Removable dental appliance including spring bellows

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11517401-B2
Application number	US-201816753554-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 18, 2018
Priority date	Oct 6, 2017
Publication date	Dec 6, 2022
Grant date	Dec 6, 2022

Abstract

A removable dental appliance may include an appliance body at least partially surrounding two or more teeth of a patient. The appliance body may include a first shell shaped to receive a first tooth; a second shell shaped to receive a second tooth; and at least one spring bellows that includes an arcuate displacement extending over and away from at least a portion of an interproximal region between the first tooth and the second tooth to join the first shell and the second shell. The spring bellows is configured to apply a force between the first shell and the second shell to cause movement of at least one of the first tooth and the second tooth toward a desired position when the removable dental appliance is worn by the patient.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A removable dental appliance comprising:
an appliance body configured to at least partially surround two or more teeth of a patient, wherein the appliance body comprises:
a first shell shaped to receive a first tooth of the patient;
a second shell shaped to receive a second tooth of the patient; and

at least one spring bellows comprising an arcuate displacement of the appliance body extending over and away from at least a portion of an interproximal region between the first tooth and the second tooth to join the first shell and the second shell, wherein the at least one spring bellows is configured to apply a force between the first shell and the second shell to cause movement of at least one of the first tooth and the second tooth toward a desired position when the removable dental appliance is worn by the patient,
wherein the arcuate displacement comprises an outer radius of curvature between about 0.5 millimeters and about 2 millimeters.

2. The removable dental appliance of claim 1 , wherein the at least one spring bellows overlaps at least a portion of the gingival margin.

3. The removable dental appliance of claim 1 , wherein a thickness of the at least one spring bellows is less than a thickness of the first and second shells to at least one of concentrate strain in the at least one spring bellows or reduce deformation of the first shell and the second shell when the removable dental appliance is worn by the patient.

4. The removable dental appliance of claim 1 , wherein a thickness of the at least one spring bellows is between about 0.025 millimeters and about 1.0 millimeter, and the thickness of the first and second shells is between about 0.25 millimeters and about 2.0 millimeters.

5. The removable dental appliance of claim 1 , wherein the arcuate displacement comprises a displacement distance extending between a midline of the interproximal surface and a midline of the arcuate displacement, and wherein the displacement distance is no greater than 2 millimeters.

6. The removable dental appliance of claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of an edge of the at least one spring bellows joins at least a portion of an edge of the first shell at a first intersection.

7. The removable dental appliance of claim 1 , wherein at least one spring bellows defines a shear reduction region.

8. The removable dental appliance of claim 7 , wherein the shear reduction region comprises at least one cutout in the at least one spring bellows.

9. The removable dental appliance of claim 1 , wherein the at least one spring bellows extends around at least a portion of at least one of a cervical margin or a gingival margin of at least one of the first tooth or the second tooth.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the appliance body comprises a unitary three-dimensionally printed polymeric material.

11. A system comprising:
an ordered set of removable dental appliances configured to reposition one or more teeth of a patient, each removable dental appliance in the set of removable dental appliances comprising a respective appliance body configured to at least partially surround two or more teeth of the patient, wherein each respective appliance body comprises:
a first shell shaped to receive a first tooth of the patient;
a second shell shaped to receive a second tooth of the patient; and
at least one spring bellows comprising an arcuate displacement of the appliance body extending over and away from at least a portion of an interproximal region between the first tooth and the second tooth to join the first shell and the second shell, wherein the at least one spring bellows is configured to apply a force between the first shell and the second shell to cause movement of at least one of the first tooth and the second tooth toward a desired position when the removable dental appliance is worn by the patient,
wherein the arcuate displacement comprises an outer radius of curvature between about 0.5 millimeters and about 2 millimeters.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the at least one spring bellows overlaps at least a portion of the gingival margin.

13. The system of any one of claim 11 , wherein a thickness of the at least one spring bellows is less than a thickness of the first and second shells to at least one of concentrate strain in the at least one spring bellows or reduce deformation of the first shell and the second shell when the removable dental appliance is worn by the patient.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the arcuate displacement comprises an outer radius of curvature between about 0.5 millimeters and about 2 millimeters.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the outer radius of curvature either is substantially constant along an interproximal boundary curve extending from the lingual gingiva along the interproximal region to the facial gingiva, or varies along an interproximal boundary curve extending from the lingual gingiva along the interproximal region to the facial gingiva.

16. A method comprising:
receiving, by a computing device, a digital representation of a three-dimensional (3D) dental anatomy of a patient, the dental anatomy providing initial positions of one or more teeth of the patient;
determining, by the computing device, dimensions and shapes of a removable dental appliance for the patient, wherein:
the removable dental appliance comprises an appliance body configured to at least partially surround two or more teeth of the patient,
the dimensions and shapes of the removable dental appliance are configured to reposition the one or more teeth of the patient from initial positions to desired positions when the removable dental appliance is worn by the patient, and
the dimensions and shapes of the removable dental appliance comprise:
a position, dimension and shape of a first shell shaped to receive a first tooth of the patient;
a position, dimension and shape of a second shell shaped to receive a second tooth of the patient;
a position, dimension, and shape of at least one spring bellows comprising an arcuate displacement of the appliance body extending over and away from at least a portion of an interproximal region between the first tooth and the second tooth to join the first shell and the second shell, wherein the at least one spring bellows is configured to apply a force between the first shell and the second shell to cause movement of at least one of the first tooth and the second tooth toward a desired position when the removable dental appliance is worn by the patient wherein the arcuate displacement comprises an outer radius of curvature between about 0.5 millimeters and about 2 millimeters; and

transmitting, by the computing device, a representation of the removable dental appliance to a computer-aided manufacturing system.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the removable dental appliance comprises an aligning tray.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the three-dimensional (3D) dental anatomy of the patient further includes at least some portion of tooth roots, gingiva, periodontal ligaments (PDL), alveolar bone, or cortical bone.

19. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
determining, by the computing device, dimensions and shapes of each of an ordered set of a removable dental appliances for the patient, the removable dental appliance being one of the ordered set of removable dental appliances for the patient,
wherein each removable dental appliance in the ordered set of removable dental appliances is configured to incrementally reposition the teeth of the patient to a

Assignees

• 3M Innovative Properties Company

Inventors

• Raby Richard E
• Li Chaodi
• Domroese Michael K

Classifications

• B33Y80/00

  Products made by additive manufacturing · CPC title

• A61C7/08 Primary

  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

• B33Y50/00

  Data acquisition or data processing for additive manufacturing · CPC title

• B29C64/386

  Data acquisition or data processing for additive manufacturing · CPC title

• A61C7/002

  Orthodontic computer assisted systems · CPC title