Patent ID: 11896457
Assignee: ALIGN TECHNOLOGY, INC.
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A  B  G | IPC A  B  G

Claim 0:
1. A method of planning an orthodontic treatment, the method comprising:
receiving an initial dentition model of a patient's teeth in an initial arrangement;
determining a target arrangement for the patient's teeth;
generating an orthodontic treatment plan, wherein the orthodontic treatment plan comprises a plurality of incremental arrangements to sequentially reposition the patient's teeth from the initial arrangement towards the target arrangement;
determining, for at least one of the plurality of incremental arrangements, a geometry corresponding to a pair of orthodontic aligners, wherein the geometries for the pair of orthodontic aligners comprises:
a first plurality of teeth-receiving cavities corresponding to an upper aligner, wherein the first plurality of teeth-receiving cavities are configured to receive at least a portion of the patient's upper dentition;
a first marking disposed on the first plurality of teeth-receiving cavities, wherein the first marking corresponds to a position of a first hook for receiving a first end of an elastic band;
a second plurality of teeth-receiving cavities corresponding to a lower aligner, wherein the second plurality of teeth-receiving cavities are configured to receive at least a portion of the patient's lower dentition;
a second marking disposed on the second plurality of teeth-receiving cavities, wherein the second marking corresponds to a position of a second hook for receiving a second end of the elastic band; and

fabricating the pair of orthodontic aligners based on the geometries determined, wherein fabricating the pair of orthodontic aligners comprises:
forming the first plurality of teeth-receiving cavities;
forming the first marking on the first plurality of teeth-receiving cavities;
forming the second plurality of teeth-receiving cavities; and
forming the second marking on the second plurality of teeth-receiving cavities;

wherein the first hook extends in a gingival direction relative to a gingival edge of the geometry of the upper aligner.