Claims
- 1. A method for fabricating a plurality of dental incremental position adjustment appliances, said method comprising:
providing digital data representing a plurality of successive tooth arrangements progressing from an initial tooth arrangement to a final tooth arrangement; and controlling a fabrication machine based on the digital data to produce the appliances.
- 2. A method as in claim 1, wherein providing the digital data comprises providing a plurality of digital data sets, wherein each set represents one of the successive tooth arrangements.
- 3. A method as in claim 1, wherein the fabrication machine is controlled to produce polymeric shell appliances.
- 4. A method as in claim 1, wherein controlling the fabrication machine comprises:
providing a volume of non-hardened polymeric resin; and selectively hardening the resin in a shape corresponding to each of the appliances.
- 5. A method as in claim 4, wherein selectively hardening comprises scanning a laser to selectively cross-link the resin.
- 6. A method as in claim 1, wherein controlling the fabrication machine comprises:
providing a volume of non-hardened polymeric resin; and selectively hardening the resin in a shape corresponding to each of the appliances.
- 7. A method as in claim 6, wherein hardening comprises scanning a laser to selectively cross-link the resin.
- 8. A method as in claim 4, wherein scanning produces an appliance comprising a thin polymeric shell.
- 9. A method as in claim 6, wherein scanning produces an appliance comprising a thin polymeric shell.
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/298,268, filed Apr. 23, 1999, which was a division of application Ser. No. 08/947,080, filed Oct. 8, 1997, which claimed the benefit of provisional application Ser. No. 60/050,342, filed on Jun. 20, 1997, the full disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60050342 |
Jun 1997 |
US |
Divisions (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
08947080 |
Oct 1997 |
US |
Child |
09298268 |
Apr 1999 |
US |
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09298268 |
Apr 1999 |
US |
Child |
09791650 |
Feb 2001 |
US |