3D-Printed Ceramic Aligner Attachments for Shape Retention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for creating ceramic labial/lingual orthodontic clear aligner attachments are inefficient and inaccurate, leading to shape alterations during placement and removal, enamel damage, and excessive wear due to abrasion, with existing resin-based attachments requiring significant flash removal and being prone to deformation.
Innovation Solution
The use of ceramic slurry-based additive manufacturing (AM) to fabricate customized ceramic attachments, which are bonded with unfilled or partially filled bonding resin, allowing for precise shape retention and reduced abrasion resistance, enabling direct tooth-matching retentive features and improved durability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If resin-based bonding material is used to fabricate clear aligner attachments, then the attachments can be easily bonded to teeth, but the attachments suffer from shape alteration during placement and removal, and excessive wear from abrasion
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameter from resin-based bonding material to ceramic material for attachment fabrication. This parameter change provides both advantages: ceramic attachments can be bonded to teeth like resin materials while simultaneously maintaining shape integrity during placement/removal and resisting abrasion wear, thus resolving the contradiction between ease of bonding and shape retention
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses composite material structure where ceramic attachments are bonded to teeth using bonding resin. The ceramic material provides wear resistance and shape stability, while the bonding resin provides adhesion. This composite approach allows the system to achieve both ease of bonding and reliability in shape retention simultaneously
2Ease of operation
If high speed drill is used to remove attachments and residual flash, then the attachments can be removed from teeth, but enamel is also removed from the tooth surface due to inability to discern boundary
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the harmful element (excessive flash) from the system by using precision manufacturing of ceramic attachments that minimize flash creation in the first place. The ceramic attachments are fabricated with precise geometry through additive manufacturing, eliminating the need for aggressive drilling and flash removal that causes enamel damage
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical drilling system with a precision manufacturing system. Instead of using high-speed drills to remove attachments and flash (which causes enamel damage), the ceramic attachments are additively manufactured with precise geometry that minimizes flash, allowing for gentler removal processes that protect enamel
3Ease of manufacture
If traditional manufacturing methods are used to create attachments, then the attachments can be fabricated, but significant flash is created requiring grinding and causing shape alteration
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces traditional mechanical manufacturing methods (injection molding, compression molding) with additive manufacturing technology. This substitution enables precise fabrication of ceramic attachments with minimal flash, eliminating the need for post-manufacturing grinding and shape correction, thus achieving both ease of manufacture and high shape accuracy
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the manufacturing method parameter from traditional molding techniques to additive manufacturing. This parameter change fundamentally alters the fabrication process to create attachments with precise geometry and minimal flash from the start, resolving the contradiction between ease of manufacture and manufacturing precision
4Adaptability or versatility
If aligner trays are repeatedly inserted and removed during treatment, then the treatment can be adjusted, but the resin-based attachments wear significantly and must be replaced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the material parameter from resin-based attachments to ceramic attachments. This parameter change provides both adaptability for treatment adjustments (attachments can still be removed and replaced) while dramatically improving durability and resistance to wear from repeated insertion and removal of aligner trays
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach minimizes shape variability, reduces enamel damage, and enhances the durability of the attachments by providing a more accurate and resistant ceramic surface that withstands the placement and removal processes, maintaining the desired shape and functionality during orthodontic treatment.
Implementation Method 1
A slurry is defined as inorganic particles dispersed in a liquid, and may photopolymerizable or may polymerize by other mechanisms
Data Source
AI summary
A method of manufacturing pre-formed, customized, ceramic, labial/lingual orthodontic clear aligner attachments (CCAA) by additive manufacturing (AM) may comprise measuring dentition data of a profile of teeth of a patient, based on the dentition data, creating a three dimensional computer-assisted design (3D CAD) model of the patient's teeth using reverse engineering, and saving the 3D CAD model, designing a 3D CAD structure model for one or more CCAA on various parts of each tooth, importing data related to the 3D CAD CCAA structure model into an AM machine, directly producing the CCAA in the ceramic slurry-based AM machine by layer manufacturing, enabling the provider to deliver patient-specific CCAA's by an indirect bonding method to the patient's teeth to improve the efficacy and retention of the clear aligners.