Patent ID: 7094053

Claim:
A method of providing a custom placement jig for positioning an orthodontic appliance on a tooth, the method comprising: forming a jig body of a jig forming material, including forming a generally-concave jig-locating surface in the body in response to digitized data representing the shape of an occlusal portion of a crown of an individual tooth of an orthodontic patient; coating the jig-locating surface with a releasable adhesive; removably connecting an orthodontic appliance having a bonding base to the jig body; positioning the jig body on the occlusal portion of the crown of the tooth by removably attaching the jig-locating surface thereto with the releasable adhesive and thereby generally simultaneously locating the appliance on the crown of the tooth; adhesively bonding the located appliance to the crown of the tooth with dental adhesive between the tooth and the bonding base; with the appliance bonded to the tooth, removing the jig body from the tooth by detaching the jig-locating surface from the crown of the tooth and disconnecting the jig body from the appliance; providing handle structure on the jig body occlusally opposite from the jig-locating surface and configured to be gripped by a tool for transporting the combination to the tooth of the patient; and the positioning including gripping the handle structure with a tool and transporting the jig with the appliance attached to the crown of the tooth.