Methods and devices utilizing a dental appliance for dental retainer wire attachment are disclosed. One such wire attachment appliance includes a shell having one or more cavities formed therein and shaped to receive one or more teeth, at least two wire attachment members provided on the shell, and at least one attachment material reservoir provided on the shell, wherein the attachment material is provided to attach a wire to a tooth adjacent to a particular reservoir of the at least one attachment material reservoir.

Methods of attaching a wire to a dentition. The methods may include placing a shell on the dentition, where first cavity of the shell includes an attachment material reservoir for receiving an attachment material, and second cavity of the shell includes a wire attachment member having a slot for receiving the wire. The methods may also include placing the wire through the attachment material reservoir and through the slot of the wire attachment member to hold the wire in position with respect to a tooth within the first cavity. The methods may further include placing the attachment material within the attachment material reservoir to bond the attachment material and the wire to the tooth. Once the shell and the wire attachment member are removed from the dentition, the wire remains attached to the tooth via the attachment material.

Patterned dental positioning appliances including a shell including one or more cavities shaped to receive and exert repositioning forces on one or more teeth of a subject's dentition. An inner surface of at least a portion of the one or more cavities may include a raised mesh pattern arranged to contact one or more teeth within the at least a portion of the one or more cavities. The raised mesh pattern may be arranged to impart a contact force that affects one or more of a direction, a duration and a magnitude of the repositioning forces exerted on the one or more teeth. The raised mesh pattern may be is integrally formed with the shell and is made of the same polymer material as the shell.

Endodontic instruments for use in performing root canal therapy on a tooth are disclosed. In one form, the instruments include an elongate shank having a cutting edge extending from a distal end of the shank along an axial length of the shank. The shank comprises a titanium alloy, and the shank is prepared by heat-treating the shank at a temperature above 25? C. in an atmosphere consisting essentially of a gas unreactive with the shank. In another form, the endodontic instruments have an elongate shank having a cutting edge extending from a distal end of the shank along an axial length of the shank. The shank consists essentially of a titanium alloy selected from alpha-titanium alloys, beta-titanium alloys, and alpha-beta-titanium alloys. The instruments solve the problems encountered when cleaning and enlarging a curved root canal.

The present invention relates to orthodontic positioning appliances that represent teeth in desired positions and related systems and methods. An appliance can include teeth receiving cavities shaped to receive and apply a resilient positioning force to a patient's teeth. An appliance can include an outer component having a surface representing teeth in desired positions. An outer component can be integral with an appliance. An outer component can be separate and configured to couple with an appliance main body.

A computational device determines a representation of one or more anatomical features, and based on the determined representation of the one or more anatomical features, a three-dimensional model is oriented in a three-dimensional space in an anatomically accurate manner. Thereafter, an orthodontic device design is created using the oriented three dimensional model and an orthodontic device is manufactured based at least in part on the orthodontic device design.

Patterned dental positioning appliances including a shell having cavities shaped to receive and exert repositioning forces on one or more teeth of a subject's dentition. The shell may include a first cavity having a first raised pattern configured to exert a first force on a first tooth of the one or more teeth, and a second cavity having a second raised pattern configured to exert a second force on a second tooth of the one or more teeth. The second raised pattern may be different than the first raised pattern.

An endodontic instrument for cleaning/shaping a tooth root canal that includes an elongated shaft composed of a porous material, the shaft having a proximal end portion, a distal end and a tapered working portion having an external surface and a rotational axis, the working portion extending from the proximal end portion to the distal end.

Methods and devices utilizing a dental appliance for dental retainer wire attachment are disclosed. One such wire attachment appliance includes a shell having one or more cavities formed therein and shaped to receive one or more teeth, at least two wire attachment members provided on the shell, and at least one attachment material reservoir provided on the shell, wherein the attachment material is provided to attach a wire to a tooth adjacent to a particular reservoir of the at least one attachment material reservoir.

An apparatus and method for bending or shaping orthodontic archwires or other medical devices into a complex, patient individual shape is described. The apparatus comprises of two moveable, compact, manipulators with, in total, at least three revolute joints defining three rotation axes and at least three prismatic joints defining at least three translation axes. Gripping tools are provided on the manipulators. The two manipulators are arranged to allow a relative movement in six degrees of freedom. A reduced complexity embodiment is also described having only one or two revolute joints.