Align Technology Patent Grants

Visual prosthetic and orthodontic treatment planning

Granted: February 13, 2024
Patent Number: 11896456
Systems and methods for improved visual prosthetic and orthodontic treatment planning are provided herein. In some aspects, a method for preparing a tooth of a patient is disclosed. The method may comprise building a model of a dentition of the patient including a model of the initial shape of tooth. The method may also include determining a final prepared shape of the tooth. In some aspects, the method may also include generating a treatment plan comprising a plurality of steps to…

Protruding aligner hooks

Granted: February 6, 2024
Patent Number: 11890160
Orthodontic positioning devices, and related methods and systems, are disclosed for use with one or more orthodontic elastic members. The disclosed devices may comprise a pair of orthodontic aligners for use as part of an orthodontic treatment plan. The pair of orthodontic aligners may include an upper aligner with a first integrally formed hook and a lower aligner with a second integrally formed hook. The first integrally formed hook and the second integrally formed hook may be…

Reinforced aligner hooks

Granted: February 6, 2024
Patent Number: 11890159
Orthodontic positioning devices, and related methods and systems, are disclosed for use with one or more orthodontic elastic members. The disclosed devices are configured to couple with an orthodontic elastic member so as to react a force from the elastic member into the appliance to, for example, generate traction forces on the patient's teeth to produce a desired occlusion. A positioning device includes a patient removable tooth positioning appliance having teeth receiving cavities…

Automatic application of doctor's preferences workflow using statistical preference analysis

Granted: February 6, 2024
Patent Number: 11890158
Methods and apparatuses for automatic treatment planning, including recommendation systems, quality assurance, error prevention, text mining, text matching, and treatment planning optimization.

Methods for fabricating appliances from polymerizable compositions

Granted: January 30, 2024
Patent Number: 11884758
Methods for fabricating orthodontic appliances are provided. In some embodiments, a method includes providing a polymerizable composition including a first polymerizable component and a second polymerizable component. The polymerizable composition can be characterized by an initial ratio of the first polymerizable component to the second polymerizable component. The method can include fabricating a portion of the orthodontic appliance from the polymerizable composition by forming a first…

Intraoral scanning apparatus

Granted: January 30, 2024
Patent Number: 11883259
System for scanning a subject's teeth. Described herein are intraoral scanning apparatuses for generating a three-dimensional model of a subject's intraoral region (e.g., teeth). These apparatuses may be used for identifying and evaluating lesions, caries and cracks in the teeth.

Methods of forming interproximal reduction templates

Granted: January 30, 2024
Patent Number: 11883256
Methods of forming interproximal reduction guides are described herein. These interproximal reduction guides apparatuses may include a body that fits over the patient's dental arch and one or more guide slots formed in them configured to limit the motion of an interproximal reduction cutting tool in a defined manner.

Method and system for dental visualization

Granted: January 30, 2024
Patent Number: 11883255
In particular embodiments, method, apparatus and system for receiving digital representations of the initial parameters of a dentition; simulating a first orthodontic treatment process on the digital representations of the initial parameters, displaying a set of output results from the simulation of the first orthodontic treatment process, simulating a second orthodontic treatment process on the output results from the simulation of the first orthodontic treatment process, and displaying…

Dental arch width measurement tool

Granted: January 23, 2024
Patent Number: 11877906
Systems and methods for rapidly and reliably determining an arch with of a patient's dental arch. A first portion of a 3D model of a patient's dentition is identified that corresponds to a first target tooth, the first portion of the 3D model is associated with one or more attributes of the first target tooth. A second portion of the 3D model is identified that corresponds to a second target tooth opposing the first target tooth. The second portion is associated with one or more…

Image-based defect detection of dental appliances

Granted: January 23, 2024
Patent Number: 11880973
Multiple techniques for detecting defects in customized dental appliances are disclosed. In one technique, processing logic obtains one or more images of a customized dental appliance, obtains a digital model associated with the customized dental appliance, and identifies an area of the one or more images that comprises a representation of the customized dental appliance. Processing logic then registers the one or more images to the digital model, compares the area of the one or more…

Updating an orthodontic treatment plan during treatment

Granted: January 16, 2024
Patent Number: 11872102
A processing device receives image data of an actual condition of a patient's dental arch at a stage of an orthodontic treatment plan. The processing device compares the image data of the actual condition of the patient's dental arch to a planned condition of the patient's dental arch for the stage of the orthodontic treatment plan. The processing device determines an updated orthodontic treatment plan based on one or more differences between the actual condition of the patient's dental…

Generating a virtual patient depiction of an orthodontic treatment

Granted: January 9, 2024
Patent Number: 11864971
Methods and systems including: receiving one or more 2D images of a patient's face including a depiction of the patient's teeth in an initial arrangement; extracting teeth contours of the patient's teeth from within the mouth region of the one or more received 2D images of the patient's face; generating, using a neural network, a 2D rendering depicting a post-treatment arrangement of the patient's teeth based on the one or more received 2D images; generating a realistic composite 2D…

Accurate method to determine center of resistance for 1D/2D/3D problems

Granted: January 9, 2024
Patent Number: 11864970
A system and method for determining a center of resistance of a tooth may include receiving a 3D digital representation of an initial arrangement and a final arrangement of a patient's teeth and determining a 3D treatment plan. The 3D treatment plan may include a plurality of 3D stages for rearranging the teeth from the initial arrangement toward the final arrangement. The method may also include determining, in accordance with the 3D treatment plan, an intended movement of the teeth for…

Prioritization of three dimensional dental elements

Granted: January 9, 2024
Patent Number: 11864969
The present disclosure includes methods, systems, and devices for prioritization of three dimensional dental elements. One method for prioritizing three dimensional dental elements includes receiving a virtual initial dental data set (IDDS) of teeth having spatial information regarding the positions of a number of teeth in the virtual IDDS with respect to each other for presentation of the teeth in a virtual three dimensional space to be viewed on a user interface, setting prioritization…

Low viscosity photo-curable resins for the direct fabrication of orthodontic appliances

Granted: December 26, 2023
Patent Number: 11851510
This disclosure provides low-viscosity resins for producing polymers with properties suitable for use in various mechanical appliances, such as orthodontic appliances (e.g., aligners). The low-viscosity resins may be photo-curable and can be used with direct fabrication methods and equipment. In various embodiments, the polymeric materials produced from the low-viscosity resins described herein have high toughness while remaining resistant to stress relaxation. Low-viscosity,…

Laser cutting

Granted: December 26, 2023
Patent Number: 11850680
Laser cutting systems and methods are described herein. One or more systems include a laser, an optical component, a fixture for holding a support with a part positioned on the support, and a controller. The controller is configured to identify a cut path for trimming excess material from a dental appliance, determine adjustment instructions for adjusting a focal length of the laser to cut along the cut path, and trim the excess material from the dental appliance along the cut path with…

Comparative orthodontic treatment planning tool

Granted: December 26, 2023
Patent Number: 11850111
A comparative orthodontic treatment planning tool that can provide multiple treatment plan options based on a single initial tooth data set. A user can use the treatment planning tool to select a treatment plan based on factors, including cost, treatment duration, treatment complexity, and material or feature selection. Tooth arrangements at different treatment stages can be compared. In some cases, a tooth arrangement at one treatment stage can be superimposed over a tooth arrangement…

Weak covalent crosslinks in thermoset materials for increased toughness

Granted: December 19, 2023
Patent Number: 11845868
This disclosure provides polymeric materials comprising weak crosslinking covalent bonds and/or weak crosslinking units comprising a weak covalent bond. Weak covalent bonds can be used in place of hydrogen bonds present in traditional polymeric materials (e.g., polyurethanes). Advantageously, the toughness can be controlled by varying the strength of weak covalent bonds and/or by varying the number of weak covalent crosslinks. Crosslinked materials applying the weak covalent crosslinking…

Marker-less augmented reality system for mammoplasty pre-visualization

Granted: December 12, 2023
Patent Number: 11842437
A medical image might be generated for a patient image using a convolutional neural network trained on prior patient pre-procedure and post-procedure 2D images. A method might generate 3D models from pre-procedure 2D images and from post-procedure 2 images, and train the convolutional neural network with training images being the 3D models, to generate at least one 3D model of the present patient from the 2D image of the present patient, apply the 3D model of the present patient to the…

Durable ornamental indicia carrier

Granted: December 12, 2023
Patent Number: 11839520
The present disclosure relates to ornamental indicia carrier and method of producing the same. In some embodiments, the ornamental indicia carrier comprises an ultraviolet light (“UV”) cured ink printed on a thin flexible film and combined with an adhesive layer. The ornamental indicia carrier is capable of enduring the conditions inside the mouth for an extended period of time and can be used in conjunction with a dental appliance.