor-locating area shaped to conform to a mounting area on the surface of at least one tooth;
• and
• a receiving structure configured to removably support at least one dental anchor of a predefined configuration in a fixed position and orientation relative to the body.

A method for using a custom dental orthodontic aligner treatment system, said system comprising:

• receiving a three-dimensional scan of a patient's teeth;
• computing a sequence of aligners required to conform the patient's teeth to a desired formation;
• computing a size and a location of at least one anchor required to secure each aligner of the computed sequence of aligners;
• three-dimensionally printing a non-treatment aligner for mounting the at least one anchor to the patient's teeth, said non-treatment aligner comprising:
• a body having at least one anchor-locating area;
• a receiving structure, said receiving structure being located within a vicinity of the anchor-locating area, said receiving structure for holding the at least one dental anchor of a predefined configuration in a fixed position and orientation relative to the body to bring a mounting surface of the at least one anchor into contact with a mounting area on a surface of at least one of the patient's teeth when the mounting surface of the anchor is in conforming contact with the mounting area;
• a releasable adhesive between the at least one anchor and the body;
• a second adhesive located mounting surface of the anchor;
• and
• three-dimensionally printing a first aligner in the sequence of aligners, said first aligner including pressure-sensitive sensors.