US Patent Issued to Align Technology on June 2 for "Palatal expansion appliances and methods of producing and using the same" (California Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 2 -- United States Patent no. 12,642,626, issued on June 2, was assigned to Align Technology Inc. (San Jose, Calif.).

"Palatal expansion appliances and methods of producing and using the same" was invented by Peter Dorfinger (Woodside, Calif.) and Jennifer Marie Chavez (Santa Clara, Calif.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The present disclosure provides multi-material orthodontic appliances useful for expanding a palate or arch of a patient, and, in some case, moving one or more teeth of the patient from a first to a second location according to a treatment plan. Further provided herein are methods for producing and using such multi-material orthodontic appliances on an in...