The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.

The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.

Date of Patent:
Oct. 10, 2023

Filed:

Dec. 30, 2019
Applicant:

Align Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);

Inventors:

Huizhong Li, San Jose, CA (US);

Andrew Jang, San Mateo, CA (US);

Michael Christopher Cole, Longmont, CO (US);

Yuxiang Wang, Newark, CA (US);

Jun Sato, San Jose, CA (US);

Allen R. Boronkay, San Jose, CA (US);

Assignee:

Align Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
A61B 5/11 (2006.01); A61C 7/08 (2006.01); A61C 7/00 (2006.01); G01B 7/16 (2006.01); A61B 5/00 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
A61B 5/1111 (2013.01); A61B 5/0022 (2013.01); A61C 7/002 (2013.01); A61C 7/08 (2013.01); G01B 7/18 (2013.01); G01B 7/22 (2013.01); A61B 2562/0261 (2013.01);
Abstract

According to the techniques herein, one or more sensors coupled to an aligner are used to sense one or more physical qualities of the aligner to determine whether the physical qualities indicate that the aligner material has relaxed and has, e.g., reduced the force systems applied to teeth and/or that the teeth movement for the stage has slowed down. The sensors may provide a signal that represents whether or not the physical qualities fall below a threshold value. A treatment plan may be modified if needed. These techniques have the potential to make treatment plans faster and more effective by speeding up some stages while making sure some, perhaps other, stages are implemented only after the teeth are near the appropriate position.


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