US 12,076,208 B2
Direct fabrication of mixed metal and polymer orthodontic devices
Jun Sato, San Jose, CA (US); and Yuxiang Wang, Newark, CA (US)
Assigned to ALIGN TECHNOLOGY, INC., San Jose, CA (US)
Filed by ALIGN TECHNOLOGY, INC., San Jose, CA (US)
Filed on Jul. 30, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/444,121.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/059,790, filed on Jul. 31, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2022/0031426 A1, Feb. 3, 2022
Int. Cl. A61C 7/08 (2006.01); A61C 7/00 (2006.01)
CPC A61C 7/08 (2013.01) [A61C 7/002 (2013.01)] 12 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of directly fabricating an orthodontic device, the method comprising: directly fabricating polymer tooth receiving cavities of an orthodontic device for a first arch of a patient, the tooth receiving cavities including at least one sidewall and being fabricated of a first polymer material, and a first tooth receiving cavity of the tooth receiving cavities having an attachment receiving well shaped to receive an attachment located on a tooth of the first arch of the patient; and directly fabricating a metal reinforcement member proximate the attachment receiving cavity in the at least one sidewall, the metal reinforcement member extending between a first end and a second end within the at least one sidewall, the metal reinforcement member extending between the first end and the second end with an apex being located between the first end and the second end, the apex being more proximate the attachment receiving cavity in a mesial-distal direction than the first end and the second end wherein the first end of the metal reinforcement member located within a sidewall of a first tooth receiving cavity of the tooth receiving cavities and the second end of the metal reinforcement member located within the sidewall of the first tooth receiving cavity of the tooth receiving cavities, wherein the metal reinforcement member comprises a metal fiber fabricated of a metal, different than the first polymer material.