Eric T Kuo

US Patent:

6386864, May 14, 2002

Filed:

Jun 30, 2000

Appl. No.:

09/608593

Inventors:

Eric Kuo - Sunnyvale CA

Assignee:

Align Technology, Inc. - Santa Clara CA

International Classification:

A61C 300

US Classification:

433 6, 433215

Abstract:

The present invention provides dental appliances, systems and methods which allow orthodontic practitioners to more easily monitor patient treatment progress. When using elastic repositioning appliances in orthodontic treatment, a patient may wear such an appliance until their teeth have repositioned to the tooth configuration prescribed by the appliance. At that point, the patient should progress to the next appliance for repositioning to the next tooth configuration in the treatment plan. Indications that the appliance is no longer supplying significant repositioning forces may be beneficial in the determination of progressing the patient to the next appliance or next stage in treatment. Mechanical stress in the material of the appliance, when the appliance is in place over the patients teeth, may serve as an indicator of repositioning force applied against the teeth. Such stress may be visualized with the use of photoelastic material in or on the appliance.

US Patent:

6454565, Sep 24, 2002

Filed:

Jun 4, 2001

Appl. No.:

09/874724

Inventors:

Loc X. Phan - Milpitas CA
Muhammad Chishti - Sunnyvale CA
Ross J. Miller - Sunnyvale CA
H. Robert Vandenberg - San Ramon CA
Eric Kuo - Foster City CA

Assignee:

Align Technology, Inc. - Santa Clara CA

International Classification:

A61C 300

US Classification:

433 6

Abstract:

The present invention provides improved devices, systems and methods for repositioning teeth from an initial tooth arrangement to a final tooth arrangement. Repositioning is accomplished with a system comprising a series of polymeric shell appliances configured to receive the teeth and incrementally reposition individual teeth in a series of successive steps. The individual appliances may be formed from layers having different stiffnesses (elastic moduluses), and the stiffnesses of successive appliances may be different, or both.

US Patent:

6524101, Feb 25, 2003

Filed:

Jul 14, 2000

Appl. No.:

09/616830

Inventors:

Loc X. Phan - Milpitas CA
Muhammad Chishti - Sunnyvale CA
Ross J. Miller - Sunnyvale CA
H. Robert Vandenberg - San Ramon CA
Eric Kuo - San Francisco CA

Assignee:

Align Technology, Inc. - Santa Clara CA

International Classification:

A61C 300

US Classification:

433 6, 433 24

Abstract:

The present invention provides improved devices, systems and methods for repositioning teeth from an initial tooth arrangement to a final tooth arrangement. Repositioning is accomplished with a system comprising a series of polymeric appliances configured to receive the teeth in a cavity and incrementally reposition individual teeth in a series of successive steps. This is accomplished by applying force to specific surfaces of the teeth through stiffness of the appliance. However, such stiffness creates limitations in ease of use, patient compliance, and overall cost in material, manufacturing labor and treatment time. To overcome these limitations, the present invention utilizes polymeric or other material appliances with portions differing in rigidity or stiffness. Alternatively, elastic moduluses may differ from one appliance to the next in a successive series to accomplish various treatment goals. Thus, the systems and methods of the present invention provide the design, production and use of such multiple stiffness positioning appliances in orthodontic treatment.

US Patent:

6572372, Jun 3, 2003

Filed:

Jul 14, 2000

Appl. No.:

09/616222

Inventors:

Loc X. Phan - Milpitas CA
Muhammad Chishti - Sunnyvale CA
Ross J. Miller - Sunnyvale CA
H. Robert Van Den Berg - San Ramon CA
Eric Kuo - San Francisco CA
Jae Hyun Ahn - San Francisco CA

Assignee:

Align Technology, Inc. - Santa Clara CA

International Classification:

A61C 700

US Classification:

433 6, 433 18

Abstract:

Traditional orthodontic treatment often involves the use of basic repositioning devices, such as braces, and the use of supplementary devices, components or accessories to achieve desired end results. Such components may be mounted on fixed, non-removable devices or they may be part of a removable appliance typically worn prior to the application of the fixed devices. As with traditional treatment, it may be desired to utilize similar components when repositioning teeth with removable elastic repositioning appliances. Due to the nature of elastic appliances, such components may take a variety of forms ranging from readily available traditional accessories to specially created devices. Thus, traditional components may be mounted on or embedded in an elastic appliance, or the appliance may be formed to provide similar components. Likewise, the appliance may be modified to provide additional features for specific orthodontic treatments.

US Patent:

6582229, Jun 24, 2003

Filed:

Apr 25, 2001

Appl. No.:

09/843244

Inventors:

Ross J. Miller - Sunnyvale CA
Eric Kuo - Foster City CA
Daniel E. Falvey - Castro Valley CA
Andrew H. Trosien - San Francisco CA

Assignee:

Align Technology, Inc. - Santa Clara CA

International Classification:

A61C 1100

US Classification:

433213, 433 71

Abstract:

The present invention provides methods and devices for determining an axis of upper and lower jaw articulation of a patient and modeling jaw movement about such an axis, particularly with the use of computerized visual images. The methods comprise providing digital data sets of tooth and bite configuration information which may be used to determine an estimated condylar axis of rotation for a patient. A number of data sets may be acquired and utilized for such estimations. Data sets may be obtained with the use of bite registers. Such registers may be formed by a number of methods and device designs of the present invention. The resulting digital data sets and axis of articulation may then be utilized to generate animated visual images of a patients jaws in various bite configurations throughout a given rotation around the determined axis. Accuracy of such dynamic imaging, in addition to the determination of the location of the condylar axis, may increase with the number of bite configurations recorded throughout the rotation.

US Patent:

6607382, Aug 19, 2003

Filed:

Sep 21, 2000

Appl. No.:

09/666783

Inventors:

Eric Kuo - San Francisco CA
Loc X. Phan - Milpitas CA

Assignee:

Align Technology, Inc. - Santa Clara CA

International Classification:

A61C 300

US Classification:

433 6, 433 80, 433216

Abstract:

The present invention provides devices, systems and methods for orthodontic treatment using elastic repositioning appliances while concurrently providing dental and periodontal therapies. Such therapies are traditionally provided with the use of a variety of accessories and devices which are applied when the repositioning appliance is removed from the patients mouth. The present invention eliminates the need for such removal and additional devices by incorporating these therapies into the repositioning appliance.

US Patent:

6768560, Jul 27, 2004

Filed:

May 19, 2000

Appl. No.:

09/574270

Inventors:

Daniel H. Greene - Sunnyvale CA
Eric H. Kuo - Cambridge MA

Assignee:

Xerox Corporation - Stamford CT

International Classification:

G06K 1502

US Classification:

358 328, 382310, 382180, 382232, 235375, 235494

Abstract:

A system encodes a separate assist channel that carries only a small amount of additional information in a hardcopy document to compensate for failure of an OCR system to accurately reconstruct a scanned electronic version of the hardcopy document. The assist channel protects symbols printed on the hardcopy document by computing Reed-Solomon error correcting codes for vertical columns of symbols. Decoding is synchronized along a line of text at each symbol block. When an error correcting code corrects an error produced during OCR processing, the remainder of the line containing the error is revised.

US Patent:

6790035, Sep 14, 2004

Filed:

Sep 28, 2001

Appl. No.:

09/967822

Inventors:

Robert E. Tricca - Danville CA
Eric Kuo - Foster City CA
Peter G. Knopp - Palo Alto CA
Craig R. Bruns - Danville CA

Assignee:

Align Technology, Inc. - Santa Clara CA

International Classification:

A61C 300

US Classification:

433 6, 433167, 264 19

Abstract:

Systems and methods are disclosed for forming a pontic in a polymeric shell dental appliance, including providing a polymeric shell dental appliance of the type which is removably placeable over a patients dentition, said shell having a concave trough which conforms to the teeth when the appliance is placed over the dentition and a location in the trough corresponding to a missing tooth; and depositing a flexible, durably affixed material in the location to form the pontic.