Patent Application 17835640 - TREATMENT OF TEETH BY ALIGNERS

Title: TREATMENT OF TEETH BY ALIGNERS
Application Information

Invention Title: TREATMENT OF TEETH BY ALIGNERS
Application Number: 17835640
Submission Date: 2025-05-14T00:00:00.000Z
Effective Filing Date: 2022-06-08T00:00:00.000Z
Filing Date: 2022-06-08T00:00:00.000Z
National Class: 715
National Sub-Class: 771000
Examiner Employee Number: 84274
Art Unit: 3772
Tech Center: 3700
Rejection Summary

102 Rejections: 1
103 Rejections: 0
Cited Patents

The following patents were cited in the rejection:
US 0049584🔗
Office Action Text


    DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA  or AIA  Status
The present application is being examined under the pre-AIA  first to invent provisions. 
Information Disclosure Statement

The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 12/08/2023 has been being considered by the examiner.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election of claims 1-19 in the reply filed on 02/12/2025 is acknowledged. Because applicant did not distinctly and specifically point out the supposed errors in the restriction requirement, the election has been treated as an election without traverse (MPEP § 818.01(a)). 
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of pre-AIA  35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –

(b) the invention was patented or described in a printed publication in this or a foreign country or in public use or on sale in this country, more than one year prior to the date of application for patent in the United States.


Claim(s) 1-19 is/are rejected under pre-AIA  35 U.S.C. 102(b) as being anticipated by Christi et al. (2003/0049584).
Christi discloses a method for providing orthodontic treatment, the method comprising: receiving an initial representation of the patient's dentition in an initial arrangement ([0026], note Pat. No 5,975,893 is incorporated by reference; fig. 2 of ‘893); generating a treatment plan comprising a plurality of successive treatment steps (([0026], note Pat. No 5,975,893 is incorporated by reference; fig. 2 of ‘893)), wherein the plurality of successive treatment steps incrementally reposition at least one of the patient's teeth from the initial arrangement towards a target arrangement; fabricating a first dental aligner based on the treatment plan (col. 3 lines 45-65 of ‘893), wherein the first dental aligner corresponds to one of the plurality of successive treatment steps (col. 6, lines 50-65 of ‘893); monitoring treatment progress to determine whether the patient's dentition is progressing along the plurality of successive treatment steps ([0048]); generating a revised treatment plan based on a determination that treatment progress has progress off-track ([0048]); fabricating a second dental aligner based on the revised treatment plan, wherein the second dental aligner corresponds to one of a plurality of successive treatment steps in the revised treatment plan ([0045]); wherein fabricating the first dental aligner comprises thermoforming a polymer shell over a physical dental model (abstract; [0025]); assembling the physical dental model by inserting a plurality of tooth models into a dental base (fig. 1-2); the physical dental model corresponds with a patient's dentition at the one of the plurality of successive treatment steps ([0027]);  fabricating the first dental aligner comprises using stereolithography to build a geometry of the first dental aligner layer by layer (col.6, lines 64-66 of ‘893); the initial representation comprises a three- dimensional model collected from an intraoral scanner (col. 5, lines 40-47); wherein monitoring treatment progress comprises receiving an intermediate representation of the patient's dentition ([0048]) and the intermediate representation is collected subsequent to the initial representation (e.g. after revised);  wherein monitoring treatment progress comprises receiving feedback from a dental clinician ([0048]); wherein generating the revised treatment plan is based at least in part on the feedback from the dental clinician and monitoring treatment progress comprises taking a dental cast of the patient's dentition ([0048]); wherein monitoring treatment progress comprises assessing treatment progress at a plurality of points in time throughout treatment and providing the revised treatment plan to a dental clinician for approval prior to fabricating the second dental aligner (e.g. revising the plant and remaking the appliance);  wherein providing the revised treatment plan to a dental clinician comprises providing a three-dimensional representation of the patient's dentition for display on an electronic device (col. 5, lines 25-40); the three-dimensional representation is configured to be rotatable via user input (see ‘893); generating the revised treatment plan is based at least in part on information regarding individual patient response to treatment (e.g. after treatment is revised); generating the treatment plan comprises accounting for tooth movement constraints and the tooth movement constraints comprises no movement to a tooth of the patient's dentition (e.g. the revised treatment plan); the tooth movement constraints comprises limitations in a direction of one or more degrees of freedom to a tooth of the patient's dentition (e.g. moving teeth as necessary and generating the revised treatment plan comprises accounting for the tooth movement constraints (e.g. moving teeth as necessary based on the revised treatment plan.  
Conclusion

Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Examiner Patel Yogesh whose telephone number is (571) 270-3646.  The examiner can normally be reached between 9 AM – 5:30 PM on Monday, Thursday and Friday.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, please contact the examiner’s supervisor, SPE Eric Rosen, at (571) 270-7855.  
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	/YOGESH P PATEL/           Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3772