Orthodontic appliance performance monitor
AssigneeAlign Technology, Inc.
InventorsYaser SHANJANI, Bruce CAM, Allen R. BORONKAY, Jun SATO, John Y. MORTON, Chunhua LI, Srinivas KAZA
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Apparatuses and methods for monitoring the performance of an orthodontic appliance for repositioning a patient's teeth. An orthodontic appliance may include a plurality of teeth receiving cavities shaped to reposition the patient's teeth from an initial arrangement towards a target arrangement, and one or more sensors configured to determine tooth movement (based on position and/or orientation) and/or forces applied to the teeth. The sensor may be distributed between attachments and aligners that mate with the attachments.
Claims23
1-49. (canceled)
An orthodontic apparatus for repositioning a patient's teeth and tracking tooth movement, the apparatus comprising:
- an aligner body comprising a plurality of teeth receiving cavities shaped to reposition the patient's teeth from an initial arrangement towards a target arrangement, the aligner body having a plurality of engagement sites on one or more of a buccal or lingual side of the aligner body;
- a plurality of attachments configured to engage the engagement sites and couple the aligner body to the patient's teeth;
- a plurality of sensors, wherein each sensor extends at least partially within each of the plurality of engagement sites, wherein each sensor of the plurality of sensors is configured to generate sensor data related to the force applied to the patient's teeth or movement of the patient's teeth by the orthodontic appliance;
- and
- a processor coupled to the aligner body and configured to receive and store the sensor data.
59-70. (canceled)
A method of designing a patient's orthodontic treatment plan, the method comprising:
- receiving sensor data from a plurality of sensors of an orthodontic appliance having an aligner body with a plurality of teeth receiving cavities shaped to reposition the patient's teeth from an initial arrangement towards a target arrangement according to a first orthodontic treatment plan, wherein a plurality of attachment anchors on the patient's teeth each engage an engagement site on the aligner body to couple the aligner body to the patient's teeth, wherein the plurality of sensors are at least partially within the engagement sites,
- determining, in a processor, one or more of:
- tooth movement and forces on the patient's teeth from the sensor data;
- and
- modifying the first orthodontic treatment plan based on the determined one or more of:
- tooth movement and forces on the patient's teeth from the sensor data.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.