Align Technology, Inc.

Pitney Bowes Inc.

Covestro Deutschland Ag

Covestro Intellectual Property Gmbh & Co. Kg

Chunhua Li

Yan Chen

John Y Morton

Srinivas Kaza

Heinz Pudleiner

Klaus Meyer

Joerg Nickel

Jun Sato

Craig Pehlert

Jennifer C Chen

Eric E Kuo

Bastien Pesenti

Bruce Cam

Allen R Boronkay

Rohit Tanugula

Jihua Cheng

Vadim Matov

Jeeyoung Choi

Peter Webber

Crystal Tjhia

Yaser Shanjani

Benjamin Ming Wu

Robert Eugene Tricca

Neil Brian Cramer

Mary Catherine Berard

Jon F Moss

Robert Liska

Heng Cao

Christian Gorsche

Yuxiang Wang

Luyao Cai

Clark Kaufhardt

Markus Kury

Amir Abolfathi

Ryan Kimura

Mitra Derakhshan

Ken Wu

Eric Yau

Siobhan O'leary

Jennifer Chavez

Viswanath Meenakshisundaram

Lance Robert Pickens

Brett E Kelly

Kangning Su

Victor Chen

Shawn Stromenger

Avi Kopelman

Roman A Roschin

Jennifer P Chen

Reza Shirazi Aghjari

Andrew Jang

Alexander Beliaev

Petr Ushanov

Li-Hung Su

Shiva Prasad Sambu

Fuming Wu

David R Mason

Jeremy Riley

Peter Dorfinger

Gleb Krivovyaz

Wolfgang Bräuer

Juergen Winkler

Jürgen Winkler

Richard W Heiden

Andrey Cherkas

Igor Kvasov

Jürgen Stampfl

Gary M Heiden

Philippe De Smedt

Wenda Carlyle

Wolfgang Braeuer

Anna Akopova

Viktoria Medvinskaya

Arno Kukk

Richard Shaw

György Harakaly

Loc X Phan

Michael Christopher Cole

Walter J Baker

Wolfgang Brauer

Pavel Pokotilov

Norman C Su

Feliks Bator

Anthony W Morefield

Kwan Ho

Jurgen Stampfl

Blaine Carter

Matthew Durban

Jörg Nickel

Fangxiao Guan

Gyorgy Harakaly

Joonho Lee

Micheal R Basso, Jr

Michael R Basso

Wenda C Carlyle

Appliances for orthodontic treatment are provided. In some embodiments, an orthodontic appliance includes a shell having a plurality of teeth-receiving cavities shaped to reposition a patient's teeth from a first arrangement toward a second arrangement. The shell can have a first elasticity. The appliance can include an attachment-receiving well formed in the shell. The attachment-receiving well can be configured to engage an attachment coupled to a tooth of the patient. The appliance can further include at least one tactile object coupled to the attachment-receiving well. The at least one tactile object can include an elongate body that extends toward the attachment when the shell is worn on the patient's teeth. The at least one tactile object can have a second elasticity greater than the first elasticity.

Orthodontic appliances with elongate tactile objects

The invention relates to a multi-layer, preferably co-extruded, plastic film with improved modulus properties, which is suitable, in particular, for producing three-dimensionally shaped articles.

Multi-layer film with improved modulus properties

Orthodontic appliance cases configured to receive the orthodontic appliance and systems including them may include: a first antenna configured to receive the data from the sensor module via near field communication (NFC) when the orthodontic appliance including the sensor module is within the orthodontic appliance case, a data store configured to store the data; and a second antenna configured to transmit the stored data to an external computing device via Bluetooth communication when the external computing device is within communication range of the second antenna; and may also include an NFC to Bluetooth transmission circuitry.

Systems including orthodontic appliance cases and methods of use

Methods of forming a dental appliance. The methods may include partially curing a prepolymer mixture into a semi-solid polymer material having a first shape that is a sheet. The semi-solid polymer material may be placed over a dentition mold, wherein the semi-solid polymer material may take on a second shape corresponding to a shell having one or more cavities for receiving one or more teeth. The semi-solid polymer material may be fully cured by exposure to energy until the semi-solid polymer material thermosets in the second shape.

Methods of forming a dental appliance

Systems for post-processing additively manufactured objects are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, a system includes a rotor configured to support a plurality of additively manufactured objects having excess material thereon, an actuator configured to spin the rotor so as to remove the excess material from the plurality of additively manufactured objects, and an energy source configured to apply energy to the plurality of additively manufactured objects to selectively alter a material property of a portion of each of the plurality of additively manufactured objects.

Systems for post-processing additively manufactured objects

Improved systems, methods, and devices for treating sleep apnea are provided herein. In one aspect, an intraoral appliance for treating sleep apnea in a patient comprises an appliance shell comprising a plurality of cavities shaped to receive teeth of a jaw of the patient. The appliance shell can comprise an advancement structure arranged to interact with an opposing jaw of the patient so as to displace the lower jaw anteriorly relative to the upper jaw. The plurality of cavities can comprise cavity geometries shaped to reduce repositioning of one or more received teeth elicited by displacement of the lower jaw anteriorly relative to the upper jaw.

Systems and methods for mandibular advancement

Dental attachment positioning apparatuses and methods of use. A dental attachment apparatus may include an orthodontic attachment having a surface shaped to conform to a contour of a buccal surface of a tooth, and one or more registration surfaces that are shaped to conform to one or more occlusal surfaces of the patient's teeth. The one or more registration surfaces may be configured to aid in proper positioning or orientation of the orthodontic attachment. When the attachment positioning apparatus is placed on the patient's dentition, the orthodontic attachment is positioned at a specified location with respect to the buccal surface of the tooth.

Dental attachment positioning apparatuses

A dental appliance for positioning a patient's teeth includes a removable orthodontic tooth positioning appliance having teeth receiving cavities shaped to directly receive at least some of the patient's teeth and apply a resilient positioning force to the patient's teeth. The appliance includes a hard polymer layer having a hard polymer layer elastic modulus disposed between a first soft polymer layer having a first soft polymer layer elastic modulus and a second soft polymer layer having a second soft polymer layer elastic modulus. The hard polymer layer elastic modulus is greater than each of the first soft polymer layer elastic modulus and the second soft polymer layer elastic modulus. At least one of the first soft polymer layer and the second soft polymer layer has a flexural modulus of greater than about 35,000 psi.

Multilayer dental appliances and related methods and systems

Systems, methods, and devices for post-processing additively manufactured objects are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, a system includes a plurality of containers configured to receive a plurality of additively manufactured object having excess material thereon. The system can include a rotor having a central shaft and a plurality of arms, each arm having a first end and a second end opposite the first end. The first end of each arm can be coupled to the central shaft and a second end of each arm can be coupled to a respective container of the plurality of containers. The system can also include an actuator configured to spin the rotor so as to remove the excess material from the plurality of additively manufactured objects. The system can further include at least one heat source carried on the rotor to heat the excess material to decrease a viscosity thereof.

Orthodontic attachment devices for interacting with an orthodontic appliance. An anchoring attachment body may include first and second anchoring attachment regions connected by a connection region. The first and second anchoring attachment regions may be oriented differently such that their respective orthodontic appliance engagement surfaces are oriented in different directions. The connection region may include a first coupling end coupled to the first anchoring attachment region that is narrower than the first anchoring attachment region along a plane that is parallel to a bonding surface of the first anchoring attachment region. The connection region may have dimensions that define the positions of the first and second anchoring attachment regions and define orientations of the orthodontic appliance engagement surfaces so as to maintain set positions and orientations of the first and second anchoring attachment regions.

Orthodontic attachment devices

The present disclosure provides methods, devices, and systems for the bonding of attachments for use with dental appliances. For instance, an attachment template tray system may include a template body and a light source tray. Electronic circuitry of the light source tray may be configured to activate, based on a signal from a sensor assembly, radiation source(s) of the light source tray when the light source tray is within a threshold distance of the template body. The template body may include an orthodontic attachment with a release layer covering an engagement surface. Radiation sources of the light source tray may be configured to emit a first range of wavelengths of light for curing a light curable adhesive coating on the orthodontic attachment and a second range of wavelengths of light for degrading the release layer.

Dental attachment template tray systems

Systems, methods, and devices for post-processing additively manufactured objects are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, a method includes receiving a plurality of additively manufactured objects having excess material thereon. The method can include removing the excess material from the plurality of additively manufactured objects by rotating the plurality of additively manufactured objects. The method can also include adjusting an environmental temperature while rotating the plurality of additively manufactured objects according to a dynamic temperature profile that facilitates removal of the excess material from the plurality of additively manufactured objects. The dynamic temperature profile can include (a) a first temperature configured to decrease a viscosity of the excess material, and (b) a second temperature configured to increase a stiffness of the plurality of additively manufactured objects.

Systems and methods for post-processing additively manufactured objects

Systems, methods, and devices for post-processing additively manufactured objects are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, a method includes receiving a plurality of additively manufactured objects having excess material thereon. The method can include removing the excess material from the plurality of additively manufactured objects by rotating the plurality of additively manufactured objects. The method can also include receiving sensor data indicative of a cleaning status of the plurality of additively manufactured objects. The method can further include adjusting, based on the sensor data, an operational parameter that enhances removal of the excess material from the plurality of additively manufactured objects.

Methods for post-processing additively manufactured objects with sensor feedback

A method may include identifying a jaw position of a misaligned jaw of a patient from the virtual image of the patient's jaw and providing a treatment plan. The treatment plan may include tooth repositioning forces and jaw repositioning forces. The method may also include virtually modeling application of jaw repositioning forces between a first repositioning jaw element and a second repositioning jaw element to obtain a virtual model of the application of the jaw repositioning forces on the virtual model of the patient's jaw, identifying one or more constraints limiting the application of the jaw repositioning forces to the misaligned jaw, and adjusting the first repositioning jaw element and the second repositioning jaw element to accommodate the one or more constraints.

Methods and devices for jaw repositioning

Systems for determining patient compliance with an orthodontic treatment or retention plan may include a polymeric shell appliance for receiving the patient's teeth, a sensor module on the polymeric shell appliance having a temperature sensor, a proximity sensor, a power source, and a communication antenna for communicating with an external case, and a processor configured to determine that the polymeric shell is being worn by the patient based on temperature data from the temperature sensor and proximity data from the proximity sensor, by determining that a measured temperature is within a body temperature range and that a measured proximity value is within a threshold proximity to an intraoral target. Methods of manufacturing these dental appliances are also described herein.

Systems for determining patient compliance with an orthodontic treatment or retention plan

Growing community of inventors

Cupertino, CA, United States of America

Chunhua Li