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.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 07, 2024
Filed:
Feb. 24, 2022
Align Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Yaser Shanjani, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Jeremy Riley, Mountain View, CA (US);
Ryan Kimura, San Jose, CA (US);
Jun Sato, San Jose, CA (US);
Norman Su, San Jose, CA (US);
Jihua Cheng, San Jose, CA (US);
Fuming Wu, Pleasanton, CA (US);
Align Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
Palatal expander apparatuses for expanding a patient's palate ('palatal expanders') and methods of making them. The apparatuses may include a pair of tooth engagement regions connected by a palatal region. A detachment region on at least one of the tooth engagement regions may be defined by one or more first vertical cut-out regions extending from a bottom of a buccal side toward an occlusal side of the tooth engagement region. The buccal side may be more flexible than the occlusal side so that the detachment region flexes when a removal force to release the palatal expander apparatus from the patient's palate is applied to the detachment region.