Surgery – Instruments – Oral pacifier
Patent
1997-06-27
1999-07-13
Thaler, Michael H.
Surgery
Instruments
Oral pacifier
A61J 1700
Patent
active
059220104
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to a baby pacifier comprising an actual nipple part and a pacifier shield.
Earlier it was a common belief that dental malalignment derive from hereditary factors. Therefore, chance of success of preventive treatment was regarded low. However, recent studies suggest that environmental factors play a more significant role than previously believed. The early stages of growth are probably decisive in determining the course in which the growth of the jaws will be directed.
Literature data on the variation of the frequency of dental malalignment in relation to e.g. breast feeding and bottle feeding as well as to the use of pacifier agree well with the assumption that the pacifier leads to incorrect use of the tongue and the facial muscles and may thereby deform the structure of the jaws.
It has been proved that malalignment in the permanent dentition is quite often preceded by a narrowed dental arch of the deciduous dentition of the upper jaw. Reduced lateral growth of the upper jaw during the deciduous stage has proved to be an important underlying factor in great part of the dental malocclusion cases. It can be estimated that at least in 20-40% of children the upper jaw remains so narrow that it leads to disproportion between the upper and lower dental arches like cross bite and distal bite ratio or contraction of the dental arch. These types of dental malocclusion do not always heal spontaneously but require treatment at some stage of development of the dentition. In practice, a method for straightening the teeth, in which the dental malalignement can be corrected by expanding the dental arch of the upper jaw, is gaining more popularity in clinical treatment.
The adverse influence of pacifiers to the bite of the front teeth is generally recognized and new pacifier solutions have been suggested for removing the drawbacks. Among other things, it has been stated that a pacifier in the mouth prevents normal dental occlusion directing the bite primarily to the front teeth. The Swedish publication SE 403 885 suggests a pacifier structure in which bails lying between the teeth of the upper and lower jaws are incorporated with the pacifier to transfer the weight of the bite from the front teeth to the back teeth. However, the solution does not change the pressure caused by sucking on the teeth of the upper jaw to normal direction.
The U.S. Pat. No. 3,924,621 presents a pacifier, in which the neck has been narrowed by forming it from several separate parts so that the child need not keep his mouth as open as with conventional pacifiers. Furthermore, separate parts of the neck allow the tongue to touch the teeth of the upper jaw. However, the solution does not increase the lateral pressure in the region of deciduous molars and deciduous canine teeth which would enhance breadthwise growth of the upper jaw.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,740 suggests a pacifier solution for promoting the growth of the lower jaw. The pacifier is partly two-piece. The upper part chiefly consists of a conventional pacifier. The lower part consists of a pacifier part which places itself between the tongue and the lower teeth with the purpose to force the lower jaw to move forwards to settle in its normal position.
Furthermore, the U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,568 depicts a feeding pacifier provided with a partition with an opening. The partition prevents the food from flowing too easily into the child's mouth thereby forcing the child to make certain sucking movements with the tongue needed in natural breast feeding. The purpose is to prevent a situation in which the child gets used to bottle feeding from indolence and abandons breast feeding.
Most recent research results now verify that infant sucking habits have a connection with the breadthwise growth of the upper jaw. When the child sucks the pacifier, a pressure directed towards the midline is exerted on the teeth and the alveolar ridge of the upper jaw in the region of deciduous canine teeth and deciduous molars having a negative effect on the breadthwise growth of the upper jaw.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3924621 (1975-12-01), Cassimally
patent: 4381785 (1983-05-01), Robbins
patent: 4993568 (1991-02-01), Morifuji et al.
patent: 5035340 (1991-07-01), Timmons
Alanen Pentti
Varrela Juha
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