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:
Jul. 02, 2024
Filed:
Feb. 12, 2021
Align Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Chunhua Li, Cupertino, CA (US);
Yan Chen, Cupertino, CA (US);
Align Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
Methods of forming dental appliances. The methods may include partially curing a prepolymer mixture in a first mold to form a partially cured polymer mixture. The first mold may have an internal cavity that is shaped to provide the partially cured polymer mixture with a first shape having a channel in accordance with a dental arch. The first shape may have a greater thickness at locations corresponding to where a gingival line of the dental appliance will be formed compared to a thickness at occlusal surfaces of the dental appliance. The methods may include modifying the first shape of the partially cured polymer mixture to form a shell having cavities shaped to receive teeth. The methods may also include fully curing the shell by exposing the partially cured polymer mixture to energy until the partially cured polymer mixture thermosets.