Treatment of teeth by aligners

1. A method for treating a subject's teeth, comprising: determining a target configuration for the subject's teeth based on tooth models position information, the target configuration comprising at least one treatment step for reaching a treatment goal for the subject's teeth, wherein the tooth model position information comprises one or more of an initial movement pathway determination for the subject's teeth in reaching the treatment goal and an updated movement pathway determination;

producing a pair of receiving features for each tooth model on a dental base at determined locations, wherein the producing comprises:

determining locations of the receiving features in response to the at least one treatment step of the target configuration, the receiving features being configured for receiving physical tooth models in a single predetermined position and for fixedly holding the physical tooth models in the position until the physical tooth models are removed, wherein the position comprises location and orientation based on the target configuration, and wherein the dental base do not have mechanisms within that may be manipulated to adjust the physical tooth models during the holding of the physical tooth models in the position;

assembling the physical tooth models on the dental base to form a physical arch model; and

producing a dental aligner using the physical arch model to move the subject's teeth to the target configuration.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of producing receiving features on a dental base comprises:

determining the locations of the receiving features on the dental base in response to the target configuration for the subject's teeth; and

producing the receiving features at the determined locations on the dental base.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the physical tooth models comprise registration features to be attached to the receiving features on the dental base.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the registration features on the physical tooth models include one or more of: a pin, a protrusion, a stud, a socket, a slot, and a hole.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of producing receiving features on a dental base further comprises:

producing a subject physical arch model by molding a malleable casting material using an impression of the subject's teeth;

producing the registration features on the subject physical arch model; and

separating the subject physical arch model into a plurality of physical tooth models, wherein each physical tooth model includes one or more registration features.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of determining a target configuration for the subject's teeth based on tooth model position information comprises:

determining an initial configuration of the subject's teeth;

determining a final configuration of the subject's teeth; and

determining a target configuration for each of a plurality of treatment steps for moving the subject's teeth from the initial configuration to the final configuration.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of producing receiving features on a dental base comprises: producing the receiving features using CNC based manufacturing.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving features on the dental base include one or more of: pins, protrusions, studs, sockets, slots, and holes.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of producing a dental aligner comprises:

vacuum forming the dental aligner using a sheet of aligner-making material over the physical arch model.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of producing a dental aligner comprises:

molding a malleable casting material over physical arch model in a casting chamber to form the dental aligner.