3m Innovative Properties Company

3m Espe Ag

3m Innovation Properties Company

David K Cinader, Jr

James D Cleary

Oliver L Puttler

Joan V Brennan

Richard E Raby

Sumita Basu Mitra

James D Hansen

Joel D Oxman

Ahmed Salih Abuelyaman

Michael K Domroese

Steven M Aasen

Lee C Yick

Prabhakara Satyauolu Rao

Afshin Falsafi

Ralf M Paehl

Thomas Luchterhandt

Brian A Shukla

Philip P Soo

James D Christoff

Darrell S James

MaThazin Aung

John E Sanker

Bradley Dene Craig

Reinhold Hecht

Ming-Lai Lai

Russell A Jordan

Calvin N Corpus

Markus Watermann

James K Mah

Kevin Michael Lewandowski

Michael S Wendland

Raymond Patrick Johnston

Matthew D Chaffee

Todd I Oda

Yizhong Wang

Rajdeep S Kalgutkar

Thomas Klettke

Jirina V Pospisil

Bhaskar V Velamakanni

David S Arney

David W Kuhns

Sharon M Rozzi

Nicholas A Stark

Hendrik M Grupp

Markus Mikulla

Tiffany T Ton

Mark Steven Schaberg

Bill H Dodge

Victoria A Russell

Guenther Lechner

Miriam Hansen

Robert D Kuehn

Gail S Boardman

Alan F Conley

Sunghan Kim

Artin Margharian

Sungham Kim

Ma Thazin Aung

The present invention provides assemblies, kits, and methods including a compressible material. Optionally, a hardenable dental composition (e.g., an adhesive or primer) is in contact with the compressible material for bonding a dental article (e.g., an orthodontic appliance) to a tooth structure. Removal of excess hardenable and/or hardened dental composition, if desired, can be facilitated for embodiments in which the hardenable dental composition is an unfilled or a lightly filled composition.

Assemblies, methods, and kits including a compressible material

An example removable dental appliance includes an appliance body configured to at least partially surround a plurality of teeth of a dental arch of a patient. The appliance body includes a shell shaped to engage a tooth in an initial position and a gingival ridge extending from a mesial interproximal region along a gingival edge of the shell to a distal interproximal region. The gingival ridge is configured to engage a lingual or labial surface of the tooth below a height of contour of the tooth to enable the appliance body to apply a force vector at a contact point on the tooth to cause movement of the tooth toward a desired position of the tooth when the removable dental appliance is worn by the patient.

Removable dental appliance with gingival ridges

A removable dental appliance may include an appliance body at least partially surrounding a plurality of teeth and an interproximal reinforcement. The appliance body may include a first shell shaped to engage a first tooth and a second shell shaped to engage a second tooth. The interproximal reinforcement extends from a first gingival edge on a labial side of the appliance body along an interproximal region between the first tooth and the second tooth to a second gingival edge on a lingual side of the appliance body. The interproximal reinforcement is configured to engage at least one of a lingual surface or labial surface of the first tooth below a height of contour to enable the appliance body to cause movement of the first tooth toward a desired position.

Removable dental appliance with interproximal reinforcement

A system includes a dental appliance having a polymeric shell with a plurality of cavities for receiving one or more teeth; and a biocompatible cosmetic aqueous liquid in the cavities of the polymeric shell of the dental appliance. The aqueous liquid includes a viscosity modifier chosen from a water compatible polymer, a polysaccharide, a silica compound, and mixtures and combinations thereof, a tooth re-mineralizing agent, and water. The aqueous liquid is substantially free of tooth whitening agents and fluoride, and has a refractive index of greater than 1.3 at room temperature.

Dental appliance with cosmetic therapeutic aqueous solution

Dental assemblies and related methods of making are provided. The dental assemblies include a dental article with a bonding surface an adhesive having both a compressible material and at least one hardenable dental composition extending across the bonding surface. The compressible material is coupled to the dental article by a first quantity of hardened dental composition extending at least partially through the compressible material and contacting the bonding surface. The hardened dental composition extends over less than the entire bonding surface. Adjacent portions of the compressible material contain a second quantity of unhardened dental composition, preserving flexibility of the compressible material. Advantageously, this configuration was found to enhance bond reliability and facilitate manufacturing.

Bondable dental assemblies and methods including a compressible material

A removable dental appliance may include an appliance body configured to at least partially surround a plurality of teeth. The appliance body may include a unitary material defining a shell shaped to receive at least one tooth of the patient; a spring member integrally formed with the shell; and a positioning member integrally formed with the shell. The spring member may be configured to receive an attachment affixed to the at least one tooth. The spring member may be configured to apply a spring force to the attachment to cause movement of the at least one tooth toward a desired position when the removable dental appliance is worn by the patient. The positioning member may be configured to facilitate engagement of the spring member with the attachment in response to a positioning force being applied to the positioning member.

Removable dental appliance including positioning member

A method of forming an arch member comprising an arch member body and an arch member coupling integral with the body, comprising: providing a substrate comprising a resilient material; and removing a portion of the substrate to form the arch member. The arch member body including a cross-sectional geometry that varies along a length of the body. Also a method of designing an orthodontic appliance comprising: providing a proposed specification of the orthodontic appliance, wherein the orthodontic appliance comprises an arch member comprising an arch member body and an arch member coupling integral with the body, and a set of anchors, providing a first digital image representing a first dental arrangement associated with the orthodontic appliance; deriving a target digital image representing a target dental arrangement; revising the proposed specification of the orthodontic appliance based in part on the target digital image; and forming the orthodontic appliance based on the revised proposed specification.

Orthodontic appliance including arch member

The present invention provides digitally driven methods to conveniently and efficiently monitor and evaluate the positions of a patient's teeth during the course of orthodontic treatment. In an exemplary embodiment, an initial set of 3D digital data representing a patient's dental structure is provided by means of an X-ray radiograph and/or an intraoral scan. Then during the course of treatment, a reduced image representing part of the dental structure may be quickly provided using a bite plate or a low resolution intraoral scan. A three-dimensional (3D) image of the full dental structure is subsequently rendered or 'reconstructed' by registering elements of the initial image with corresponding elements of the reduced image. By reconstructing the dental structure from the reduced image, the treating professional can provide a precise, manipulable 3D image of the patient's complete dental structure for diagnostic and treatment planning purposes. Other aspects include methods of using these data to compare actual and target teeth positions to evaluate the progress of treatment and suggest revisions to the specification of an orthodontic appliance.

Orthodontic treatment monitoring based on reduced images

A removable dental appliance may include an appliance body configured to at least partially surround a plurality of teeth of a dental arch of a patient. The appliance body may include a unitary material defining a shell shaped to receive at least one tooth of the patient and a spring member integrally formed with the shell. The spring member may be configured to receive an attachment. The attachment may be configured to affix to the at least one tooth. The spring member may be configured to apply a spring force to the attachment to cause at least one of a rotation, a translation, a tipping, a torqueing, an extrusion, or an intrusion of the at least one tooth toward a desired position of the tooth when the removable dental appliance is worn by the patient.

Removable dental appliance including spring member

Methods of using a dental composition having a photobleachable dye and an acidic component with a pKa of less than 4.5 are disclosed. The photobleachable dye is selected from the group consisting of aminoanthraquinone dyes, azo dyes, and combinations thereof. The aged color of the dental composition is substantially the same as the color of the dental composition immediately after hardening.

Methods of using a dental composition having an acidic component and a photobleachable dye

An aesthetic, partially removable orthodontic appliance is described, including a polymeric body that conforms to the lingual soft tissue and at least one wire member extending from the polymeric body. Each wire member releasably engages with a respective anchor that is, in turn, connected to the lingual surface of a respective tooth when the polymeric body is moved in a generally gingival direction into abutting relationship with the lingual soft tissue. Other features of the appliance include self-guiding magnetic couplings and couplings based on interlocking mechanical structures that provide releasable engagement between the removable section and the anchors, as well as related methods for making and using the same.

Lingual orthodontic appliance with removable section

Growing community of inventors

Yorba Linda, CA, United States of America

David K Cinader, Jr