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US 9,498,302 B1Granted
Magnetic orthodontic assembly
OwnerRuchir Ramesh Patelinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An orthodontic assembly for moving selected teeth of a patient includes a hollow aligner shell that fits over a set of selected teeth. The aligner shell supports a series of tooth moving elements, such as magnets or metal engagement plates that are fixed in place in alignment with the selected teeth. Metal plates or magnets are affixed to the selected teeth and when the aligner shell is fitted over the teeth, the magnets in the shell exert attraction or repulsion forces on the metal plates to move the selected teeth in accordance with a treatment protocol.
Claims17
An improved orthodontic appliance for aligning selected teeth of a wearer, comprising:
- a plurality of base plates adapted to be associated with respective selected teeth of the wearer;
- a plurality of wire guides for supporting an archwire in a curve between first and second locations on the teeth of the wearer, each of the wire guides including a slotted guide portion including a plurality of horizontal wire-receiving slots which are spaced vertically apart from each other, and a post extending between corresponding ones of the baseplates and wire guides;
- and,
- an archwire interconnecting said wire guides together in a continuous uninterrupted curve, the archwire engaging selected ones of the wire-receiving slots of each of said wire guides, and at least one of the posts having a length larger than other posts, whereby the longer post transfers a larger tooth moving force to its corresponding tooth than the other posts of the wire guides when said archwire is engaged with the wire guide having the longer post.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.