DENTAL APPLIANCE WITH REPOSITIONING JAW ELEMENTS

• US 20150238284A1
• Filed: 02/21/2014
• Published: 08/27/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Align Technology Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Align Technology Incorporated
• Inventors: Wu, Ken, Kuo, Eric E., Derakhshan, Mitra, Boronkay, Allen R., Li, Chunhua, Tjhia, Crystal, Yau, Eric
• Granted Patent: US 9,844,424 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 7/002 Orthodontic computer assisted systems
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 7/36 Devices acting between upper and lower teeth

Abstract

The present disclosure provides method, computing device readable medium, and devices for dental appliances with repositioning jaw elements. An example of a method can include identifying a misaligned jaw of a patient from a virtual image of the patient'"'"'s jaw, and providing a treatment plan for the patient including a virtual model of a dental appliance having a first shell and a second shell configured to reposition at least one tooth of the patient. The virtual model of the dental appliance including repositioning jaw elements on the first shell and the second shell configured to move a position of the misaligned jaw of the patient.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computing device readable medium storing instructions executable by a processor to cause a computing device to perform a method, comprising:

identifying a misaligned jaw of a patient from a virtual image of the patient'"'"'s jaw; and

providing a treatment plan for the patient including a virtual model of a dental appliance having a first shell and a second shell configured to reposition at least one tooth of the patient, the virtual model of the dental appliance including repositioning jaw elements on the first shell and the second shell configured to move a position of the misaligned jaw of the patient.

2. The non-transitory computing device readable medium of claim 1, wherein providing the treatment plan further includes:

identifying a final jaw position of the patient; and

designing the repositioning jaw elements to move the position of the misaligned jaw of the patient toward the final jaw position.

3. The non-transitory computing device readable medium of claim 1, wherein identifying the misaligned jaw of the patient includes determining a degree of the patient'"'"'s jaw alignment utilizing the virtual image of the patient'"'"'s jaw.

4. The non-transitory computing device readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions are executable to perform the method including virtually testing the jaw movement to occur by the patient wearing the dental appliance.

5. The non-transitory computing device readable medium of claim 4, wherein the instructions are executable to perform the method including adjusting the virtual repositioning jaw elements based on the virtual testing of the jaw movement.

6. The non-transitory computing device readable medium of claim 1, wherein providing the treatment plan further includes:

providing a virtual model of a plurality of dental appliances, including the dental appliance; and

wherein the plurality of dental appliances are configured to reposition the misaligned jaw in incremental distances according to a number of stages of a treatment plan.

7. The non-transitory computing device readable medium of claim 1, wherein the repositioning jaw elements on the first shell and the second shell are designed based on an aim of repositioning the misaligned jaw of the patient.

8. A non-transitory computing device readable medium storing instructions executable by a processor to cause a computing device to perform a method, comprising:

providing a virtual model of a dental appliance having a shell configured to reposition a number of teeth of a patient; and

positioning a virtual repositioning jaw element on the shell of the virtual model of the dental appliance parallel to a bite plane of the patient, wherein the repositioning jaw element extends from a surface of the shell of the virtual model of the dental appliance.

9. The non-transitory computing device readable medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions are executable to perform the method including beveling side surfaces of the virtual repositioning jaw element to include a different buccal-lingual width on a bottom surface than a buccal-lingual width on a top surface of the virtual repositioning jaw element.

10. The non-transitory computing device readable medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions are executable to perform the method including curving a back surface of the virtual repositioning jaw element in a distal direction.

11. The non-transitory computing device readable medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions are executable to perform the method including placing a groove on a top surface of the virtual repositioning jaw element.

12. The non-transitory computing device readable medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions are executable to perform the method including placing a side groove on at least one of a buccal side surface and a lingual side surface of the virtual repositioning jaw element.

13. The non-transitory computing device readable medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions are further executable to perform the method including curving side surfaces of the virtual repositioning jaw element in at least one of a buccal direction and a lingual direction.

14. A method of separating occlusal surfaces, comprising:

moving at least one tooth with a dental appliance having a first shell configured to receive a number of teeth of a patient'"'"'s upper dentition, the number of teeth comprising the at least one tooth;

separating a patient'"'"'s upper dentition from the patient'"'"'s lower dentition utilizing the dental appliance; and

wherein the dental appliance interfaces a first surface of a first repositioning jaw element of the first shell with a second surface of a second repositioning jaw element of a second shell of the dental appliance, the second shell configured to receive a number of teeth of the patient'"'"'s lower dentition, and wherein the dental appliance separates occlusal surfaces of the number of teeth of the patient'"'"'s upper dentition from occlusal surfaces of the number of teeth of the patient'"'"'s lower dentition as the patient moves to a fully engaged sagittal jaw position.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein separating the patient'"'"'s upper dentition from the patient'"'"'s lower dentition utilizing the dental appliance includes the dental appliance interfacing a third surface of a third repositioning jaw element of the first shell with a fourth surface of a fourth repositioning jaw element of the second shell.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the dental appliance interfacing the first surface and second surface and interfacing the third surface and the fourth surface includes:

interfacing the first surface and the second surface at a first slant; and

interfacing the third surface and the fourth surface at a second slant, wherein the first slant and the second slant include opposing angles.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein separating occlusal surfaces includes moving a lower jaw of the patient from an articulation path of opening to a desired range of jaw opening extending from a current occluding position.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein separating occlusal surfaces includes separating occlusal surfaces to a threshold distance to prevent an occlusal surface of the first shell from contacting an occlusal surface of the second shell.

19. The method of claim 14, including:

separating the occlusal surfaces of the number of teeth of the patient'"'"'s upper dentition from the occlusal surfaces of the number of teeth of the patient'"'"'s lower dentition as the patient moves to the fully engaged sagittal jaw position in a plurality of incremental distances utilizing a plurality of dental appliances; and

wherein the plurality of dental appliances include the dental appliance.

20. A removable dental appliance comprising:

a first shell having a number of tooth apertures configured to receive and reposition a number of teeth of a patient'"'"'s upper dentition;

a second shell having a number of tooth apertures configured to receive and reposition a number of teeth of the patient'"'"'s lower dentition;

a first repositioning jaw element that extends from a surface of the first shell and includes a first surface;

a second repositioning jaw element that extends from a surface of the second shell and includes a second surface to interface with the first surface of the first repositioning jaw element;

wherein the first repositioning jaw element and the second repositioning jaw element are positioned to interface as the patient moves to a fully engaged sagittal jaw position of the patient'"'"'s upper dentition and the patient'"'"'s lower dentition in a manner to reposition the patient'"'"'s jaw; and

wherein the removable dental appliance is configured to reposition the number of teeth of the patient'"'"'s upper dentition and the number of teeth of the patient'"'"'s lower dentition concurrently with the repositioning of the patient'"'"'s jaw.

21. The removable dental appliance of claim 20, wherein the first repositioning jaw element and the second repositioning jaw element extend from an occlusal surface of the first shell and the second shell.

22. The removable dental appliance of claim 20, wherein the first repositioning jaw element and the second repositioning jaw element extend from at least one of a buccal surface and a lingual surface of the first shell and the second shell.

23. The removable dental appliance of claim 20, wherein the first repositioning jaw element and the second repositioning jaw element include a top groove on a top surface of the repositioning jaw elements and a number of side grooves on side surfaces of the repositioning jaw elements.

24. The removable dental appliance of claim 20, wherein the side grooves include coronal-apical grooves positioned at interproximal regions of at least one tooth of the number of teeth that the repositioning jaw elements extend from.

25. The removable dental appliance of claim 20, wherein the first repositioning jaw element and the second repositioning jaw element include a slant that has a higher coronal-apical height of the repositioning jaw elements in a mesial direction of the repositioning jaw elements than a coronal-apical height of the repositioning jaw elements in a distal direction.

26. The removable dental appliance of claim 20, wherein:

the first surface of the first repositioning jaw element includes a slanted surface on a mesial—

facing surface of the first repositioning jaw element; and

the second surface of the second repositioning jaw element includes a slanted surface on a distal-facing surface of the second repositioning jaw element.

27. The removable dental appliance of claim 20, wherein:

the repositioning jaw element includes a structure to indicate to a patient that the patient has positioned the first and second repositioning jaw elements of the first shell and second shell in a fully engaged sagittal jaw position.

28. The removable dental appliance of claim 20, wherein:

the first repositioning jaw element and the second repositioning jaw element are positioned to interface as the patient moves to a fully engaged sagittal jaw position of the patient'"'"'s upper dentition and the patient'"'"'s lower dentition in a manner to reposition the patient'"'"'s jaw in an anteroposterior plane with respect to the jaws of the patient.

29. A system, comprising:

a first dental appliance of a series of dental appliances designed to incrementally implement a treatment plan, comprising a first shell having a first repositioning jaw element extending therefrom and a second shell having a second repositioning jaw element extending therefrom, configured to move a misaligned jaw of the patient to a first incremental position, wherein the first repositioning jaw element and the second repositioning jaw element have a first jaw element position specific to a first stage of the treatment plan; and

a second dental appliance of the series of dental appliances, comprising a first shell having a first repositioning jaw element extending therefrom and a second shell having a second repositioning jaw element extending therefrom, configured to move the misaligned jaw of the patient to a second incremental position, wherein the first repositioning jaw element and the second repositioning jaw element have a second jaw element position specific to a second stage of the treatment plan.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein:

when a first surface of the first repositioning jaw element and a second surface of the second repositioning jaw element of the first dental appliance are fully engaged, the jaw of the patient is moved to the first incremental position; and

when a first surface of the first repositioning jaw element and a second surface of the second repositioning jaw element of the second dental appliance are fully engaged, the jaw of the patient is moved to the second incremental position.