US 12,329,605 B2
Surgical stabilizer aligner sets
John Y. Morton, San Jose, CA (US); Ken Wu, San Jose, CA (US); and Juan Carlos Alvarez, Watsonville, CA (US)
Assigned to Align Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US)
Filed by Align Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US)
Filed on Apr. 22, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/727,393.
Application 17/727,393 is a division of application No. 16/045,382, filed on Jul. 25, 2018, granted, now 11,331,166.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/537,805, filed on Jul. 27, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2022/0257350 A1, Aug. 18, 2022
Int. Cl. A61C 7/36 (2006.01); A61C 7/00 (2006.01); A61C 7/08 (2006.01)
CPC A61C 7/36 (2013.01) [A61C 7/002 (2013.01); A61C 7/08 (2013.01)] 13 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A set of stabilizer aligners, comprising:
a first upper stabilizer aligner for an upper dental arch of a patient, the first upper stabilizer aligner comprising:
a first set of cavities that conform to a dentition of the upper dental arch of the patient at a first stage of treatment; and
a first set of at least three stabilizing features, wherein each stabilizing feature of the first set is a projection from the first upper stabilizer aligner that consists of a single planar upper contact surface; and
a first lower stabilizer aligner for a lower dental arch of the patient, the first lower stabilizer aligner comprising:
a second set of cavities that conform to a dentition of the lower dental arch of the patient at the first stage of treatment; and
a second set of at least three stabilizing features, wherein each stabilizing feature of the second set is a projection from the first lower stabilizer aligner that consists of a single planar lower contact surface;
wherein stabilizing features in the second set of stabilizing features are configured to contact opposing stabilizing features in the first set of stabilizing features to form a plurality of pairs of opposing stabilizing features, each pair of opposing stabilizing features comprising a first stabilizing feature of the first set of stabilizing features and a second stabilizing feature of the second set of stabilizing features, wherein each pair of opposing stabilizing features has an axis of rotation defined by a vector normal to the planar upper contact surface and the planar lower contact surface at a contact point between the planar upper contact surface of the first stabilizing feature and the planar lower contact surface of the second stabilizing feature of the pair of opposing stabilizing features, wherein no two pairs of opposing stabilizing features have a common axis of rotation or a collinear axis of rotation; and
wherein the first upper stabilizer aligner and the first lower stabilizer aligner are configured to prevent jaw movement of the patient while the first upper stabilizer aligner is worn on the upper dental arch, the first lower stabilizer aligner is worn on the lower dental arch, and the first upper stabilizer aligner is engaged with the first lower stabilizer aligner based on shapes and positions of the first set of stabilizing features relative to shapes and positions of the second set of stabilizing features.