Surgery – Body protecting or restraining devices for patients or infants – Antisnoring device
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-25
2001-10-16
Brown, Michael A. (Department: 3764)
Surgery
Body protecting or restraining devices for patients or infants
Antisnoring device
C128S859000, C128S861000, C128S862000, C602S902000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06302110
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to a dental protector for prevention of the nuisance associated with bruxism, i.e. clenching of the teeth, which is mounted on the teeth at bedtime.
BACKGROUND ART
While some persons grind their teeth unconsciously during sleep, this phenomenon known as bruxism produces noises offensive to the ear, causing a great nuisance to their roommates in many cases. Moreover, as bruxism becomes severe, it imposes so great a burden on one's own teeth that the teeth are sometimes worn or injured.
Therefore, it is common practice that the dentist takes an impression of the oral cavity to fabricate a plaster cast and causes a filled acrylic resin material to polymerize in suit to construct a dental protector conforming to the upper and lower teeth, and let the patient wear the device.
However, as far as the conventional dental protector against bruxism is concerned, the dentist has to go through a tedious procedure comparable to the work required for construction of a denture but the procedure involves many time-consuming steps, some of which require a high degree of skill, with the result that the cost of production is inevitably high.
Having been developed in view of the above state of the art, this invention has for its object to provide a dental protector against bruxism which is effective in preventing generation of the offensive noise due to clenching of the teeth during sleep and reducing the burden on the teeth for protecting the teeth and, in addition, is improved in the stability or securedness as mounted on the teeth, easy to fabricate, and fitting to many persons in common.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
Developed to accomplish the above object, the dental protector against bruxism according to this invention comprises a protective part configured generally in the form of the letter U in conformity with the dental arc and adapted to cover the occlusal faces of the teeth and an engaging part contiguous to the inner circumference of said protective part and adapted to cover the posterior surfaces of the teeth, a lower stratum of said protective part which is to contact the teeth and said engaging part contiguous thereto being formed from a thermoplastic resin having a softening temperature lower than the boiling temperature of water while the upper stratum of said protective part which has a flat surface being formed from a material which does not soften at said softening temperature.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5103838 (1992-04-01), Yousif
patent: 5406962 (1995-04-01), Adell
patent: 5511562 (1996-04-01), Hancock
patent: 5826581 (1998-10-01), Yoshida
Brown Michael A.
Vedder Price Kaufman & Kammholz
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