Arch adjustment appliance
AssigneeAlign Technology, Inc.
InventorsRyan Kimura, John Morton, Richard Shaw, Chunhua Li
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present disclosure provides method, systems, and devices for adjusting an arch of teeth. An appliance includes a removable shell formed of a first material having a number of cavities formed therein, wherein the number of cavities are shaped to receive teeth of a patient, and an arch element extending from the removable shell in a lingual direction and across at least a portion of the arch width of the removable shell, wherein the arch element is designed to expand an arch of the teeth of the patient, wherein the arch element has a width specific to a stage of a treatment plan.
Claims20
A method of forming a dental appliance, comprising:
- forming a virtual arch element using physical data of a palate and a number of teeth of a patient, wherein the virtual arch element is wider than an arch width of the number of teeth of a first jaw of the patient, specific to a stage of a treatment plan;
- and
- forming one or more virtual tooth engagement structures connected to the virtual arch element, and wherein each virtual tooth engagement structure contacts a surface of a virtual tooth and imparts a virtual force thereto.
A method of forming a dental appliance, comprising:
- forming a virtual arch element based on a virtual dental arch of a patient, wherein the virtual arch element is wider than an arch width of the virtual dental arch in accordance with a stage of a treatment plan;
- and
- forming one or more virtual tooth engagement structures connected to the arch element, each tooth engagement structure contacting a surface of a tooth of the virtual dental arch and imparting a virtual force to the virtual dental arch.
A method of forming a dental appliance, comprising:
- forming a virtual arch element that spans a virtual dental arch of a patent, the virtual arch element imparting a virtual force to the virtual dental arch in accordance with a stage of a treatment plan, the virtual arch element including tooth engagement structures on opposing sides of the virtual arch element and that contact surfaces of opposing teeth of the virtual dental arch.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.