Apparatus for use in the correction of maxillary and premaxillary conditions in infants

Claim 1

A mouth cavity maxillary bone correction apparatus, comprising: a. a pair of elongated laterally spaced arm members having outer end portions residing in a common plane and adapted for intraoral placement and securement to corresponding laterally displaced maxillary bone and opposite inner end portions adapted to extend intra-orally from such securement; b. a pair of plate means molded to conform and to be secured to said bone, said plate means being secured to respective said arm member outer end portions thereby adapting such outer end portions to be secured to said bone; c. housing means adapted to be intra-orally placed and formed by connected walls and positioned between and rearwardly of said plate means, said housing providing integral outwardly extending portions for making pivotal connections with medial portions of said arm members enabling said arm members to be pivoted thereon, said housing walls being formed to receive the respective said arm member inner end portions within said housing and to allow corresponding reciprocal movements therein; d. screw block positioning means adapted to be intra-orally placed and slidably mounted and confined within said housing such that said positioning means is isolated from any surrounding mucosal tissue during use thereof, said positioning means being between and having surfaces loosely engaged with said inner end portions of each of said arm members to control the positioning thereof, said positioning means having a shaft drive enabling said inNer end portions to be moved in an extraoral direction to effect corresponding outward pivotal movements of said arm member outer end portions; and e. drive means including a drive shaft having one inner end adapted to be intra-orally placed and connected to drive said positioning means by the turning of said drive shaft and having the other outer end thereof adapted to be extra-orally placed and adapted for finger engagement to effect rotation thereof whereby as said drive shaft is rotated in an appropriate direction and with respective said arm member outer end portions secured to said bone through said plate means, the lateral spacing of said bone may be increased to effect appropriate correction thereof.