Orthodontic finishing positioner and method of construction

Claim 1

A method of constructing an orthodontic positioner for maloccluded teeth located in a preselected one of the upper and lower dental arches of a patient for placing in position in the patient's mouth for contact with the patient's teeth and for contact and coaction with teeth-mounted coupling members, of: said positioner acting against the teeth and coupling members to effectively bias the teeth of the one arch toward a preselected orientation, said method comprising the steps providing a hardened dental facsimile formed from an impression of the preselected dental arch wherein the dental facsimile includes portions simulating the teeth and a portion of the gum tissue adjacent the teeth of the preselected dental arch and the surfaces of the coupling members are defined by the surfaces of either coupling member-simulating portions of the facsimile formed by the impression or coupling members attached to the teeth-simulating portions of the facsimile; repositioning teeth-simulating portions of the dental facsimile to a preselected orientation so as to provide a first model of the preselected dental arch having teeth-simulating portions oriented in the same manner as the teeth in the preselected arch are desired to be oriented; providing an amount of elastomer base material; and forming the positioner out of said elastomer base material so that said positioner assumes a resilient, elastic and flexible body having an arcuate-shaped portion along which is defined a recess having walls of substantial thickness defining teeth-engaging surfaces for receiving the teeth-simulating portions of said first model and a series of indentations disposed across said teeth-engaging surfaces wherein each indentation is shaped to nestingly accept a corresponding coupling member surface defined upon said first model so that when the positioner body is operatively placed in position in the patient's mouth, the positioner body acts against the teeth and coupling members to effectively bias the teeth of the one arch toward the preselected orientation.

Claim 2

A method of constructing an orthodontic positioner for maloccluded teeth located in a preselected one of the upper and lower dental arches of a patient for placing in position in the patient's mouth for contact with the patient's teeth and for contact and coaction with teeth-mounted coupling members, of: said positioner acting against the teeth and coupling members to effectively bias the teeth of the one arch toward a preselected orientation, said method comprising the steps providing a hardened dental facsimile formed from an impression of the preselected dental arch wherein the dental facsimile includes portions simulating the teeth and a portion of the gum tissue adjacent the teeth of the preselected dental arch and the surfaces of the coupling members are defined by the surfaces of either coupling member-simulating portions of the facsimile formed by the impression or coupling members attached to the teeth-simulating portions of the facsimile; repositioning teeth-simulating portions of the dental facsimile to a preselected orientation so as to provide a first model of the preselected dental arch having teeth-simulating portions oriented in the same manner as the teeth in the preselected arch are desired to be oriented; providing an amount of elastomer base material; and forming the positioner out of said elastomer base material so that said positioner assumes a resilient, elastic and flexible body having an arcuate-shaped portion along which is defined a recess having walls of substantial thickness defining teeth-engaging surfaces for receiving the teeth-simulating portions of said first model and a series of indentations disposed across said teeth-engaging surfaces wherein each indentation is shaped to nestingly accept a corresponding coupling member surface defined upon said first model so that when the positioner body is operatively placed in position in the patient's mouth, the positioner body acts against the teeth and coupling members to effectively bias the teeth of the one arch toward the preselected orientation.

Claim 13

A method of constructing an orthodontic positioner for maloccluded teeth located in a preselected one of the upper and lower dental arches of a patient for coaction with teeth-mounted coupling members including portions protruding from the sides of the teeth, (a) providing an amount of uncured impression material suitable for accurately capturing the shape of the patient's teeth and of the coupling members when applied thereto and which, when cured, possesses a degree of flexibility; (b) selectively applying said amount of impression material to the preselected arch or a model thereof so that said impression material generally conforms to the shape of the teeth of the preselected dental arch, coupling members and a portion of the gum tissue adjacent the teeth; (c) permitting said amount of impression material to cure so that an enduring impression of the teeth, coupling member protruding portions and gum tissue of the preselected dental arch is formed in one side of said amount; (d) removing the enduring impression from the preselected dental arch or the model thereof; (e) providing an amount of high strength die stone in an uncured condition and filling the enduring impression with said amount of die stone; (f) permitting said amount of die stone to cure to thereby provide a hardened facsimile of the teeth, coupling member protruding portions and a portion of the gum tissue of the preselected dental arch or a model thereof; (g) removing said enduring impression from said hardened facsimile; (h) separating portions of said hardened facsimile which simulate preselected ones of the patient's teeth desired to be repositioned to a predetermined orientation from the remainder of the facsimile and returning each separated teeth-simulating portion to the enduring impression and into substantially its original position when formed therein; (i) applying wax to the teeth-simulating portions positioned within the enduring impression to secure the separated teeth-simulating portions to one another and to thereby provide a reconstructed facsimile of said preselected dental arch; (j) applying an amount of die stone to the applied wax for providing a base for said reconstructed facsimile and to thereby form a first combination wax/stone model simulating the preselected dental arch; (k) removing said first combination wax/stone model from said enduring impression; (l) repeating steps (a) through (k), inclusively, with the other of the preselected ones of the upper and lower dental arches of the patient to form a second combination wax/stone model simulating the other dental arch, (m) providing a dental articulator and operatively mounting said first and second combination wax/stone models upon said articulator so that said first and second wax/stone models simulate the actual indexed relationship of the upper and lower dental arches of the patient; (n) resetting each tooth-simulating portion of said first combination wax/stone model desired to be repositioned to a predetermined orientation by warming the wax surrounding the tooth-simulating portions of said first wax/stone model to thereby loosen said tooth-simulating portions and shifting the tooth-simulating portions to a predetermined orientation; (o) removing said first wax/stone model from the articulator; (p) duplicating said first wax/stone model in die stone so as to form a construction model of the patient's teeth, protruding portions of the coupling members and portion of the gum tissue in the preselected dental arch when the teeth therein are positioned in the predetermined orientation; (q) building a wax pattern of the desired positioner upon said construction model so as to provide a pattern-supporting construction model, which positioner includes a part adapted to be positioned about at least the teeth, protruding portions of the coupling members and gum tissue portion of the preselected dental arch; (r) providing investment molding equipment and an uncured amount of elastomer base material out of which the positioner is to be constructed; (s) operatively positioning the pattern-supporting construction model within the investment molding equipment and utilizing investment molding techniques to replace the wax pattern within the molding equipment with the uncured amount of elastomer base material; (t) permitting the amount of elastomer base material to cure to thereby provide the positioner; and (u) removing the positioner from the investment molding equipment.

Claim 14

A method of constructing an orthodontic positioner for maloccluded teeth located in a preselected one of the upper and lower dental arches of a patient for coaction with teeth-mounted coupling members including portions protruding from the sides of the teeth, (a) providing an amount of uncured impression material suitable for accurately capturing the shape of the patient's teeth and of the coupling members when applied thereto and which, when cured, possesses a degree of flexibility; (b) selectively applying said amount of impression material to the preselected arch or a model thereof so that said impression material generally conforms to the shape of the teeth of the preselected dental arch, coupling members and a portion of the gum tissue adjacent the teeth; (c) permitting said amount of impression material to cure so that an enduring impression of the teeth, coupling member protruding portions and gum tissue of the preselected dental arch is formed in one side of said amount; (d) removing the enduring impression from the preselected dental arch or the model thereof; (e) providing an amount of high strength die stone in an uncured condition and filling the enduring impression with said amount of die stone; (f) permitting said amount of die stone to cure to thereby provide a hardened facsimile of the teeth, coupling member protruding portions and a portion of the gum tissue of the preselected dental arch or a model thereof; (g) removing said enduring impression from said hardened facsimile; (h) separating portions of said hardened facsimile which simulate preselected ones of the patient's teeth desired to be repositioned to a predetermined orientation from the remainder of the facsimile and returning each separated teeth-simulating portion to the enduring impression and into substantially its original position when formed therein; (i) applying wax to the teeth-simulating portions positioned within the enduring impression to secure the separated teeth-simulating portions to one another and to thereby provide a reconstructed facsimile of said preselected dental arch; (j) applying an amount of die stone to the applied wax for providing a base for said reconstructed facsimile and to thereby form a first combination wax/stone model simulating the preselected dental arch; (k) removing said first combination wax/stone model from said enduring impression; (l) repeating steps (a) through (k), inclusively, with the other of the preselected ones of the upper and lower dental arches of the patient to form a second combination wax/stone model simulating the other dental arch, (m) providing a dental articulator and operatively mounting said first and second combination wax/stone models upon said articulator so that said first and second wax/stone models simulate the actual indexed relationship of the upper and lower dental arches of the patient; (n) resetting each tooth-simulating portion of said first combination wax/stone model desired to be repositioned to a predetermined orientation by warming the wax surrounding the tooth-simulating portions of said first wax/stone model to thereby loosen said tooth-simulating portions and shifting the tooth-simulating portions to a predetermined orientation; (o) removing said first wax/stone model from the articulator; (p) duplicating said first wax/stone model in die stone so as to form a construction model of the patient's teeth, protruding portions of the coupling members and portion of the gum tissue in the preselected dental arch when the teeth therein are positioned in the predetermined orientation; (q) building a wax pattern of the desired positioner upon said construction model so as to provide a pattern-supporting construction model, which positioner includes a part adapted to be positioned about at least the teeth, protruding portions of the coupling members and gum tissue portion of the preselected dental arch; (r) providing investment molding equipment and an uncured amount of elastomer base material out of which the positioner is to be constructed; (s) operatively positioning the pattern-supporting construction model within the investment molding equipment and utilizing investment molding techniques to replace the wax pattern within the molding equipment with the uncured amount of elastomer base material; (t) permitting the amount of elastomer base material to cure to thereby provide the positioner; and (u) removing the positioner from the investment molding equipment.

Claim 20

A method of constructing an orthodontic positioner for maloccluded teeth located in a preselected one of the upper and lower dental arches of a patient for coaction with teeth-mounted coupling members including portions protruding from the sides of the teeth including the steps of: providing a construction model of the patient's teeth, the teeth-mounted coupling members, and a portion of the gum tissue in the preselected dental arch when the teeth therein are positioned in a desired orientation; builing a wax pattern of the desired positioner upon said construction model so as to provide a pattern-supporting construction model, which positioner includes a part adapted to be positioned about at least the teeth, protruding portions of the coupling members and gum tissue portion of the preselected dental arch; providing investment molding equipment and an uncured amount of elastomer base material out of which the positioner is to be constructed; operatively positioning the pattern-supporting construction model within the investment molding equipment and utilizing investment molding techniques to replace the wax pattern within the molding equipment with the uncured amount of elastomer base material; permitting the amount of elastomer base material to cure to thereby provide the positioner, wherein the positioner includes an arcuate portion along which is defined a recess having walls defining teeth-engaging surfaces for receiving the teeth of the patient and a series of indentations disposed across said teeth-engaging surfaces wherein each indentation is shaped to nestingly accept the protruding portions of the coupling members; and removing the positioner from the investment molding equipment.

Claim 21

A method of constructing an orthodontic positioner for maloccluded teeth located in a preselected one of the upper and lower dental arches of a patient for coaction with teeth-mounted coupling members including portions protruding from the sides of the teeth including the steps of: providing a construction model of the patient's teeth, the teeth-mounted coupling members, and a portion of the gum tissue in the preselected dental arch when the teeth therein are positioned in a desired orientation; builing a wax pattern of the desired positioner upon said construction model so as to provide a pattern-supporting construction model, which positioner includes a part adapted to be positioned about at least the teeth, protruding portions of the coupling members and gum tissue portion of the preselected dental arch; providing investment molding equipment and an uncured amount of elastomer base material out of which the positioner is to be constructed; operatively positioning the pattern-supporting construction model within the investment molding equipment and utilizing investment molding techniques to replace the wax pattern within the molding equipment with the uncured amount of elastomer base material; permitting the amount of elastomer base material to cure to thereby provide the positioner, wherein the positioner includes an arcuate portion along which is defined a recess having walls defining teeth-engaging surfaces for receiving the teeth of the patient and a series of indentations disposed across said teeth-engaging surfaces wherein each indentation is shaped to nestingly accept the protruding portions of the coupling members; and removing the positioner from the investment molding equipment.