Radio opaque plastics and process of making

Claim 2

An implant for a body part comprising: a solid rigid material for insertion into an artificially formed body cavity, said solid rigid material comprising a polymer plastic, said solid rigid material having an interior region and an exterior shape, said polymer plastic comprising polysulfone having tungsten particles uniformly distributed therethrough so that an x-ray image of a body part containing said solid rigid material shows the the interior region and the exterior shape of said solid rigid material in the body part to enable a person viewing an x-ray of the body part containing the implant to determine the shape and boundaries of said solid rigid material implanted in the artificially formed body cavity.

Claim 3

The implant of claim 1 wherein said polymer plastic is a thermoplastic.

Claim 4

The implanted of claim 1 wherein said tungsten in said solid rigid material ranges from a low of 35% by weight to a high of 65% by weight of the solid rigid material.

Claim 5

The implant of claim 1 wherein said polysulfone comprises about 49% to 50.5% by weight of the solid rigid material and said tungsten comprise about 49.5% to 51% by weight of said solid rigid material.

Claim 6

The implant of claim 1 wherein said said tungsten particles have a diameter of four to five microns.

Claim 7

An implant for filling an endodontically prepared root canal of a tooth, the canal extending from the tooth coronal areal to the root apex, said implant comprising: a flowable filler material; an elongated shaft for acting as a carrier for inserting said shaft and the flowable filler material into the root apex, said elongated shaft comprising a different material from the filler material with the improvement comprising the elongated shaft made from a polymer plastic having heavy metal particles dispersed therethrough with the heavy metal particles selected from the group consisting of tungsten and tantalum particles so that an x-ray image of said shaft and said filler material encasing said shaft appear as a single continuous image.

Claim 8

An implant for filling an endodontically prepared root canal of a tooth, the canal extending from the tooth coronal areal to the root apex, said implant comprising: a flowable filler material; an elongated shaft for acting as a carrier for inserting said shaft and the flowable filler material into the root apex, said elongated shaft comprising a different material from the filler material with the improvement comprising the elongated shaft made from a polymer plastic having heavy metal particles dispersed therethrough with the heavy metal particles selected from the group consisting of tungsten and tantalum particles so that an x-ray image of said shaft and said filler material encasing said shaft appear as a single continuous image.

Claim 9

The implant of claim 6 wherein said polymer plastic comprises polysulfone and said heavy metal particles have a diameter of about 4 to 5 microns.

Claim 10

The process of making a radio opaque article for use as an implant comprising the steps of: selecting heavy metal particles having a diameter of about 2 to 5 microns from the group consisting of tungsten particles and tantalum particles; mixing said selected heavy metal particles with a pelletized thermoplastic until the heavy metal particles are blended uniformly through out the mixture; heating the mixture to the injection molding temperature of the polymer plastic to thereby make said plastic a liquid, said injection molding temperature sufficiently below the melting temperature of the solids so that the heavy metals particles remain as solid particles; and injecting molding the mixture into a mold to produce a radio opaque plastic article with solid metal particles dispersed therethrough so that an x-ray image of the radio opaque plastic appears as a single continuous image.

Claim 11

The process of making a radio opaque article for use as an implant comprising the steps of: selecting heavy metal particles having a diameter of about 2 to 5 microns from the group consisting of tungsten particles and tantalum particles; mixing said selected heavy metal particles with a pelletized thermoplastic until the heavy metal particles are blended uniformly through out the mixture; heating the mixture to the injection molding temperature of the polymer plastic to thereby make said plastic a liquid, said injection molding temperature sufficiently below the melting temperature of the solids so that the heavy metals particles remain as solid particles; and injecting molding the mixture into a mold to produce a radio opaque plastic article with solid metal particles dispersed therethrough so that an x-ray image of the radio opaque plastic appears as a single continuous image.

Claim 12

A tooth implant for filling a cavity in a tooth comprising at least two different components wherein a photo shadowgraph of a tooth with the filling of two different components appears as a single image comprising: a first tooth filling component, said first tooth filling component comprising a flowable material for insertion into the cavity in a tooth; and a second tooth filling component, said second tooth filling component comprising a molded carrier for coaxially holding said flowable material for insertion of both said first tooth filling component and said second tooth filling component into the cavity of a tooth, said molded carrier having a radio opaque material uniformly dispersed therethrough, said radio opaque material comprises about 50% by weigh of the mixture of said second tooth filling component wherein said radio opaque material is a heavy metal selected from the group of heavy metals consisting of tungsten and tantalum.

Claim 13

A tooth implant for filling a cavity in a tooth comprising at least two different components wherein a photo shadowgraph of a tooth with the filling of two different components appears as a single image comprising: a first tooth filling component, said first tooth filling component comprising a flowable material for insertion into the cavity in a tooth; and a second tooth filling component, said second tooth filling component comprising a molded carrier for coaxially holding said flowable material for insertion of both said first tooth filling component and said second tooth filling component into the cavity of a tooth, said molded carrier having a radio opaque material uniformly dispersed therethrough, said radio opaque material comprises about 50% by weigh of the mixture of said second tooth filling component wherein said radio opaque material is a heavy metal selected from the group of heavy metals consisting of tungsten and tantalum.

Claim 14

The tooth implant of claim 9 wherein the second filler material is polysulfone and said first tooth filling material is gutta-percha.

Claim 15

The tooth implant of claim 10 wherein the heavy metal is tungsten.

Claim 16

The tooth implant of claim 9 wherein the second filler material is a polymer plastic.

Claim 17

The tooth implant of claim 12 wherein the tungsten ranges from about 49.5% to about 51% by weight of the mixture.

Claim 18

The tooth implant of claim 9 wherein the heavy metal is tungstem particles having a diameter ranging from about 2 to 5 microns.

Claim 19

The tooth implant of claim 9 wherein the second filler material is medical grade polysulfone.