Align Technology provides funding for dental research

Align Technology has presented funding worth $220,000 (142,700 pounds) to universities carrying out research into orthodontic treatment approaches.

A total of eight universities in the US, Canada, Greece, Italy, Spain and China will receive financial support for studies into the benefits of orthodontic treatment with clear aligners, such as Align's flagship Invisalign products.

Meanwhile, a new orthodontic scanner research award introduced this year by Align has seen four additional universities in the US and Italy granted funds for relevant research, reflecting the recent rapid increase in the utilisation of intraoral scanning technology.

John Morton, Align Technology's director of research and technology, said: "We are pleased to see continued and growing interest in our research awards programme – the number of applications we received this year was substantially greater than received in previous years."

During the first quarter of 2013, the company recorded a net revenue total of $153.6 million, which represented a strong year-on-year increase of 13.7 percent.