Custom orthodontic appliance forming method and apparatus

An apparatus for forming a jig for positioning a bracket of a custom orthodontic appliance on a tooth of a patient comprising:

• a jig former including means for shaping material to conform to the contours of a surface of blank of jig in response to a control signal communicated thereto;
• means for providing a digitized record of the shapes of the teeth of a patient and of the locations relative to the tooth shape record of appliance connection points on surfaces of the teeth;
• means for calculating, from the digitized tooth shape and connection point record, jig geometry defining a jig locating surface that conforms to a unique portion of the external surface of the crown of a tooth, and defining an appliance engaging surface having the same location relative to the jig locating surface as the unique portion of the external surface has to the connection point on the tooth;
• means for generating a machine control signal carrying machine control instructions for producing a jig in accordance with the calculated jig geometry;
• and
• control means for operating the machine in response to the control signal.

A method of positioning an orthodontic appliance on a tooth comprising the steps of:

• scanning the tooth to obtain tooth configuration data defining the shape of one or more areas of the surface of the crown of the tooth;
• selecting a position on the surface of the crown of the tooth for placement of an orthodontic appliance;
• providing the orthodontic appliance for mounting on the tooth at the selected position on the crown of the tooth by computing, with a specially-programmed computer, an appliance configuration based on the scanned tooth configuration data and the selected position on the tooth where the appliance is to be mounted and automatically manufacturing the appliance in accordance with the computed appliance configuration, and
• automatically fabricating, in response to the tooth configuration data and in coordination with the computed appliance configuration, an appliance positioning jig having predetermined sections thereof configured according to the tooth configuration data to conform to corresponding sections of the surface of the crown of the tooth and having structure thereof configured to releasably hold the appliance for positioning the appliance at the selected position on the crown of the tooth when the predetermined sections of the jig contact the corresponding sections of the surface of the crown of the tooth from which the tooth configuration data was scanned.