Liquid paint-on dental restorative process and composition

Claim 1

A protective and cosmetic dental coating composition for restoring enamel defects and for repairing damaged artificial teeth including chipped acrylic or porcelain veneers, which coating is sufficiently fluid that it can be applied to a tooth surface and will flow to a feather edge, but sufficiently viscous that dripping and running do not occur, and that sets in less than ten minutes to a hard coating that is bonded to the surface to which it is applied, said coating composition consisting essentially of: A. a liquid acrylate or substituted acrylate resin that is selected from the group consisting of: (i), a blend comprising: (a) from 20% to not more than 90% by weight of an aromatic or cycloaliphatic: diacrylate, dimethacrylate, polyacrylate, or polymethacrylate, and (b) at least 10% by weight of the blend of an aliphatic tri-, di-, or mono-acrylate or methacrylate; (ii), a homopolymerizable hydrogenated aromatic diacrylate or dimethacrylate; and (iii), mixtures thereof wherein the total amount of aromatic or cycloaliphatic diacrylate or dimethacrylate does not exceed 90% of the liquid resin; B. a finely divided particulate filler that is a mixture of: (i), at least 1% and not more than 20% by weight of the filler mixture of a fluorescent inorganic metal oxide pigment, with (ii), the balance of the filler mixture of finely divided, essentially non-fluorescent inorganic filler material, the equivalent spherical diameter of the filler mixture being in the range from 0.2 micrometers to 20 micrometers; C. curing ingredients comprising a peroxide-type initiator and an accelerator; and D. a small but effective amount of an ultraviolet absorber; the curing ingredients of the coating being selected and present in amounts to cause curing to occur, upon admixture of the ingredients, in from about 1/2 minute to about 10 minutes, the filler mixture forming from 30% to 70% by weight of the coating composition and less than 50% of its volume, the density and volume of the filler mixture being selected to maintain the consistency of the uncured coating during placement so that the uncured coating is flowable but does not run or drip, the liquid resin forming essentially the balance of the composition, the cured composition having excellent vitality and cosmetic appearance and appearing natural under ultraviolet light.