Patent ID: 7320592

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for designing custom appliances for repositioning the teeth of a patient, comprising: scanning a patient's teeth or a physical model thereof to generate a virtual model; providing a digital model of each of a plurality of candidate appliances to be applied to a virtual model of the teeth, the candidate appliances having cavities shaped to receive and reposition teeth; computing the actual effect of each of the plurality of appliances on repositioning the teeth by performing an analysis on a digital model of the shape and material of each of the plurality of appliances to be applied to the teeth, and a structure of the patient's teeth as set forth in the virtual model; and generating, based at least partially on the computed effect, a sequence of custom appliances having cavities and wherein the cavities of successive custom appliances have different geometries selected to receive and progressively reposition the teeth, wherein the sequence of custom appliances is generated prior to the patient wearing any appliance of the sequence.