Mold arch reinforcement and labeling for dental appliance manufacturing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12544201-B2
Application number	US-202318103450-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 30, 2023
Priority date	Feb 1, 2022
Publication date	Feb 10, 2026
Grant date	Feb 10, 2026

Abstract

A mold for a dental appliance includes a dental arch portion and a beam. The dental arch portion is associated with teeth of a user. The dental arch portion includes a first distal portion, a second distal portion, and an incisor portion disposed between the first distal portion and the second distal portion. The beam extends from the first distal portion to the second distal portion. The beam includes a label portion disposed between the first distal portion and the second distal portion. The label portion forms a label for identification of the mold.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A mold for a dental appliance, the mold comprising:
a dental arch portion, the dental arch portion comprising a first distal portion, a second distal portion, and an incisor portion disposed between the first distal portion and the second distal portion; and a beam extending from the first distal portion to the second distal portion to reinforce the mold, wherein the beam comprises a label portion forming a label for identification of the mold, and wherein at least one of:
the label comprises through-holes that form at least a portion of an identifier of the label;
the beam comprises a reinforcement portion between the first distal portion of the dental arch portion and the second distal portion of the dental arch portion; or
the mold further comprises a first chamfer disposed between the label portion and the first distal portion of the dental arch portion.

2 . The mold of claim 1 , wherein the label comprises the through-holes from an upper surface of the label portion to a lower surface of the label portion, and wherein the through-holes form digits of the identifier of the label.

3 . The mold of claim 1 , further comprising:
a pick and place component coupled to the beam, wherein the pick and place component is configured to be secured by dental appliance manufacturing equipment.

4 . The mold of claim 1 , wherein the beam comprises a flat portion configured to interface with a locking mechanism of a plate to secure the mold to the plate in a z-direction.

5 . The mold of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of identifier features extending from one or more sidewalls of the beam for automated identification of the mold.

6 . The mold of claim 1 , wherein the beam comprises the reinforcement portion extending from the first distal portion of the dental arch portion to the second distal portion of the dental arch portion, and wherein the reinforcement portion is configured to reinforce the beam, and wherein the reinforcement portion has a greater thickness than the label portion.

7 . The mold of claim 1 , further comprising:
the first chamfer disposed between the label portion and the first distal portion of the dental arch portion; and a second chamfer disposed between the label portion and the second distal portion of the dental arch portion.

8 . A method comprising:
determining a position of a beam of a mold relative to a dental arch portion of the mold, the dental arch portion comprising a first distal portion, a second distal portion, and an incisor portion disposed between the first distal portion and the second distal portion, wherein the beam is to extend from the first distal portion to the second distal portion; determining layout of an identifier to be formed on the beam between the first distal portion and the second distal portion; and determining a shape of the beam to be attached to the dental arch portion of the mold, wherein the mold is to be formed based on the position of the beam, the layout of the identifier, and the shape of the beam, wherein the beam comprises a label portion forming a label for identification of the mold, and wherein at least one of:
the label comprises through-holes that form at least a portion of the identifier of the label;
the beam comprises a reinforcement portion between the first distal portion of the dental arch portion and the second distal portion of the dental arch portion; or
the mold further comprises a first chamfer disposed between the label portion and the first distal portion of the dental arch portion.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the determining of the position of the beam comprises:
identifying a plurality of transformations of the mold, wherein each of the plurality of transformations comprises a corresponding position of the beam relative to the dental arch portion; slicing a three-dimensional (3D) model of the dental arch portion to generate two-dimensional (2D) contours of the 3D model; and selecting, based on the 2D contours, a first transformation of the plurality of transformations, wherein the first transformation comprises the position of the beam relative to the dental arch portion.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the selecting of the first transformation comprises:
determining a width distance between distal ends of the beam from the first distal portion to the second distal portion in the first transformation meets a threshold distance.

11 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the selecting of the first transformation comprises:
determining that the beam is positioned between the incisor portion of the dental arch portion and a line intersecting a first distal end of the first distal portion and a second distal end of the second distal portion in the first transformation; and determining a length distance between the beam and the line in the first transformation meets a threshold distance.

12 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the selecting of the first transformation comprises:
determining a feature offset distance between a pick and place component of the beam and corresponding identifier features extending from the beam in the first transformation meets a threshold distance, wherein the feature offset distance provides clearance for dental appliance manufacturing equipment to secure the pick and place component to move the mold.

13 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the selecting of the first transformation comprises:
determining that the identifier to be formed in the beam is not obstructed by geometries of the mold.

14 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the selecting of the first transformation is further based on determining a gap distance between a trim line of the dental arch portion and a connection between the dental arch portion and the beam in the first transformation meets a threshold distance.

15 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the determining of the layout of the identifier to be formed on the beam comprises:
identifying a predefined format for the label portion of the beam; determining, based on the identifier, digits of a label to be formed in the label portion of the beam; and determining, based on the identifier, a plurality of identifier features that are to extend from sidewalls of the beam, wherein the identifier features form a binary code to be decoded to verify the identifier determined from the digits of the label.

16 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the label portion is substantially flat, the label portion forming stencil digits cut through the beam based on the identifier, and the beam further comprises a plurality of identifier features extending from sidewalls of the beam.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the shape of the beam comprises:
the reinforcement portion configured to prevent deformation of the beam, wherein the reinforcement portion has a greater thickness than the label portion of the beam.

18 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the shape of the beam comprises:
the first chamfer and a second chamfer between the label portion of the beam and the dental arch portion to prevent breakage of the beam, wherein the first chamfer and the second chamfer are to provide a gap distance between the beam and a trim line of the mold.

19 . A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed, cause a processing device to perform operations comprising:
determining a position of a beam of a mold relative to a dental arch portion of the mold, the dental arch portion comprising a first distal p

Assignees

• Align Technology Inc

Inventors

• Soltero Borrego Enrique
• Fadeev Denis
• Kalinichenko Alexey
• Parpara Anatoliy
• Lopez Diaz Fernando Jose
• Hernandez Lopez Daniel Antonio
• Gonzalez Tobias Isidro Salvador

Classifications

• A61C13/0004

  Computer-assisted sizing or machining of dental prostheses · CPC title

• B33Y80/00

  Products made by additive manufacturing · CPC title

• B29C33/3842

  Manufacturing moulds, e.g. shaping the mould surface by machining · CPC title

• B29L2031/7536

  Artificial teeth · CPC title

• B29C51/36

  specially adapted for vacuum forming {, Manufacture thereof} · CPC title