Company: ALGN
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001097149-25-000012
Chunk: 16

Company: ALIGN TECHNOLOGY INC
Filing Date: 2025-02-28
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1
Chunk 16
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 and processes. Globally, approximately 94% of prescription orders for our Invisalign System are now submitted via digital scan, increasing the accuracy of treatment plans, reducing the time from when a doctor submits a prescription to the time a patient receives the clear aligners, and helping to decrease the carbon footprint resulting from elimination of the initial or upfront shipment of a patient’s PVS impressions to the doctors and shipping those PVS impressions back to us. 

Computer-simulated treatment plan. Our ClinCheck® Pro cloud-based treatment planning software is the cornerstone of the AlignTM Digital Platform. ClinCheck Pro leverages proprietary algorithms based on the insights from data from over 19 million patients treated worldwide. Using the digital scans or PVS impressions, any specific doctor preferences and digital data provided, we generate a proposed custom, three-dimensional ClinCheck® treatment plan using proprietary software developed through significant, ongoing research and development investments spanning over two decades. A patient’s ClinCheck treatment plan simulates desired tooth movement in stages and details the timing and placement of any features or attachments to be used during treatment. Attachments are tooth-colored shapes that can be affixed to a patient’s teeth to increase the biomechanical force on a specific tooth or teeth in order to affect the desired movement(s).

Treatment plan review and approval by an Invisalign-trained doctor. The patient’s proposed ClinCheck treatment plan is then made available to the prescribing dental professional via our Invisalign Doctor Site, enabling the dental professional to evaluate projected tooth movement as it progresses from initial to final position and compare treatment plan options to best meet the dental professional’s treatment objectives. By reviewing, modifying as needed and approving an acceptable treatment plan, the dental professional retains control of the patient’s treatment.

Manufacture of custom clear aligners. Following the dental professional’s approval of a ClinCheck treatment plan, we use the data underlying the simulation as input for stereolithography technology (a form of 3D printing technology) to construct a series of molds. Each mold is a replica of the patient’s teeth at each stage of the simulated course of treatment. From these molds, clear aligners are fabricated by pressure-forming polymeric sheets over each mold. Clear aligners are thin, clear polymer, removable dental appliances that are custom manufactured in a series designed to correspond to each stage of a patient’s ClinCheck treatment plan.

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Shipment to the dental professional and patient clear aligner wear. Once manufactured, each clear aligner for a patient’s doctor-approved treatment plan is typically shipped directly to