Treatment of teeth by aligners

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9939999-B2
Application number	US-201414255832-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 17, 2014
Priority date	Apr 29, 2005
Publication date	Apr 10, 2018
Grant date	Apr 10, 2018

Abstract

A method for treating a subject's teeth. A target configuration for the subject's teeth is determined. Receiving features are produced on a dental base in response to the target configuration, the receiving features being configured to receive physical tooth models. The physical tooth models are assembled on the dental base to form a physical arch model. A dental aligner is produced using the physical arch model to move the subject's teeth to the target configuration.

First claim

What we claim is:

1. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon, computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause said computer to perform a method for treating a subject's teeth, comprising:
simultaneously presenting, in a same directional view, a first digital representation at a first display window and a second digital representation at a second display window, wherein said first digital representation comprises one of a pre-modified tooth arch of a patient and a post-modified tooth arch of said patient, and wherein said second digital representation comprises the other of said pre-modified tooth arch and said post-modified tooth arch;
in response to a receipt of tooth rotation instructions, executing a first rotation, wherein said executing said first rotation comprises:
rotating said first digital representation presented at said first display window; and

simultaneously with said executing said first rotation, executing a second rotation, wherein said executing said second rotation comprises:
rotating said second digital representation presented at said second display window, wherein said first rotation and said second rotation are executed in a same direction and in a same amount.

2. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing selectable directional view icons that, upon selection, communicate a directional view by which said first digital representation and said second digital representation will be viewed.

3. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting a potential collision of adjacent teeth within said post-modified tooth arch.

4. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting a potential collision of a root of a first tooth with a root of a second tooth of said post-modified tooth arch, wherein said second tooth is adjacent to said first tooth.

5. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 3 , further comprising:
providing an alert that said potential collision may occur.

6. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 3 , further comprising:
based on said potential collision, not allowing a tooth of said post-modified tooth arch to be digitally rotated such that a collision representing said potential collision is realized.

7. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , further comprising:
representing each tooth of said pre-modified tooth arch and said post-modified tooth arch as a mesh of points, such that an overlapping of said mesh of points indicates that a potential collision between adjacent teeth has occurred.

8. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , further comprising:
using boundary parameters to prevent an over-rotation of said post-modified tooth arch, such that an amount of rotation and displacement is prescribed for each tooth of said pre-modified tooth arch.

9. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 1 , further comprising:
determine a movement pathway based on said pre-modified tooth arch and said post-modified tooth arch.

10. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon, computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause said computer to perform a method for treating a subject's teeth, comprising:
simultaneously presenting, in a same directional view, a first digital representation at a first display window and a second digital representation at a second display window, wherein said first digital representation comprises a one of a pre-modified tooth arch of a patient and a post-modified tooth arch of said patient, and wherein said second digital representation comprises the other of said pre-modified tooth arch and said post-modified tooth arch, wherein digital representations of said pre-modified tooth arch and said post-modified tooth arch comprise a display of roots of each tooth therein;
in response to a receipt of tooth rotation instructions, executing a first rotation, wherein said executing said first rotation comprises:
rotating said first digital representation presented at said first display window; and

simultaneously with said executing said first rotation, executing a second rotation, wherein said executing said second rotation comprises:
rotating said second digital representation presented at said second display window, wherein said first rotation and said second rotation are executed in a same direction and in a same amount.

Assignees

• Align Technology Inc

Inventors

• Wen Huafeng
• Liu Frank Zhenhuan

Classifications

• A61C9/002

  Means or methods for correctly replacing a dental model, e.g. dowel pins; Dowel pin positioning means or methods · CPC title

• G06F3/0484 Primary

  for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range · CPC title

• A61C7/002

  Orthodontic computer assisted systems · CPC title

• B33Y80/00

  Products made by additive manufacturing · CPC title

• A61C2007/004

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