US 12,370,015 B2
Manufacture of patient-specific orthodontic brackets with tooth-specific breakaway mechanism
Dylan Winchell, Somerville, MA (US); Samuel VanNoy, Somerville, MA (US); Kelsey A. Fafara, Watertown, MA (US); and Alfred Charles Griffin, III, Lynnfield, MA (US)
Assigned to LightForce Orthodontics, Inc., Burlington, MA (US)
Filed by LightForce Orthodontics, Inc., Burlington, MA (US)
Filed on Aug. 10, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/398,611.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/063,536, filed on Aug. 10, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2022/0039917 A1, Feb. 10, 2022
Int. Cl. A61C 7/00 (2006.01); A61C 7/14 (2006.01); B33Y 10/00 (2015.01); B33Y 50/00 (2015.01); B33Y 70/10 (2020.01); B33Y 80/00 (2015.01)
CPC A61C 7/002 (2013.01) [A61C 7/14 (2013.01); B33Y 10/00 (2014.12); B33Y 50/00 (2014.12); B33Y 70/10 (2020.01); B33Y 80/00 (2014.12)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
using at least one processor:
generating a three-dimensional (3D) model of an orthodontic bracket based at least in part on a 3D model of one or more of a patient's teeth, wherein the orthodontic bracket is generated to be placed over a region of a first tooth of the patient's teeth, the orthodontic bracket comprising:
a mesial-distal slot configured to receive an archwire; and
a stress concentrator groove arranged along an occlusal-gingival direction within a facial side of the orthodontic bracket, wherein:
the stress concentrator groove comprises a geometric shape extending along the occlusal-gingival direction and in the facial side of the orthodontic bracket;
the stress concentrator groove comprises a depth between (a) the geometric shape extending along the occlusal-gingival direction and in the facial side of the orthodontic bracket and (b) a corresponding surface along the occlusal-gingival direction within a base of the orthodontic bracket; and
at least part of the geometric shape of the stress concentrator groove and a part of the corresponding surface along the base of the orthodontic bracket are contoured in the occlusal-gingival direction based on a surface curvature of the region of the first tooth over which the orthodontic bracket is to be placed so that the depth between the part of the geometric shape and the part of the corresponding surface is constant; and
manufacturing an orthodontic bracket based on the 3D model of the orthodontic bracket using an additive manufacturing device.