Patents Assigned to Align Technology, Inc.
  • Patent number: 11974898
    Abstract: 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 region and the patient's palate may decrease from the patient's mid-palatal region laterally toward the tooth engagement regions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2023
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2024
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Yaser Shanjani, Jeremy Riley, Ryan Kimura, Jun Sato, Norman Su, Jihua Cheng, Fuming Wu
  • Patent number: 11969311
    Abstract: 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 system can be configured to replace the primary dental attachments and align replacement dental attachments with respect to the teeth.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2024
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Peter Webber, Siobhan O'Leary
  • Patent number: 11972572
    Abstract: A system includes an intraoral scanner and a computing device. The intraoral scanner generates an intraoral scan of a dental site. The computing device processes an input comprising data from the intraoral scan using a trained machine learning model that has been trained to classify regions of dental sites, wherein the trained machine learning model generates an output comprising, for each point in the intraoral scan, an indication as to whether the point belongs to a first dental class that represents excess material. The computing device determines, based on the output, one or more points in the intraoral scan that are classified as excess material. The computing device then hides or removes, from at least one of the intraoral scan or a virtual three-dimensional (3D) model generated using the intraoral scan, data for the one or more points that are classified as excess material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2024
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Mikhail Minchenkov, Ran Katz, Pavel Agniashvili, Chad Clayton Brown, Jonathan Coslovsky
  • Patent number: 11972873
    Abstract: 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.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2024
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Michelle Stone-Collonge, Eric E. Kuo, Rick M. Matty, Fabio Pettinati, Thomas Maurer, Dzmitry Sanko
  • Patent number: 11963842
    Abstract: Appliances for intraoral delivery of agents are provided. In some embodiments, an appliance includes a shell having an inner surface and an outer surface, the inner surface defining a plurality of tooth-receiving cavities configured to apply a repositioning force to a patient's teeth, and the outer surface oriented away from the patient's teeth. The appliance can also include a reservoir integrally formed in the outer surface of the shell, the reservoir being configured to store at least one agent. The appliance can further include a membrane covering at least a portion of the reservoir to control release of the agent into an intraoral cavity of the patient. The membrane can include a plurality of pores that are configured to open based at least in part on a temperature of the patient's intraoral cavity to allow the at least one agent to pass therethrough.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: David Mason, Shiva Sambu, Chunhua Li, Yan Chen
  • Patent number: 11966366
    Abstract: Method and systems for creating clinical data files with secured medical information. A clinical data file may be created by converting clinical data to a single format, and the medical information may be entered into corresponding data fields in the clinical data file. The medical information may include treatment professional information, patient personal information, and/or patient image(s). Each of the data fields may be associated with an indicator, where the indicator, when enabled, may be configured to secure at least a portion of the medical information in the corresponding data field. The secured clinical data file may be configured such that, once a pass code is entered, the patient image(s) are modifiable by the addition of modification(s) that are arranged as layer(s) saved separately from the patient image(s).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2024
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Eric E. Kuo
  • Patent number: 11957541
    Abstract: Provided herein are systems and methods for scoring a post-treatment tooth position of a patient's teeth. A patient's dentition may be scanned and/or segmented. Raw 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 classifier can identify and/or output the post-treatment tooth position of the patient's teeth.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Guotu Li, Christopher E. Cramer, Chad Clayton Brown, Anton Spiridonov
  • Patent number: 11957531
    Abstract: Orthodontic systems for monitoring treatment. The systems can include at least one orthodontic appliance that includes one or more sensors. A processor in communication with the sensor(s) is configured to receive sensor data from the sensor(s), where the sensor data corresponds to a force acting on one or more teeth. The processor is further configured to predict tooth movement based on the sensor data. The predicted tooth movement is determined by predicting how much teeth will move based on a direction and a magnitude of the force. The processor is further configured to compare the predicted tooth movement to an expected tooth movement, where the expected tooth movement is based on a treatment stage of a treatment plan. The processor is further configured to modify the treatment plan if the predicted tooth movement does not match the expected tooth movement based on the treatment stage of the treatment plan.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Avi Kopelman, Zelko Relic, Srinivas Kaza
  • Patent number: 11958248
    Abstract: The present application relates to components, such as dental apparatuses, having geometrical features to facilitate post-fabrication cleaning, including methods of fabricating the same. In one embodiment, a dental apparatus, such as a retainer, an aligner, or a dental attachment placement appliance, comprises one or more concave surfaces for which one or more apertures is formed therethrough at or near a maximum depth of a given concave surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2024
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Peter Dorfinger, Siobhan O'Leary, Yan Chen, Zhou Yu, Jun Sato
  • Patent number: 11950981
    Abstract: Calibrating an intraoral scanner includes obtaining reference data of a reference three-dimensional (3D) representation of a calibration object and obtaining, based on the intraoral scanner being used by a user to scan the 3D calibration object, and from one or more device to real-world coordinate transformations of two-dimensional (2D) images of the 3D calibration object, measurement data. Calibrating the intraoral scanner further includes aligning the measurement data to the reference data to obtain alignment data and updating, based on the alignment data, said one or more transformations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2023
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2024
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Tal Verker, Adi Levin, Ofer Saphier, Maayan Moshe
  • Patent number: 11950976
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides methods, devices, and systems that utilize dental appliance etch templates prior to or during dental treatment. One dental appliance etch template includes a removable shell having one or more cavities formed therein, where the one or more cavities are shaped to receive teeth of a patient, and the shell includes a well, the well including a wafer, where the wafer includes etch material to etch a tooth of the patient.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2024
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Michael Lawrence Fernie
  • Patent number: 11954262
    Abstract: A scanning system comprises an intraoral scanner to capture scan data of a dental site and a computing device to generate a 3D rendering of the dental site. The scanner comprises one or more input devices configured to provide manual interaction with the computing device, where: a first activation of the input device(s) causes the scanning system to enter the scan mode, wherein the 3D rendering has a first visualization during the scan mode; and a second activation of the input device(s) causes the scanning system to enter an overlay mode, wherein the 3D rendering has a second visualization during the overlay mode, wherein the computing device is to present a menu comprising menu options on the display while the scanning system is in the overlay mode, and wherein the scanner is usable to select among the presented menu options.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2024
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Sabina, Leon Rasovsky
  • Patent number: 11950880
    Abstract: An intraoral scanner comprises a light source for generating light, an optics system for focusing the light, and a light-guiding part having an entrance and an exit. The light source, the optics system and the light-guiding part are arranged such that the light passes through the optics system, enters the light-guiding part via the entrance, and exits the light-guiding part via the exit. The optics system is configured such that, upon entering the light-guiding part, an outermost chief ray of the light with respect to an optical axis of the optics system is divergent to the optical axis and an outermost marginal ray of the light with respect to the optical axis is parallel or divergent to the optical axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2023
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2024
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Yossef Atiya, Tal Verker, Nir Makmel
  • Patent number: 11945166
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and devices for post-processing additively manufactured objects are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, a method includes receiving a plurality of additively manufactured objects on a rotor, the plurality of additively manufactured objects having excess material thereon. The method can include removing the excess material from the plurality of additively manufactured objects by rotating the plurality of additively manufactured objects via the rotor. The method can further include applying energy to the plurality of additively manufactured objects to cure a portion of each additively manufactured object while the plurality of additively manufactured objects are on the rotor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Viswanath Meenakshisundaram, Srinivas Kaza, Chunhua Li, Lance Robert Pickens, Shawn Stromenger, Jun Sato, Siobhan O'Leary, Peter Webber, Brett E. Kelly, Jennifer Chavez
  • Patent number: 11944514
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and devices for improved orthodontic treatment of a patient's teeth are provided herein. In some embodiments, a method includes determining an appliance geometry for a dental appliance. The appliance geometry can include a first region representing a shell comprising a plurality of teeth receiving cavities, and a second region representing at least one integrally formed component to be integrally joined to the shell. The method can also include generating instructions including a first digital representation of the shell based on the first region, and a second digital representation of the at least one integrally formed component based on the second region. The method can further include transmitting the instructions to a fabrication system configured to additively manufacture the dental appliance by fabricating the shell based on the first digital representation, concurrently with fabricating the at least one integrally formed component based on the second digital representation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2024
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Avi Kopelman, Allen Boronkay, Peter Webber, Vadim Matov, Srinivas Kaza, Ryan Kimura, Yaser Shanjani
  • Patent number: 11937991
    Abstract: Aligner attachment placement devices including a frame configured to extend over at least a portion of a dental arch, an attachment support extending from a first side of the frame, an aligner attachment frangibly connected to the attachment support, a first and second registration anchor, and a retention support extending from a second side of the frame. In some cases, a gap portion of the frame between the first and second registration anchors may be configured to suspend over one or more teeth of the dental arch. The retention support may be separate from and located between the first and second registration anchors. The retention support may include an extension arm and a tooth contact portion, where at least part of the extension arm has a smaller width than the tooth contact portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Peter Webber, Siobhan O'Leary, Jun Sato
  • Patent number: 11937996
    Abstract: Apparatuses (e.g., systems, devices, etc.) and method for scanning both a subject's face as well as the subject's intra oral cavity to provide two-dimensional (2D) and/or three dimensional (3D) data that may be subsequently used in prosthodontic and orthodontic procedures, including smile planning (e.g., designing or modifying a subject's overall smile or facial aesthetics).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Sharon Peleg
  • Patent number: 11939287
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides methods and processes for the recovery of compounds (e.g., pendant groups) from polymeric materials, as well as methods for recycling and reusing such compounds by synthetically converting a recovered compound to building blocks that can be used in, e.g., curable resins for the fabrication of new devices, such as medical devices (e.g., orthodontic appliances).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Umesh Upendra Choudhary
  • Patent number: 11931223
    Abstract: Described herein are intraoral appliances with adaptive cellular materials and structures to provide enhanced mechanical properties and orthodontic functionality, and related methods. The described appliances may have higher Young's modulus and elongation rate than appliances made from conventional materials. Further, the described appliances may have desirable non-linear force/strain profiles. Additionally, the control provided by using cellular structures allow for increased customization for individual patients. Thus, the described appliances may be more effective, have longer appliance lifetimes and/or provide less discomfort to patients.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2024
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Yaser Shanjani, Jun Sato, Ryan Kimura
  • Patent number: D1026227
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2024
    Assignee: Align Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Zakhar Ginzburg, Roee Gorfinkel, Tom Seatter