ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 8 -- United States Patent no. 12,433,730, issued on Oct. 7, was assigned to Align Technology Inc. (San Jose, Calif.).
"Dental appliance etch template" was invented by Michael Lawrence Fernie (Richmond, Canada).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Methods of manufacturing dental etching templates. A virtual shell having one or more cavities shaped to receive one or more teeth of a virtual dental model of a patient's dentition may be formed. A virtual well may be formed at a position of the virtual shell based on an area on a tooth of the patient's dentition to be etched. Walls that define the virtual well may be shaped to accommodate a volume of a wafer that absorbs a liquid etc...