Methods, systems and accessories useful for procedures relating to dental implants
Granted: April 5, 2022
Patent Number:
11291533
A method and system are provided for manufacturing a physical dental model. A virtual model is provided representative of at least a portion of the intra-oral cavity including at least one dental implant implanted therein, and the virtual model includes a virtual portion representative of each dental implant. The virtual spatial disposition of each such virtual portion is determined with respect to the virtual model, corresponding to a real spatial disposition of the respective implant…
System for post-processing orthodontic appliance molds
Granted: March 29, 2022
Patent Number:
11284974
A system and method for post-processing of polymeric items having a liquid component and a predetermined heat deflection temperature is provided. The system includes a washing station to spray water at elevated temperature and pressure on the items while maintaining the temperature of the item below the heat deflection temperature. Then using a water distillation system to separate the water from the water mixed with the liquid polymer component by evaporating the water using heating…
System for post-processing orthodontic appliance molds
Granted: March 29, 2022
Patent Number:
11284973
A system and method for post-processing of polymeric items having a liquid component and a predetermined heat deflection temperature is provided. The system includes a washing station to spray water at elevated temperature and pressure on the items while maintaining the temperature of the item below the heat deflection temperature. Then using a water distillation system to separate the water from the water mixed with the liquid polymer component by evaporating the water using heating…
System for post-processing orthodontic appliance molds
Granted: March 29, 2022
Patent Number:
11284972
A system and method for post-processing of polymeric items having a liquid component and a predetermined heat deflection temperature is provided. The system includes a washing station to spray water at elevated temperature and pressure on the items while maintaining the temperature of the item below the heat deflection temperature. Then using a water distillation system to separate the water from the water mixed with the liquid polymer component by evaporating the water using heating…
Methods and systems for creating and interacting with three dimensional virtual models
Granted: March 29, 2022
Patent Number:
11284802
Systems and methods are provided for preparation of orthodontics and prosthodontics. A method may include scanning a patient's teeth to form first 3D data of the patient's teeth including a removable element that obscures part of the dental surfaces of the patient's teeth and non-obscured tooth surfaces, removing the removable element form the patient's teeth so that the removable element no longer obscures the part of the dental surfaces of the patient's teeth, and scanning the…
Aligner damage prediction and mitigation
Granted: March 22, 2022
Patent Number:
11278375
Embodiments relate to an aligner breakage solution. A method includes obtaining a digital design of a polymeric aligner for a dental arch of a patient. The polymeric aligner is shaped to apply forces to teeth of the dental arch. The method also includes performing an analysis on the digital design of the polymeric aligner using at least one of a) a trained machine learning model, b) a numerical simulation, c) a geometry evaluator or d) a rules engine. The method may also include…
Registration of non-overlapping intraoral scans
Granted: March 15, 2022
Patent Number:
11276168
A processing device receives first intraoral scan data of a first segment of a dental site and second intraoral scan data of a second segment of the dental site that does not stitch to the first intraoral scan data of the first segment of the dental site. The processing device generates a first virtual model of the first segment using the first intraoral scan data, and further generates a second virtual model of the second segment using the second intraoral scan data. The processing…
Apparatus and method for measuring surface topography optically
Granted: March 15, 2022
Patent Number:
11273017
An apparatus includes a probe sized to be at least partially inserted into an intraoral cavity of a patient and an illumination unit configured to output light. The apparatus includes a light focusing assembly comprising an image space lens, an object space lens and a focus changing assembly between the image space lens and the object space lens and being configured to: overlap a plurality of light beams of the light within the light focusing assembly; and focus the light to a plurality…
Palatal expanders and methods of expanding a palate
Granted: March 15, 2022
Patent Number:
11273011
Palatal expander apparatuses for expanding a patient's palate (“palatal expanders”) and methods of using and making them. These palatal expanders may be configured to have a variable surface smoothness on one side (e.g., the lingual-facing surface) compared to the opposite side (e.g., the palatal-facing surface). These palatal expanders may be configured to have a varying thickness in the palatal region. These palatal expanders may be adapted for ease in removal by the patient or…
Prosthodontic and orthodontic apparatus and methods
Granted: March 8, 2022
Patent Number:
11270033
System and method for developing a treatment plan for achieving a treatment goal including creating a virtual model of a dental patient's dentition; transforming the virtual model of the dentition using virtual prosthodontics to facilitate achievement of the treatment goal; transforming the virtual model of the dentition using virtual orthodontics to facilitate achievement of the treatment goal; iterating on the transforming steps until substantially achieving the treatment goal; and…
Dental appliance with simulated teeth and method for making
Granted: March 8, 2022
Patent Number:
11266484
The present invention relates to orthodontic positioning appliances that represent teeth in desired positions and related systems and methods. An appliance can include teeth receiving cavities shaped to receive and apply a resilient positioning force to a patient's teeth. An appliance can include an outer component having a surface representing teeth in desired positions. An outer component can be integral with an appliance. An outer component can be separate and configured to couple…
Mandibular advancement and retraction via bone anchoring devices
Granted: March 1, 2022
Patent Number:
11259901
Systems, methods, devices and apparatus for mandibular advancement or retraction via bone anchoring devices are described herein. In various aspects, an apparatus for treating a patient via mandibular advancement or retraction comprises a plurality of anchoring devices positioned in the patient's intraoral cavity. Each of the plurality of anchoring devices can be positioned in bone of the patient's upper jaw or bone of the patient's lower jaw. One or more connecting structures can be…
Method to manufacture aligner by modifying tooth position
Granted: March 1, 2022
Patent Number:
11259896
Orthodontic systems and related methods are disclosed for designing and providing improved or more effective tooth moving systems for eliciting a desired tooth movement and/or repositioning teeth into a desired arrangement. Methods and orthodontic systems include the generation of an overcorrection in the tooth-receiving cavities of an appliance worn in the dentition. The overcorrection may provide an improved and more accurately applied force or moment applied to a tooth. The…
Method for preparing a physical plaster model
Granted: February 22, 2022
Patent Number:
11253337
The invention provides a method for creating a physical teeth model. The method comprises the following steps: providing a virtual three dimensional (3D) representation of a patient's dentition that comprises at least a region of the teeth that includes a tooth stump on which a crown is to be fitted or a region on to which a bridge is to be fitted; and preparing a physical model of the jaws of a subject from a blank, based on information from said virtual 3D image.
System and method for sorting items
Granted: February 15, 2022
Patent Number:
11247242
A system and associated method is provided for sorting parts, which includes a conveyor system for receiving and circulating a plurality of randomly presented parts, a sorting buffer for accumulating selected parts from the plurality of randomly presented parts in an assigned buffer location, and a sequencing system for sequencing the accumulated selected parts.
Intraoral scanning system with registration warnings
Granted: February 15, 2022
Patent Number:
11246689
A processing device receives one or more images of an intraoral cavity of a patient generated by measuring one or more characteristics of returning light, the returning light having been reflected off one or more surfaces within the intraoral cavity. The processing device subsequently receives an additional image of the intraoral cavity of the patient. The processing device compares the additional image to the one or more previously received images and determines, based on a result of…
Laser cutting
Granted: February 8, 2022
Patent Number:
11241758
Laser cutting systems and methods are described herein. One or more systems include a laser generating component, an optical component, a fixture for holding a support with a part positioned on the support, and a control mechanism for adjusting at least one of the laser generating component, the optical component, and the fixture such that a ratio of a laser energy applied to the part and a part material thickness is maintained within a predetermined acceptable range at each point along…
Excess material removal using machine learning
Granted: February 1, 2022
Patent Number:
11238586
A method includes processing an input comprising data from an intraoral image using a trained machine learning model that has been trained to classify regions of dental sites, wherein the trained machine learning model outputs a probability map comprising, for each pixel in the intraoral image, a first probability that the pixel belongs to a first dental class and a second probability that the pixel belongs to a second dental class, wherein the first dental class represents excess…
Restorative smile visualization through digital treatment planning
Granted: February 1, 2022
Patent Number:
11234794
The present disclosure provide for methods of planning restorative procedures. Methods may involve identifying an initial position of a patient's teeth based on a digital representation of the patient's teeth, and determining one or more candidate orthodontic positions for the patient's teeth, wherein each of the one or more candidate orthodontic positions is a target position of the patient's teeth being considered. Methods may further involve virtually modeling a first restorative…
Artificially intelligent systems to manage virtual dental models using dental images
Granted: January 25, 2022
Patent Number:
11232573
Methods and apparatuses (including systems and devices) for modifying a three-dimensional (3D) model of a subject's oral cavity to determine individual components such as teeth, gingiva, tongue, palate, etc. In some implementations one or more automated machine learning agents may modify one or more subsets of 3D models of the subject's oral cavity using height map data to identify, segment and/or modify to mesh regions of a 3D model constructed from a plurality of 2D images of the…
