Align Technology Patent Grants

Automatic detection of tooth type and eruption status

Granted: May 28, 2024
Patent Number: 11996181
Provided herein are systems and methods for detecting the eruption state (e.g., tooth type and/or eruption status) of a target tooth. A patient's dentition may be scanned and/or segmented. A target tooth may be identified. Dental features, principal component analysis (PCA) features, and/or other features may be extracted and compared to those of other teeth, such as those obtained through automated machine learning systems. A detector can identify and/or output the eruption state of the…

Methods of dental wire attachment

Granted: May 28, 2024
Patent Number: 11992386
Methods of attaching a wire to a dentition. The methods may include placing a shell on the dentition, where first cavity of the shell includes an attachment material reservoir for receiving an attachment material, and second cavity of the shell includes a wire attachment member having a slot for receiving the wire. The methods may also include placing the wire through the attachment material reservoir and through the slot of the wire attachment member to hold the wire in position with…

Virtual fillers for virtual models of dental arches

Granted: May 28, 2024
Patent Number: 11992382
A virtual filler is inserted in a virtual model of a dental site between a first tooth and a second tooth in the virtual model. One or more of the first tooth or the second tooth represent a natural tooth of a patient. Points of the first tooth, the second tooth and the virtual filler are transformed into a voxel volume. A geometry of an updated virtual filler is determined by transforming a surface of the voxel volume into a polygonal mesh.

Treatment-based image capture guidance

Granted: May 21, 2024
Patent Number: 11991440
A method for treatment-based photo guidance may include receiving a treatment plan, determining the movement of a first one or more teeth based on the movement of tooth models in the treatment plan, and determining one or more photo views for capturing the movement of the first one or more teeth.

Systems, apparatus, and methods for remote orthodontic treatment

Granted: May 21, 2024
Patent Number: 11991439
A method for dental treatment may include receiving photos of a patient's dentition, gathering treatment parameters for at treatment plan. The treatment parameters may represent attributes of the treatment plan selected by a doctor for the patient's dentition of a patient. The method may include generating, using the photos and the treatment parameters, one or more intelligent guidance rules to guide application of at least a portion of the treatment parameters to the patient's…

Patterned dental positioning appliances

Granted: May 21, 2024
Patent Number: 11986370
Patterned dental positioning appliances including a shell including one or more cavities shaped to receive and exert repositioning forces on one or more teeth of a subject's dentition. An inner surface of at least a portion of the one or more cavities may include a raised mesh pattern arranged to contact one or more teeth within the at least a portion of the one or more cavities. The raised mesh pattern may be arranged to impart a contact force that affects one or more of a direction, a…

Methods and systems for determining a dental treatment difficulty in digital treatment planning

Granted: May 21, 2024
Patent Number: 11986369
Methods and systems for determining a dental treatment difficulty in digital treatment planning. The methods may include calculating tooth position changes from an initial dental model to a target dental model in a mouth quadrant of a patient's dentition. The changes in position may be determined by projecting distances between initial positions and subsequent positions of teeth onto an arch line of the initial dental model. A treatment difficulty of anterior-posterior (A-P) correction…

Dental imaging attachment for a smartphone

Granted: May 14, 2024
Patent Number: D1027186

Image-based aligner fit evaluation

Granted: May 14, 2024
Patent Number: 11985414
A method for image-based orthodontic treatment may include receiving image data of a patient's dentition and an orthodontic appliance, identifying, from the image data, the orthodontic appliance, calculating a misalignment height of a misalignment of the orthodontic appliance with respect to the patient's dentition, determining whether the misalignment height satisfies a misalignment threshold, and in response to satisfying the misalignment threshold, providing a notification.

Method to modify aligner by modifying tooth position

Granted: May 14, 2024
Patent Number: 11980523
Polymeric shell appliances are provided in which the polymeric shell appliances are configured to provide one or more activation forces to facilitate tooth movement. In many embodiments, the activation forces are arranged to provide force in a direction opposite to an intended direction of tooth movement. The polymeric shell appliances may comprise one or more tooth receiving cavities, in which each of the plurality of tooth receiving cavities is shaped and arranged to provide a counter…

Systems and methods for treatment using domain-specific treatment protocols

Granted: May 7, 2024
Patent Number: 11978547
The example systems, methods, and/or computer-readable media described herein help with design treatment plans for orthodontic treatments. Treatment templates expressed according to treatment domain-specific protocols may be processed to provide treatment planning software, including automated or real-time treatment planning software, that accommodates treatment preferences of a practitioner and/or patient data relevant to a treatment plan. These methods and systems may be also be useful…

Palatal expanders and methods of expanding a palate

Granted: May 7, 2024
Patent Number: 11974898
Palatal expander apparatuses for expanding a patient's palate (“palatal expanders”) and methods of using and making them. The palatal expanders may include tooth engagement regions connected by a palatal region that is configured to apply force between the tooth engagement regions. At least a portion of the palatal region may be configured to have a clearance from the patient's mid-palatal region when the palatal expander is worn by the patient. The clearance between the palatal…

Palatal expanders and methods of forming the same

Granted: May 7, 2024
Patent Number: 11974897
Palatal expander apparatuses for expanding a patient's palate (“palatal expanders”) and methods of making them. The apparatuses may include a pair of tooth engagement regions connected by a palatal region. A detachment region on at least one of the tooth engagement regions may be defined by one or more first vertical cut-out regions extending from a bottom of a buccal side toward an occlusal side of the tooth engagement region. The buccal side may be more flexible than the occlusal…

Orthodontic appliances that accommodate incremental and continuous tooth movement, systems and methods

Granted: May 7, 2024
Patent Number: 11974896
An orthodontic appliance including a shell aligner having a portion accommodating movement of a patient's bracketed teeth between a first position and the second position as elicited by force from an orthodontic braces appliance worn by the patient, related systems and methods.

Dental appliance having particulate laser marking

Granted: May 7, 2024
Patent Number: 11974895
Dental appliances, materials, and methods of forming such appliances and materials for improved laser marking are provided herein including the use of a particulate material for enhancing laser marking.

Methods, systems and accessories useful for procedures relating to dental implants

Granted: May 7, 2024
Patent Number: 11974892
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…

Intraoral scanning system cart

Granted: May 7, 2024
Patent Number: D1026227

Method, system and model for indirect bonding

Granted: April 30, 2024
Patent Number: 11969310
A physical model of at least a portion of a patient's dentition has model dental surfaces corresponding to real dental surfaces of the patient's dentition. The physical model includes one or more targets, each configured for facilitating placement of an orthodontic appliance on the model at a desired location. The targets lack mechanical stops that are outwardly protruding from the original model dental surfaces. Also provided are a method of manufacturing a physical model for use in…

Smile designer

Granted: April 30, 2024
Patent Number: 11972873
Methods for treating a patient are provided. These methods may include receiving scan data of a patient's teeth, forming a modified image of the teeth to simulate a dental treatment, combining the modified image of the teeth with an image of the patient's face to show an image of the patient's smile as it would appear according to the dental treatment, displaying the modified image to the patient, and treating the patient according to the simulated dental treatment.

Replacement attachment system

Granted: April 30, 2024
Patent Number: 11969311
Dental attachment placement apparatuses with one or more replacement attachment systems for providing one or more replacement dental attachments. The replacement attachment systems may include a body that is configured to orient and align the apparatus with respect to the teeth. The apparatus may include one or more primary dental attachments coupled to the body, where the body is configured to position the primary dental attachments adjacent to the teeth for bonding. The replacement…