Align Technology, Inc.

Rohit Tanugula

Crystal Tjhia

Chunhua Li

John Y Morton

Jun Sato

Peter Webber

Yuxiang Wang

Jihua Cheng

Dennis Te

Shiva Prasad Sambu

Bruce Cam

Bastien Pesenti

Jeeyoung Choi

Luyao Cai

Kangning Su

Ryan Kimura

Andrew Jang

Reza Shirazi Aghjari

Eric Yau

Yaser Shanjani

Mitra Derakhshan

Ken Wu

Andrey Cherkas

Huizhong Li

Anna Akopova

Viktoria Medvinskaya

Arno Kukk

Allen R Boronkay

Fuming Wu

Jeremy Riley

Pavel Pokotilov

Siobhan O'Leary

Paula Alvarado

A method includes determining a first shape of a main body of a mold associated with a dental arch for a patient. The method further includes determining a second shape of a separable feature of the mold. The method further includes determining a third shape and configuration of a receiving element of the main body to receive the separable feature. The method further includes outputting instructions for fabricating the separable feature and the main body that includes the receiving element for receiving the separable feature.

Mold with receiving element and separable features

A system for correcting malocclusions may include a maxillary appliance having tooth receiving cavities shaped to receive teeth of a maxilla and a first elastic coupling at gingival line of the maxillary appliance. The first elastic coupling may be configured for receiving an elastic. The system may also include mandibular appliance having tooth receiving cavities shaped to receive teeth of a mandible. The system may also include a corrective appliance having a first coupling configured to be coupled to the mandibular appliance at a first location on a first side of incisors of a patient and a second coupling configured to be coupled to the mandibular appliance on a second side of the incisors, and having an arm extending from the corrective appliance towards the gingival line of the maxillary appliance and being shaped to receive the elastic.

Orthodontic appliance systems for correcting malocclusions

A dental apparatus may include a removable orthodontic appliance having a buccal side and a lingual side and may include tooth cavities shaped to reposition one or more teeth of a patient. The dental appliance may also include a repositioning jaw element extending from the buccal or lingual side of the removable orthodontic appliance and a reinforcement member formed along at least one of a lingual side surface or a buccal side surface to reinforce the repositioning jaw element. The reinforcement member may include a channel extending in a gingival-occlusal direction across an occlusal surface of the tooth apertures of the shell. The channel may be open to an interior cavity of the repositioning jaw element.

Dental appliances with repositioning jaw elements

A mold includes a first section, a second section, and a weakened region that joins the first section to the second section. The weakened region is breakable, deflectable, or deformable in response to a first threshold force to enable the first section to be removed from a shell independently of the second section after the shell is formed over the mold. The first threshold force is less than a second threshold force that would damage or permanently deform the shell. The first section is a first mold of at least a portion of one or more first teeth of a dental arch and the second section is a second mold of at least a portion of one or more second teeth of the dental arch.

Generating a virtual 3D model of a mold

Methods for designing orthodontic appliances are provided. In some embodiments, a method includes receiving a treatment plan for a patient's dentition and generating an aligner model representing an aligner configured to implement a treatment stage of the treatment plan. The aligner model can include a thickness map having a thickness parameter for each location of the aligner model. The method can include adjusting the thickness map by using the aligner model to evaluate an outcome when the aligner is applied to the patient's dentition, and iteratively reducing the value of each thickness parameter of the thickness map based on the evaluation until a resulting thickness is determined for each thickness parameter. The method can also include providing instructions to manufacture the aligner based on the aligner model with the resulting thickness for each thickness parameter of the thickness map.

Methods for aligner design using thickness maps

A series of appliances including a first shell and a second shell can be designed to incrementally implement a treatment plan. The first and second shells can have cavities designed to receive teeth of a jaw. A first number of bite adjustment structures can be formed of a same material as the first shell, extending therefrom and designed to interface with teeth of a second jaw. The first number of bite adjustment structures can have a first shape and location specific to a first stage of the treatment plan. A second number of bite adjustment structures can be formed of a same material as the second shell, extending therefrom and designed to interface with teeth of the second jaw. The second number of bite adjustment structures can have a second shape and location, different than the first shape and location, specific to a second stage of the treatment plan.

Method for appliances with bite adjustment structures

A system for correcting class III malocclusions is disclosed. The system may include a maxilla appliance having tooth receiving cavities shaped to receive teeth of the maxilla and a first coupling for receiving an elastic. The system may also include a mandibular appliance having tooth receiving cavities shaped to receive teeth of the mandible. In some embodiments, the system includes a class III corrective appliance having a first mount shaped to engage with the mandibular arch of the patient and having a second coupling shaped to receive the elastic.

Systems and methods for correcting malocclusions of teeth

The present disclosure provides method, computing device readable medium, and devices for dental appliances with repositioning jaw elements. An example of a removable dental appliance includes a shell having a number of tooth apertures configured to receive and reposition a number of teeth of a patient along one jaw of a patient, a repositioning jaw element that extends from a buccal or lingual surface of the shell, the element having a first outer surface oriented to face the tongue of the patient surface and a second outer surface oriented to face the cheek of the patient, and a reinforcement member formed along at least one of the first and second outer surfaces to provide reinforcement of the repositioning jaw element.

Methods for generating orthodontic models having bite adjustment structures may include generating orthodontic treatment plan comprising a plurality of stages by positioning a plurality of digital bite adjustment structures on a corresponding plurality of anterior digital teeth of a digital model of a jaw at a first stage of a treatment plan, adjusting the position of the plurality of digital bite adjustment structures on the corresponding plurality of anterior digital teeth of the digital model of the jaw at a second stage of the treatment plan according to changes to the digital model of the jaw between the first stage of the treatment plan and the second stage of the treatment plan, and providing the digital model of the jaw for fabrication of physical models corresponding to the jaw at the first and the second stages of the treatment plan for formation of appliances thereover.

Methods for generating orthodontic models having bite adjustment structures

Methods and systems for producing orthodontic appliances are provided herein utilizing iterative modeling techniques to increase the efficiency and efficacy of said appliances. Further disclosed herein are the orthodontic appliances fabricated from such methods.

Automatic aligner design with robust parametric optimization method

Embodiments relate to an aligner breakage solution that tests damage to an aligner using machine learning. A method includes processing data from a digital design for an orthodontic aligner by a trained machine learning model and outputting, by the trained machine learning model, a probability that the orthodontic aligner associated with the digital design will be damaged during manufacturing of the orthodontic aligner. The method further includes making a comparison of the probability that the orthodontic aligner associated with the digital design will be damaged during manufacturing of the orthodontic aligner to a probability threshold and determining whether the orthodontic aligner is a high risk orthodontic aligner based on a result of the comparison. Responsive to determining that the orthodontic aligner is a high risk orthodontic aligner, the method includes performing at least one of a) a corrective action or b) selecting a manufacturing flow for high risk orthodontic aligners.

Aligner damage prediction using machine learning

Embodiments relate to an aligner breakage solution that tests probability of aligner breakage at weak points. A method includes gathering a digital model representing an aligner for a dental arch of a patient, receiving material property information for a material to be used to manufacture the aligner, and analyzing one or more regions of the aligner. Analyzing a region of the aligner comprises simulating application of a load around the region, determining at least one of a stress, a strain or a strain energy density at the region, evaluating a strength of the aligner at the region, and determining whether the region satisfies a damage criterion based on the strength of the aligner at the region.

Aligner damage prediction at weak spots with simulation

A series of appliances including a first appliance and a second appliance. The first appliance can be configured to receive at least one tooth of a first jaw and have a first number of bite adjustment structures extending from the lingual surface of the first appliance. The first number of bite adjustment structures can have a first shape and location specific to a first stage of the treatment plan. The second appliance can be configured to receive at least one tooth of the second jaw, have a second number of bite adjustment structures extending from the second appliance and be designed to make contact with the first number of bite adjustment structures.

Alternative bite adjustment structures

Dental retainer devices are provided. The dental retainer devices can be customized based on patient specific dental anatomy and dental treatment plans. Methods of making the dental retainer devices are also provided. The methods can included additive manufacturing. Methods are also provided for customization of a dental retainer device based on the patient specific anatomy. The methods for customization can include providing a dentist with different options for anterior teeth coverage, posterior teeth coverage, and palatal configurations for the dental retainer devices.

Growing community of inventors

San Jose, CA, United States of America

Rohit Tanugula