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US 8,765,031 B2Granted
Method of forming a dental appliance
AssigneeAlign Technology, Inc.
InventorsChunhua Li, Yan Chen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present disclosure includes dental appliances and methods of making and using such appliances. One method for forming a dental appliance includes forming a liquid thermoset polymer material into a semi-solid first shape, thermoforming the semi-solid first shape of thermoset polymer material onto a dentition mold, and curing the thermoset polymer on the dentition mold with a curative trigger to complete a molecular cross-linking reaction.
Claims24
A method for forming a dental appliance, comprising:
- partially curing a thermoset polymer material into a semi-solid formable first shape in a first mold;
- removing the semi-solid formable first shape from the first mold;
- thermoforming the semi-solid formable first shape of thermoset polymer material onto a dentition mold, wherein the first mold is a different mold than the dentition mold;
- and
- fully curing, by application of heat, the thermoset polymer on the dentition mold to complete a molecular cross-linking reaction to form the dental appliance, wherein the dental appliance is a shell having a number of cavities to receive one or more teeth.
2 more elements
A method for forming a dental appliance, comprising:
- delivering a fluid thermoset polymer precursor to a first mold;
- partially curing the thermoset polymer precursor in the first mold into a semi-solid formable first shape;
- removing the partially cured semi-solid formable first shape from the first mold;
- thermoforming the partially cured semi-solid formable first shape of thermoset polymer precursor onto a dentition mold;
- and
- curing, by application of heat, the thermoset polymer precursor on the dentition mold to induce a cross-linking reaction to form the dental appliance, wherein the dental appliance is a shell having a number of cavities to receive one or more teeth.
3 more elements
A method for forming a dental positioning appliance, comprising:
- delivering a fluid thermoset polymer precursor to a first mold having an internal cavity, the internal cavity having a surface corresponding to an external surface of the dental positioning appliance;
- partially curing the fluid thermoset polymer precursor in the first mold into a semi-solid formable first shape;
- placing a second mold in proximity to the first mold such that a volume for the fluid thermoset polymer precursor remains there between, the second mold being a positive dentition mold having an external surface corresponding to an internal surface of the dental positioning appliance;
- and
- curing the fluid thermoset polymer precursor to cause molecules of the fluid thermoset polymer precursor to irreversibly cross-link into a rigid three dimensional structure to form the dental positioning appliance, wherein the dental positioning appliance is a shell having a number of cavities to receive one or more teeth.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.