Defining tooth-moving appliances computationally
AssigneeAlign Technology, Inc.
InventorsMuhammad Chishti, Elena I. Pavlovskaia, Gregory P. Bala, Brian Freyburger
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Abstract
Methods and corresponding apparatus for segmenting an orthodontic treatment path into clinically appropriate substeps for repositioning the teeth of a patient include providing a digital finite element model of the shape and material of each of a sequence of appliances to be applied to a patient; providing a digital finite element model of the teeth and related mouth tissue of the patient; computing the actual effect of the appliances on the teeth by analyzing the finite elements models computationally; and evaluating the effect against clinical constraints. The appliances can be braces, polymeric shells, or other forms of orthodontic appliance.
Claims15
A computer-implemented method for segmenting an orthodontic treatment path into clinically appropriate substeps for repositioning the teeth of a patient, comprising:
- providing a digital model of the shape and material of each of a sequence of appliances to be applied to a scanned model of the teeth;
- computing the actual effect of the appliances on the teeth by performing finite element analysis on each of said models;
- evaluating the effect against clinical constraints;
- and
- generating data sets corresponding to a plurality of appliances having geometries selected to progressively reposition the teeth, wherein the appliances comprise polymeric shells having cavities and wherein the cavities of successive shells have different geometries shaped to receive and resiliently reposition teeth from one arrangement to a successive arrangement.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.