Porcelain tooth and method of manufacture

Abstract

Abstract A porcelain tooth structure and method of making the same in which a powder-form porcelain is mixed with an adhesive, in an amount suffficient to form a coherent mass of the porcelain, to form a workable paste, the paste is formed into a tooth structure having the general shape of a desired, finished tooth, preferably by molding in a metal, plastic or rubber mold, the molded tooth is dried, generally at a temperature between ambient temperature and about 600° F and the adhesive in at least a part of the tooth structure is rendered water-resistant by utilizing an inherently water-resistant adhesive or treating a water-soluble adhesive with an agent which renders the adhesive water-resistant, such as a solvent, a hardening agent for the adhesive, a water-immiscible oil or another agent which combines with the adhesive by chemical reaction, physico-chemical reaction or physical action, either during the mixing of the porcelain and adhesive or after the drying of the tooth structure. The tooth structure may thereafter be semi-baked at a temperature sufficient to form a concretious tooth structure, generally above about 1200° F, but below the vitrification temperature of the procelain.

Inventors

• 👤 Rafael Gnecco

Bibliographic Details