Abstract: Apparatuses and methods for improving a patient's buccal corridor, including developing treatment plans and/or appliances to improve and enhance buccal corridor. Also described herein are methods of treating a patient's teeth to enhance the patient's buccal corridor.

Abstract: Methods, devices, and systems for placing dental auxiliaries on teeth and/or removing dental auxiliaries from teeth are provided. In some embodiments, a device for removing a dental auxiliary from a tooth includes: a first elongate member having a proximal end and a distal end; a second elongate member having a proximal end and a distal end, where the first and second elongate members are pivotally coupled to each other; a scraper at the distal end of the second elongate member, where the scraper is configured to apply force to the dental auxiliary to remove the dental auxiliary from the tooth; and a pair of sidewalls configured to capture debris resulting from the removal of the dental auxiliary from the tooth.

Abstract: Methods and apparatuses for orthodontic treatment planning. A treatment plan may be for a patient's teeth and for a specific dental professional. A set of combined treatment preferences may include a first set of rules converted from a set of textual instructions from the specified dental professional into a domain-specific language specific to the specified dental professional. The textual instructions may include unscripted instructions. A second set of rules may be converted from a set of scripted instructions from the specified dental professional. The scripted instructions may include responses from a script of predefined choices. An orthodontic treatment plan may be generated for the patient's teeth using the set of combined treatment preferences and a digital model of the patient's teeth.

Abstract: A system for correcting malocclusions may include a maxillary appliance having tooth receiving cavities shaped to receive teeth of a maxilla and a first elastic coupling at gingival line of the maxillary appliance. The first elastic coupling may be configured for receiving an elastic. The system may also include mandibular appliance having tooth receiving cavities shaped to receive teeth of a mandible. The system may also include a corrective appliance having a first coupling configured to be coupled to the mandibular appliance at a first location on a first side of incisors of a patient and a second coupling configured to be coupled to the mandibular appliance on a second side of the incisors, and having an arm extending from the corrective appliance towards the gingival line of the maxillary appliance and being shaped to receive the elastic.

Abstract: A method may include identifying a jaw position of a misaligned jaw of a patient from the virtual image of the patient's jaw and providing a treatment plan. The treatment plan may include tooth repositioning forces and jaw repositioning forces. The method may also include virtually modeling application of jaw repositioning forces between a first repositioning jaw element and a second repositioning jaw element to obtain a virtual model of the application of the jaw repositioning forces on the virtual model of the patient's jaw, identifying one or more constraints limiting the application of the jaw repositioning forces to the misaligned jaw, and adjusting the first repositioning jaw element and the second repositioning jaw element to accommodate the one or more constraints.

Abstract: Apparatuses and methods for improving a patient's buccal corridor, including developing treatment plans and/or appliances to improve and enhance buccal corridor. Also described herein are methods of treating a patient's teeth to enhance the patient's buccal corridor.

Abstract: Method of manufacturing a series of aligners for an orthodontic and/or dental treatment of a patient's teeth. In particular, described herein are methods of manufacturing a series of aligners that includes displaying images of the patient's teeth at the final stages for a subset of the treatment plans from the array of treatment plans in a manner that allows the user to select between the different treatment plans in order to select a treatment plan for fabrication.

Abstract: Orthodontic and/or dental treatment planning methods and apparatuses. In particular, described herein are methods of generating a plurality of orthodontic treatment plans digitally using a hierarchy of bounding boxes enclosing the plurality of 3D shapes to avoid collisions during treatment.

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, 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, and adjusting the position of the repositioning jaw elements on the first shell and the second shell to comply with a number of constraints. 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.

Abstract: A set of primer appliances and a set of treatment appliances to be worn by a subject are provided. The primer appliances are first worn to prepare the local environment of the teeth for further repositioning of the teeth by the treatment appliances. The primer appliances may apply compression or force to one or more support structures of the teeth, in a direction favorable for inducing a biological response of the one or more support structures that prepares the teeth for repositioning, for example by relaxing the tissue of the one or more support structures of the teeth. The primer appliances may cause minimal or no repositioning of the teeth. The treatment appliances are worn to reposition the teeth from an initial position to an end position of a treatment stage. The primer appliances can improve the efficiency and accuracy of tooth movement by the treatment appliances.

Abstract: A system for treating food traps may include an intraoral scanner and a processor coupled in electronic communication with the intraoral scanner, a processor, and memory comprising instructions that when executed by the processor cause the system to carry out a method. The method may include receiving a 3D digital model of a patient's detention and analyzing the 3D digital model of the patient's detention by detecting anatomic structures in the 3D digital model of the patient's detention that correspond to food traps. The 3D digital model of the patient's detention may be displayed on a display and digital feedback may be provided on the displayed 3D digital model of the patient's detention. The feedback may identify a location of the food traps.

Abstract: Systems and methods for forming eruption compensation (EC) features in dental appliances for accommodating erupting teeth. An EC feature may be oversized compared to a predicted geometry of an erupting tooth, thereby allowing natural eruption of the tooth when a subject wears the dental appliance. The size, shape, location and/or orientation of the EC feature may be determined based on a virtual EC region in a virtual dental model of the subject's teeth. Dimensions of the virtual EC region may be calculated using a scaling process applied to the predicted geometry of the erupting tooth. In some cases an asymmetric scaling may be used to provide a prescribed larger lingual or buccal side of the EC region to accommodate an ectopically erupting tooth.

Abstract: A dental appliance may include a first plurality of tooth receiving cavities for anterior teeth and a first plurality of attachment receiving cavities shaped to impart a first plurality of forces and a first counter moment to the anterior teeth, the first plurality of forces being to direct at least one tooth in a posterior direction. The dental appliance may include a second plurality of tooth receiving cavities for posterior teeth and a second plurality of attachment receiving cavities to impart a second plurality of forces and a second counter moment the posterior teeth, the second counter moment being in a direction opposing the first counter moment. At least a portion of the second plurality of forces may be configured to oppose the first plurality of forces. The first counter moment and the second counter moment may be configured to be coupled to form a differential moment.

Abstract: 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 moment of each of the plurality of teeth.

Abstract: Methods and apparatuses (e.g., system, including software) for processing dental workflows. In particular, described herein are methods and apparatuses for processing dental treatment plan for aligning a patient's teeth when a dental professional submits a patient-specific prescription for a series of dental aligners.

Abstract: Dental appliances and methods for expanding the lower dental arch. The appliances may be removable mandibular expander devices for efficient arch expansion while being comfortable to wear and easy to use. The appliances may include a lingual portion that is shaped and sized to apply an expansion force to lingual surfaces of one or more teeth. The shape and size of the lingual portion may be configured to distribute the forces among posterior and/or anterior teeth.

Abstract: Please cancel the previous version of the Abstract and replace with the following amended Orthodontic treatment planning systems and associated methods are provided. In some embodiments, a treatment planning system can generate at least one treatment plan for a patient based on an initial tooth data set. The at least one treatment plan can include a plurality of planned successive tooth arrangements for moving teeth along a treatment path from an initial arrangement toward a selected final arrangement. The at least one treatment plan can further include a series of one or more treatment stages to move teeth along the treatment path. The treatment planning system can further display tooth arrangements for each of the one or more treatment stages and allow a user to compare tooth arrangements for at least two different treatment stages. Furthermore, the treatment planning system can allow the user to select a treatment plan after comparing tooth arrangements.

Abstract: Systems and methods for monitoring a dental patient's progress during treatment. A camera coordinate system of a virtual camera is aligned to be coincident with a world coordinate system of a 3D) model representing a expected configuration of the patient's teeth at a particular time during treatment. One or more expected 2D images generated by mapping points from the 3D model to points on an image plane of the virtual camera. One or more 2D images of the patient's teeth taken at the particular time during treatment are compared to the expected 2D images to determine whether a configuration of the patient's teeth is within a threshold level of correspondence to the expected configuration of the patient's teeth. An indication about whether the dental treatment is proceeding as expected based on whether the configuration of the patient's teeth is within the threshold level can be provided.

Abstract: 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 at a different treatment stage or over a tooth arrangement from a different treatment plan.

Abstract: A system for correcting class III malocclusions is disclosed. The system may include a maxilla appliance having tooth receiving cavities shaped to receive teeth of the maxilla and a first coupling for receiving an elastic. The system may also include a mandibular appliance having tooth receiving cavities shaped to receive teeth of the mandible. In some embodiments, the system includes a class III corrective appliance having a first mount shaped to engage with the mandibular arch of the patient and having a second coupling shaped to receive the elastic.