Orthodontic Tooth Movement

One method is through the use of the Blue Sky Plan software (see above image). This software can be used to receive the data from an intraoral scan and begin to plan treatment.

The steps for this method are as follows:

1. Use an intraoral scanner to scan both arches.
2. Import the files into the Blue Sky software.
3. Utilize the software to identify tooth position
4. Define the teeth border and tissue utilizing the Blue Sky software. This can be done by clicking and dragging each data point, or the margin can be drawn by dragging the select tool over each tooth individually.
5. Teeth are now ready to be moved.
6. Digitally, the teeth can be moved in the following ways:
   - Alignment can be achieved to an ideal arch.
   - One tooth can be moved within the arch.
   - The teeth can be tipped with the pivot fulcrum set at the height of the gingiva.
7. Once the teeth are in the desired alignment, the case can be evaluated to determine the duration of the aligner steps. The steps can be weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. Once this is determined, the software will calculate the input data and reverse engineer the movement process based on the clinicians' parameters.
8. Composite buttons are then placed strategically on teeth to efficiently create the desired movement.
9. Finally, each model receives an identifying label that consists of a patient name and step number. Then the data is exported to a 3D printer for model output.
10. The models are used to fabricate the aligners (see below image) for each phase of the plan.