Customized Tooth-Specific Platforms for Orthodontic Brackets
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional orthodontic appliances face challenges in securely attaching archwires to teeth, leading to discomfort, tongue irritation, and increased risk of bracket breakage due to standard, non-customized designs that do not accurately fit the shape of individual teeth.
Innovation Solution
The development of customizable tooth-specific platforms and brackets that are designed and manufactured using 3D-representations of patient teeth, allowing for precise attachment zones and reduced thickness, which enhances fixation properties and comfort by minimizing the distance between the archwire and teeth, thus improving tooth movement accuracy and oral hygiene.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If standard non-customized brackets are used, then manufacturing simplicity is maintained, but fixation properties and patient comfort deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary scanning of the patient's teeth to create a 3D digital model before bracket manufacturing. This advance preparation enables customization of each bracket to precisely match the specific geometry of individual teeth, ensuring optimal fixation properties while maintaining efficient manufacturing through pre-planning
Solution Approach 2:
Each bracket is customized with local quality variations to match the specific contour and characteristics of its target tooth. The system generates tooth-specific platforms and brackets that are uniquely shaped for each tooth position, providing optimized fixation and comfort for each individual tooth rather than using uniform standard brackets
2Object-affected harmful factors
If bracket thickness is reduced, then patient comfort and oral hygiene are improved, but structural strength may deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The tooth-specific platforms and brackets are designed with optimized local thickness distribution that matches the underlying tooth anatomy. The brackets are thinner only where the tooth structure provides sufficient support, while maintaining adequate strength in critical load-bearing areas, thus reducing tongue irritation without compromising structural integrity
Solution Approach 2:
The brackets are designed to conform to the curved surface of individual teeth with customized contours. This curvature optimization allows the brackets to achieve better mechanical engagement with the tooth surface, distributing forces more effectively and maintaining strength with reduced overall thickness
3Manufacturing precision
If customized tooth-specific platforms are manufactured, then attachment precision is improved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system replaces traditional mechanical measurement and fitting methods with optical scanning and digital modeling technologies. The intraoral scanner captures tooth geometry optically, and software automatically generates precise 3D models and customized bracket designs, eliminating the need for manual impressions and physical trial fittings while achieving superior attachment precision
Solution Approach 2:
The manufacturing process transforms physical tooth parameters into digital data parameters through scanning. The system then uses software algorithms to automatically calculate and generate optimized bracket designs based on these digital parameters, enabling precise customization without manual intervention and simplifying the overall manufacturing workflow
Data Source
AI summary
A method and processor for generating a 3D-platform representation of a tooth-specific platform for attachment of a dental appliance to a tooth of a patient are disclosed. The method includes acquiring a 3D-tooth representation of the tooth, and defining an attachment zone on the surface of the 3D-tooth representation. The attachment zone has a zone perimeter enclosing a surface portion of the 3D-tooth representation corresponding to a surface portion of the tooth to which the tooth-specific platform is to be attached. The method also includes generating the 3D-platform representation having (i) a tooth-oriented surface matching the surface portion of the 3D-tooth representation and having a perimeter matching the zone perimeter, (ii) a perimeter wall extending between the tooth-oriented surface and the tooth-opposite surface and away from the surface portion, and (iii) a tooth-opposite surface matching an expanded surface portion of the 3D-tooth representation.