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:
Jan. 02, 2018
Filed:
Apr. 27, 2016
Align Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Loc X. Phan, San Jose, CA (US);
Muhammad Chishti, Washington, DC (US);
Ross J. Miller, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
H. Robert Vandenberg, San Ramon, CA (US);
Eric Kuo, Foster City, CA (US);
ALIGN TECHNOLOGY, INC., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
The present invention provides improved devices, systems and methods for repositioning teeth from an initial tooth arrangement to a final tooth arrangement. Repositioning is accomplished with a system comprising a series of polymeric shell appliances configured to receive the teeth and incrementally reposition individual teeth in a series of successive steps. The individual appliances may be formed from layers having different stiffnesses (elastic moduluses), and the stiffnesses of successive appliances may be different, or both.