Dentistry – Method or material for testing – treating – restoring – or... – Cleaning
Reexamination Certificate
2001-02-23
2002-01-22
Lewis, Ralph A. (Department: 3732)
Dentistry
Method or material for testing, treating, restoring, or...
Cleaning
C433S032000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06340301
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved process and apparatus for brightening teeth, utilizing a heating element that activates a brightening agent, and more particularly to such a process that is user activated and controlled, within a short interval of time, thus decreasing the conventional time required for effective teeth whitening.
2. Technical Background
The importance of cosmetically attractive, whitened or brightened, teeth in today's society cannot seriously be questioned. During the past ten years, there has been a virtual explosion of supposed new and improved processes for the simplification and efficacy of teeth whitening and brightening. However, each such process has had several drawbacks creating a negative impact on the user, including high costs of the new treatments, repeated visits to the dentist/cosmetician for repeated treatments, difficulty of use, length of time to achieve the desired results, and need for professional help.
The prior art has known many devices and methods for externally treating a tooth or teeth of a patient. The most primitive method of externally treating a tooth involved the direct application of an active agent to the tooth of the patient. Examples of the external treatment of a tooth include the direct application of active agents such as fluoride, tooth whiteners, antibiotics, antihistamines and topical anesthetics.
Although the external treatment of a tooth by the direct application of an active agent has achieved some success, several problems exist with this method. First, the direct application of an active agent is generally inefficient since the active agent can be applied to the surface of the tooth for only a relatively short period of time with only modest results. The relatively short period of time of application is determined by the length of time the active agent remains on the tooth of the patient. The length of time the active agent remains on the tooth of the patient is generally determined by the viscosity of the active agent and the ability of the active agent to remain on the tooth as well as the ability of the patient to remain immobile during the treatment.
In an effort to overcome these problems, some in the prior art have increased the concentration of the active agent in an effort to produce satisfactory results within the limited period of time permitted by the direct application of the active agent. Unfortunately, the increase in concentration of the active agent produces undesirable side effects for the patient.
Many other prior art treatment processes have also involved the direct application of a physical process to the external surface of a tooth to brighten same, involving, for example, the use of bonding to mask previously existing stains on the tooth, crowns or porcelain veneers physically attached to the tooth to in effect hide the stains, or application of high physical heat through the past use of a modified soldering iron, a heat lamp or today's equivalent, a laser. However, all of these applications involved the direct need for a professional doctor and/or dentist chair time and the resulting associated costs. The user has had little control over the process being applied to his teeth, and had to frequently revisit his doctor/dentist for follow-up application and treatments.
The remaining treatment processes have tried to give the user some sort of control over the bleaching and whitening process, but usually at the expense of time and efficiency, and with varying results. For example, others in the prior art have utilized a plastic splint or stint molded to overlay the teeth of the patient in an effort to retain a tooth whitening agent in contact with the teeth of the patient over an extended period of time. Such a method is set forth in an article entitled “Nightguard Vital Bleaching” which has been published in
Quintessence International
, Volume 20, March, 1989. In this method, a stint is molded to fit the entire upper or lower teeth of the patient and to seal with the gingiva of the patient. The active agent is introduced into the stint and the stint is inserted upon the teeth of the patient to retain the active agent in close contact with the teeth of the patient.
Although the use of a plastic stint allowed the active agent to remain in contact with the teeth for an extended period of time, the use of the plastic stint had certain disadvantages. First, since the plastic stint was molded to intimately fit with the entire upper or lower teeth of the patient, the stint was uncomfortable due to the tightness of the fit with the teeth. Second, the stint sealed with the gingiva of the patient, making the stint incapable of fitting with a single tooth or just several teeth. Third, the stint had to be cut back adjacent to the gingival margin to prevent undesired deterioration of the gingiva due to the intimate contact of the stint with the gingiva during the treatment process. Forth, the intimate fit of the stint with the entire upper or lower teeth of the patient prevented ingress and egress of oxygen to the internal regions of the stint. Fifth, the intimate fit of the stint with the entire upper or lower teeth of the patient made the stint difficult to remove in some instances. Sixth, notwithstanding the intimate region of the stint with the entire upper or lower teeth of the patient, the active agent within the internal region of the stint would over time migrate from the stint, thus reducing the effectiveness of the active agent upon the teeth.
The liquid splints/stints utilized by the Munro patent, U.S. Pat. No. RE 34,196, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference, constituted a great advance in the art at the time and did permit some freedom of use by the user. However, the splints still required several hours of use of the liquid splint per day for many days to achieve the desired brightening effects, and were uncomfortable to some due to their tightness over the teeth. There was also a problem involving the retention of the brightening agent on the treated teeth. Several inventions followed which attempted to resolve the problems of the whitening agent being swallowed, dissolved/weakened by saliva, or leaking out of the splint onto the gums/gingiva or labia. Several other new processes were introduced which addressed the retention of whitening agent through the additions of a retaining material/reservoir (U.S. Pat. No. 4,968,251) and plurality of indentations/baffles to prevent the loss of the whitening agent (U.S. Pat. No. 5,575,655). However, these later inventions/processes did not sufficiently address the time and efficiency issues of the user, though they did allow the user more freedom in his control over the bleaching process.
In the effort to reduce the time needed for the bleaching process, some in the prior art have tried to increase the concentration and/or the viscosity of the whitening agent (see, e.g. Fischer U.S. Pat. No. 5,098,303), thereby hoping to speed up the brightening process while lowering the time the user had to use the splint of Munro or later modified and improved versions of same. However, the increased concentration and/or viscosity of the brightening agent—frequently a peroxide derivative—resulted in an accompanying increase in deleterious side effects for the user. To avoid tissue damage from the increased concentration of the brightening agent, the user had to frequently shorten his exposure to same with intervening periods of no exposure—with the result that the overall bleaching time (time to achieve whitened/brightened teeth) has remained more or less similar.
There have been additional techniques and devices developed over the years in an effort to improve the methods for brightening or whitening teeth. One such effort was the application of heat to dental and/or periodontal structures and the whitening agents, such as peroxides, being applied thereto. It is widely known in the art that heat activates peroxide solutions, increasing their effectiveness as whitening agent
Berdan David L.
Lanier Ford Shaver & Payne P.C.
Lewis Ralph A.
Walsh Gerald M.
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