Method and system for incrementally moving teeth
AssigneeAlign Technology, Inc.
InventorsMuhammad Chishti, Kelsey Wirth
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system for repositioning teeth comprises a plurality of individual appliances. The appliances are configured to be placed successively on the patient's teeth and to incrementally reposition the teeth from an initial tooth arrangement, through a plurality of intermediate tooth arrangements, and to a final tooth arrangement. The system of appliances is usually configured at the outset of treatment so that the patient may progress through treatment without the need to have the treating professional perform each successive step in the procedure.
Claims11
A method of fabricating a plurality of dental incremental position adjustment appliances, said method comprising:
- providing a plurality of positive models of successive tooth arrangements, wherein each successive arrangement represents a different geometry representing a successive stage progressing from an initial tooth arrangement to an intermediate or a final tooth arrangement;
- and
- fabricating the plurality of dental appliances as negatives of the positive models at one time.
A method of fabricating a plurality of dental incremental position adjustment appliances, said method comprising:
- providing digital data representing said plurality of successive tooth arrangements, wherein each successive arrangement represents a stage progressing from an initial tooth arrangement to an intermediate or a final tooth arrangement;
- controlling a fabrication machine to produce a plurality of positive models of successive tooth arrangements;
- and
- fabricating the plurality of dental appliances as negatives of the positive models.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.