Patent ID: 7641473

Claim:
A method of digitally evaluating the insertion quality of a target custom virtual arch wire, comprising the steps of: (a) obtaining a model of a set of virtual of brackets placed up on virtual teeth of a patient in a jaw in an initial state; wherein each of said set of virtual brackets has a slot; (b) obtaining a virtual model of a target custom arch wire designed to be inserted into said virtual brackets; wherein said custom arch wire comprises alternating sequence of straight segments and bent segments; wherein each of said straight segments is designated to be inserted into the slot of a specific virtual bracket from said set of virtual brackets; (c) selecting a first virtual bracket from said set of virtual brackets; (d) inserting the first straight segment of said target custom arch wire into the slot of said first virtual bracket; wherein said first straight segment is designated for insertion into the slot of said first virtual bracket; (e) selecting a second virtual bracket from said set of virtual brackets; wherein said second virtual bracket is the neighbor of said first virtual bracket; (f) inserting the second straight segment of said target custom arch wire into the slot of said second virtual bracket; wherein said second straight segment is designated for insertion into the slot of said second virtual bracket; (g) calculating deformation of said second straight segment; (h) evaluating the quality of insertion of said second straight segment into the slot of said second virtual bracket; and (i) optimizing said target custom arch wire if a collision is detected at said second virtual bracket, where by a portion of a bent segment gets inserted into the slot of said second virtual bracket.