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:
Nov. 14, 2023

Filed:

Oct. 27, 2020
Applicant:

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

Inventors:

Allen Boronkay, San Jose, CA (US);

Jihua Cheng, San Jose, CA (US);

Fuming Wu, Pleasanton, CA (US);

Yan Chen, Cupertino, CA (US);

John Morton, San Jose, CA (US);

Assignee:

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

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
A61C 7/00 (2006.01); B33Y 50/02 (2015.01); B33Y 80/00 (2015.01); A61C 7/08 (2006.01); A61C 7/14 (2006.01); A61C 7/36 (2006.01); A61C 7/10 (2006.01); B29L 31/00 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
A61C 7/002 (2013.01); A61C 7/08 (2013.01); A61C 7/10 (2013.01); A61C 7/14 (2013.01); A61C 7/146 (2013.01); A61C 7/36 (2013.01); B33Y 50/02 (2014.12); B33Y 80/00 (2014.12); B29L 2031/753 (2013.01); G05B 2219/2647 (2013.01); G05B 2219/35134 (2013.01); G05B 2219/49007 (2013.01);
Abstract

Methods for designing orthodontic appliances for repositioning a patient's teeth are provided. In some embodiments, a method includes determining a movement path to move one or more teeth from an initial arrangement to a target arrangement, determining a force system to produce movement of the one or more teeth along the movement path, and determining an appliance geometry for an orthodontic appliance configured to produce the force system. The orthodontic appliance can include an outer shell comprising a plurality of teeth-receiving cavities and an inner structure positioned on an inner surface of the outer shell. The inner structure can have an elastic modulus different than an elastic modulus of the outer shell. The method can also include generating instructions for directly fabricating the orthodontic appliance using a layer-by-layer additive manufacturing technique.


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