Orthodonitic appliance with precision cutout

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11389272-B2
Application number	US-201816148740-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 1, 2018
Priority date	Oct 10, 2011
Publication date	Jul 19, 2022
Grant date	Jul 19, 2022

Abstract

An orthodontic positioning device including a patient removable orthodontic tooth positioning appliance having teeth receiving cavities shaped to receive and apply a resilient positioning force to a patient's teeth provided in one of an upper jaw and a lower jaw and comprising a cutout operable to expose an orthodontic elastic band receiving member. The cutout corresponds to a material removed along a gingival edge of the patient removable orthodontic tooth positioning appliance and is operable to be disposed over a tooth, is shaped to extend between a first point of a gingival line of the tooth and a second point of the gingival line of the tooth, and has a gingival-facing surface arrangeable between the elastic band receiving member and an occlusal surface of the tooth wherein the cutout is arcuate

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An orthodontic appliance for positioning a patient's teeth, comprising:
a patient removable orthodontic tooth positioning appliance having teeth receiving cavities shaped to receive and apply a resilient positioning force to a patient's teeth provided in one of an upper jaw and a lower jaw, the appliance comprising a cutout operable to expose an orthodontic elastic band receiving member,
wherein the cutout corresponds to a material removed along a gingival edge of the patient removable orthodontic tooth positioning appliance, and
wherein the cutout is operable to be disposed over a tooth, is shaped to extend between a first point of a gingival line of the tooth and a second point of the gingival line of the tooth, and has a gingival-facing surface arrangeable between the elastic band receiving member and an occlusal surface of the tooth wherein the cutout is arcuate.

2. The orthodontic appliance of claim 1 , wherein the cutout extends a minimum distance from the elastic band receiving member.

3. The orthodontic appliance of claim 2 , wherein the minimum distance is at least 0.5 mm.

4. The orthodontic appliance of claim 1 , wherein the cutout is a segmented cutout.

5. The orthodontic appliance of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the gingival-facing surface is shaped to conform to the shape of at least a portion of the elastic band receiving member.

6. The orthodontic appliance of claim 1 , wherein the cutout defines a gingival-facing opening in the orthodontic positioning appliance.

7. The orthodontic appliance of claim 1 , wherein the cutout is shaped to avoid interference with the elastic band receiving member.

8. The orthodontic appliance of claim 1 , wherein the cutout has a parabolic or curved shape.

9. The orthodontic appliance of claim 1 , wherein the cutout protrudes into the gingival-facing surface at a distance of at least halfway between the gingival line of the tooth and the occlusal surface of the tooth.

10. A plurality of orthodontic appliances for positioning a patient's teeth, wherein at least one of the plurality orthodontic appliances comprises:
a patient removable orthodontic tooth positioning appliance having teeth receiving cavities shaped to receive and apply a resilient positioning force to a patient's teeth provided in one of an upper jaw and a lower jaw, the appliance comprising a cutout operable to expose an orthodontic elastic band receiving member,
wherein the cutout corresponds to a material removed along a gingival edge of the patient removable orthodontic tooth positioning appliance, and
wherein the cutout is operable to be disposed over a tooth, is shaped to extend between a first point of a gingival line of the tooth and a second point of the gingival line of the tooth, and has a gingival-facing surface arrangeable between the elastic band receiving member and an occlusal surface of the tooth wherein the cutout is arcuate.

11. The plurality of orthodontic appliances of claim 10 , wherein the cutout extends a minimum distance from the elastic band receiving member.

12. The plurality of orthodontic appliances of claim 11 , wherein the minimum distance is at least 0.5 mm.

13. The plurality of orthodontic appliances of claim 10 wherein the cutout is a segmented cutout.

14. The plurality of orthodontic appliances of claim 10 , wherein at least a portion of the gingival-facing surface is shaped to conform to the shape of at least a portion of the elastic band receiving member.

15. The plurality of orthodontic appliances of claim 10 , wherein the cutout defines a gingival-facing opening in the orthodontic positioning appliance.

16. The plurality of orthodontic appliances of claim 10 , wherein the cutout is shaped to avoid interference with the elastic band receiving member.

17. The orthodontic appliances of claim 10 , wherein the cutout has a parabolic or curved shape.

18. The orthodontic appliances of claim 10 , wherein the cutout protrudes into the gingival-facing surface at a distance of at least halfway between the gingival line of the tooth and the occlusal surface of the tooth.

Assignees

• Align Technology Inc

Inventors

• Borovinskih Artem
• Terekhov Anton
• Sterental Rene
• Minchenkov Mikhail
• Pavlov Ivan

Classifications

• A61C7/08

  Mouthpiece-type retainers {or positioners, e.g. for both the lower and upper arch (arch-shaped medicament applicators for teeth or gums A61C19/063; mouthguards for protecting the teeth of sportsmen A63B71/085)} · CPC title

• A61C19/05

  for determining occlusion · CPC title

• A61C7/002 Primary

  Orthodontic computer assisted systems · CPC title

• A61C2007/004

  Automatic construction of a set of axes for a tooth or a plurality of teeth · CPC title

• A61C7/36

  Devices acting between upper and lower teeth · CPC title