Dentistry – Prosthodontics – Holding or positioning denture in mouth
Patent
1987-02-04
1989-03-21
Wilson, John J.
Dentistry
Prosthodontics
Holding or positioning denture in mouth
433169, 433177, 433182, A61C 13225
Patent
active
048138738
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
THIS INVENTION relates to improvements in or relating to the construction of both fixed and removable dental prosthetic structures, such as bridges and partial dentures.
A dental bridge comprises an artificial tooth or teeth, a so-called "pontic", supported on either side by a suitably prepared sound natural tooth called "an abutment tooth" in the art.
A number of different methods of providing a patient with a fixed dental bridge are currently in use, the majority of these methods involving a one-piece bridge construction made of a suitable dental material and incorporating the pontic and attachments for securing the pontic to the abutment teeth.
Providing the patient with a dental bridge by the known methods is achieved by first carrying out dental preparation work on the abutment teeth and then fabricating and installing the bridge construction consisting of the pontic and the appropriate attachments.
In one currently popular form of dental bridge, radical surgery is first carried out on both abutment teeth in order to form these into substantially parallel pillar--like structures which have a substantially constant cross-sectional area over a significant height. Once this surgery has been performed, casts are taken of the prepared abutment teeth for use in preparing cast sockets made of a dental metal for incorporating in the attachments of the dental bridge construction which is constructed as a unitary item consisting of the pontic and integrally cast attachments containing the metal sockets which fit accurately over the prepared abutment teeth. Installation of such a dental bridge construction is then performed by applying dental cement to the prepared abutment teeth and fitting the attachments of the dental bridge construction over the respective abutment teeth.
The preparation of the cast metal sockets and the unitary bridge construction including these involves a very high degree of skill, and additional difficulties are involved by the need for the attachments to be applicable to the prepared abutment teeth along parallel paths.
The bridge construction itself is necessarily made and assembled in a laboratory by a skilled technician, so that each bridge is individually made and is a unique piece of high precision work.
The unitary nature of the bridge construction described above also means that such bridge construction can be subjected in use to considerable bending moments and is liable to break or become detached under the forces encountered in the mouth.
Moreover, the surgery which is required to be performed on the abutment teeth is radical and may involve the destruction of considerable quantities of healthy tooth material.
A further disadvantage of the described known bridge construction is the fact that, in installing the bridge construction, the attachments are applied to the prepared and cemented abutment teeth in a path of application along with bi-directional forces commonly occur in the mouth. Consequently, the bridge construction is subjected to forces which tend to dislodge it and can be readily withdrawn along this path as a result of loss of adhesion between the bridge construction and the abutment teeth following shearing of the relatively thin layer of dental cement holding the abutment teeth and the bridge construction together.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved method of constructing a dental prosthetic structure and, to this end, there is provided a method of constructing a dental prosthetic structure, comprising providing an abutment tooth with a socket and retaining a pontic in an intended position by means of a connector limb attached to the pontic and having a joint portion received in the socket, the joint portion of the connector limb being introduced into the socket along a path of insertion which is substantially parallel to the dental arch containing the abutment tooth and fitting in the socket with a freedom of movement such as to permit stress-breaking relative movement between the connector limb and socket.
In another aspect, the inv
REFERENCES:
patent: 1614325 (1927-01-01), Stoeffler
patent: 1664433 (1928-04-01), Seabrook
patent: 1698259 (1929-01-01), Craig
patent: 1921613 (1933-08-01), Freedman
patent: 2350196 (1944-05-01), Saffir
patent: 2491581 (1949-12-01), Reichner
patent: 2571931 (1951-10-01), Noyes
patent: 2668353 (1954-02-01), Quellman
patent: 2705366 (1955-04-01), Van Dyk
patent: 3019528 (1962-02-01), De Pietro
patent: 4362509 (1982-12-01), Sulc
patent: 4431415 (1984-02-01), Tigani
patent: 4472142 (1984-09-01), Gedzelman
patent: 4661068 (1987-04-01), Harrison et al.
LandOfFree
Dental prosthetic structures and connectors for use in such pros does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Dental prosthetic structures and connectors for use in such pros, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Dental prosthetic structures and connectors for use in such pros will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-474109