Dentistry – Apparatus – Having heater or electrode
Patent
1987-05-07
1989-04-25
Scott, Samuel
Dentistry
Apparatus
Having heater or electrode
219234, A61C 300
Patent
active
048243663
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention is directed to a method and apparatus for removal of brackets or other metallic dental objects serving for orthodontic treatment which have been glued onto dental enamel, wherein the adhesiveness of the adhesive layer between the bracket or the object and the dental enamel is reduced by application of heat.
DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART
It is known to glue brackets onto the outer surface of teeth in the course of regulating measures of dental treatment, which are subjected to a permanent load in a predetermined position by means of appropriate tightening wires, in order to make the tooth in this manner assume, little by little, the desired position. Since a comparatively high load acts on the brackets, the connection with the surface of the tooth must be as solid as possible. A possibility consists in that the brackets are fastened mechanically to the tooth by means of metal slings. Another possibility consists in gluing the brackets to the teeth, and only this method will be discussed in the present invention.
In order to increase the adhesion of the glue to the tooth, the surface of the tooth is etched, in order to achieve a sponge-like increase of this surface.
If a durable connection of the brackets with the teeth to be treated in the course of orthodontic treatment is particularly desirable, then a problem arises involving the removal of the brackets after the treatment is finished. Hitherto it has been usual to mechanically remove the brackets wherein damage to the tooth has to be accepted. In this type of removal, the bracket is gripped, for instance, with a forceps and is forcefully sheared off the tooth by a twist, twisted or levered off, in the course of which the adhesive layer is to be torn apart. Herein, there arises the danger that the tooth enamel is also torn off.
An instrument is known from the US-PS No. 4 455 138 which can be engaged with a heatable blade into a recess in the brackets. The user holds herein the instrument for as long at the bracket until the hot blade has heated said bracket to such an extent that the heat has reduced the adhesiveness of the glue. The bracket can then be sheared off with the blade-shaped instrument.
A particular disadvantage of this known instrument consists in that the hot instrument can touch the patient in the course of unexpected movements of the head of the patient or during other interference, so that this can then cause local burns. Also an overheating of the tooth itself can occur entailing disadvantages which will be described later.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
Compared to this, it is the task of the invention to achieve such a control of the adhesive layer that the tooth of the patient is protected in a lasting manner, in such a way that heating of the tooth itself cannot occur.
In a method of the previously described type, this task is solved in the invention by performing the heating by means of a direct electrical resistance heating. By heating the bracket through electrical resistances, it is achieved that, to begin with, the tool remains completely cold; in the course of handling errors, no burning of the patient can thus occur. Also resistance heating of metallic objects is particularly suitable, because the treatment can occupy a very short time period, since the metallic objects are heated very rapidly by means of a resistance heater and therefore a rapid detachment of the adhesive coating can occur.
The invention makes use of the composition of the glues which are utilized which, as a rule, represent plastic bound composites, the adhesiveness of which can be largely controlled by heat application. By heating this in practice very thin adhesive layer the adhesiveness is greatly reduced and the glued-on bracket can be easily lifted off. This can occur so that the individual bracket remains undamaged which was not assured in the previous tearing off or shearing off, so that the bracket nowadays can be reused.
In a refinement, the invention provides that the heating is performed as a short duration h
REFERENCES:
patent: 3924332 (1975-12-01), Rauch et al.
patent: 4034762 (1977-07-01), Cosens et al.
patent: 4375961 (1983-03-01), Brooks
patent: 4441013 (1984-04-01), Masreliez
patent: 4455138 (1984-06-01), Sheridan
patent: 4553021 (1985-11-01), Conti
Gerkhardt Klaus
Hohmann Wolfgang
Kocjancic Bogdan
Schopf Peter-Michael
Kamen Noah
Scheu-Dental Inhaber Rudolf Scheu
Scott Samuel
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