Patent Application
20190125496
The present invention relates generally to a reusable dental orthotic and protection device and to a packing kit containing the dental orthotic and protection device.
Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Dental conditions such as bruxism (teeth grinding) and malocclusion (crooked teeth/off balance jaws) may cause many problems such as damage to teeth, damage to jaw joints, headaches, etc. It is estimated that 45 million Americans complain of headaches each year. A portion of these occurrences are experienced by adults with dental orthotics, engineered cosmetic teeth, braces, partial plates and full dentures. These statistics are much greater if one factors in the number of children and adolescents with malocclusion (crooked teeth/off balance jaws) and braces or retainers, who experience headaches and migraines. Cranial Nerve Trauma (CNT) is often caused by natural malocclusion, disease, injury and/or modern dentistry. For example, based on inventor's research Trigeminal Nerve Trauma triggered by bilateral dental imbalance can possibly cause one side of the face to appear hypertrophic while the other side appears hypotrophic, meaning one side of the face looks as if it's seizing while the other appears less responsive. In addition to the numerous facial and cranial indicators of CNT due to malocclusion there are many others such as chronic fatigue and chronic illness and pain (the trigeminal nerve alone is reported to have approximately 100× more dense pain fibers than any other nerve in the body and is a neuromodulator).
The traditional night guards are made of a hard material built on either maxillary (upper jaw) and/or mandibular (lower jaw) teeth. These are expensive devices since a dentist spends time to custom modify and adjust such devices in consideration of user's unique malocclusion. In addition, such guards feel cumbersome and do not provide proper hygiene, such as unobstructed saliva and air flow so the saliva gets stuck in the pockets or teeth trough of such devices where bacteria can build up. Some of the known dental orthotics that are used to prevent bruxism and malocclusion can also provide protection of the teeth (protective mouth piece) such as for example the one used in contact sports however such orthotics are hard to use when one uses braces since such orthotics do not fit good around the braces and teeth.
In one aspect, a dental orthotic protection device for protecting user's teeth and braces is provided. The device comprises a semicircular body shaped to correspond to user's dental arch and an aerating trough formed in the semicircular body so that it extends around a longitudinal axis from one posterior end to the other posterior end of the body. A number of openings are formed in the body allowing access to the aerated trough to allow fluid flowing through the trough. The aerated trough rises of a surface of the body and is sized to fit user's dental features.
In another aspect, a dental orthotic guard and protection device is provided. The device comprises a U-shaped dental guard and a dental protector having a body for protecting user's teeth and an aerating trough with flow openings to allow fluid flowing through the trough. A top surface and a bottom surface of the guard are substantially flat such that it sits flat on top of user's teeth to allow fluid flowing between the user teeth and the guard.
In another aspect, the top and bottom surfaces of the guard are textured forming a number of perturbations and valleys such that fluid flows throughout such valleys.
In yet another aspect, the dental guard and the dental protector are connected into a single piece integrated device that can be used in small children as dental orthotic protecting device.
In one aspect, a kit is provided that comprises a container containing a pre-fabricated U-shaped dental guard and a pre-fabricated dental protector. The kit can further comprise a pre-fabricated single-piece dental guard and protector for use in small children.
In another aspect, the kit comprises a molding composite material and an injector for injecting the molding composite material for custom made U-shaped dental guard. The kit can further comprise a molding base for a single piece dental orthotic guard and protection device such that a customized single piece dental guard and protector can be made for use in small children.
In addition to the aspects and embodiments described above, further aspects and embodiments will become apparent by reference to the drawings and study of the following detailed description.
Throughout the drawings, reference numbers may be re-used to indicate correspondence between referenced elements. The drawings are provided to illustrate example embodiments described herein and are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure. Sizes and relative positions of elements in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. For example, the shapes of various elements and angles are not drawn to scale, and some of these elements are arbitrarily enlarged and positioned to improve drawing legibility.
The present invention discloses a thin, malleable dental grade removable orthotics to be used as teeth/braces protection piece and grinding protection piece. The dental orthotics of the present invention are cost-effective reusable dental appliances for retail and professional use that can be used by individuals that suffer from headaches, sleep apnea, chronic pain, during a childbirth labor or for any other inconsistent pain management, or as an aid for establishing neuromusculoskelatal equilibrium. For example, with time teeth may slightly shift and erode in an effort to stabilize body equilibrium and the dental orthotic devices of the present invention can help in a process to prevent teeth erosion and may prevent any pain and discomfort associated with such shift. The dental orthotics of the present invention can be pre-fabricated or can be custom-made using pieces of a dental orthotic kit of the present invention.
The dental protector 14 can have a semicircular body 18 that is shaped to correspond to user's dental arch. The protector 12 can be sized to extend over the teeth and pass gum line and can be secured and held over the teeth by user's upper and lower lips. The body 18 can have a facial surface and a lingual surface that faces user's teeth and gum. A plurality of openings 20 that are formed in the body 18 can extend between its facial and lingual surfaces thus allowing any fluid (i.e. saliva or air) to flow through the openings 20. This can provide better hygiene since will prevent fluid, such as saliva, from accumulating in any pocket formed on the facial or lingual surface of the protector 14 and can allow free mouth breathing for people that have problem breathing through the nose (e.g. people that suffer from allergy and/or sinuses). In one embodiment, the protector 14 can comprise a mesh extending from one posterior end 18a to the other posterior end 18b forming the openings 20. The facial and lingual surface of the dental protector 14 needs to be smooth and non-irritating to the soft tissues of the mouth.
The kit 10 can further comprise a container 11 with a bottom 13, a lid 15 and a fastener 19 to close and open the container 11. The container can be a box shaped or can have any other suitable shape and size and can be made of any suitable strong material. The fastener can be a snapping fastener (as the one illustrated in
The dental guard 12 and the dental protector 14 can be pre-fabricated and the user or dental practitioner can only trim the excess material to a desired size. In one implementation, the kit 10 can include a trimmer for trimming the guard 12 and/or the protector 14 to a desired size. This can result in significant cost savings over similar devices that require use of mold models and the services of a dental laboratory in their construction.
In one implementation, the guard 12 and/or the protector 14 can be custom made.
In some embodiment, a dental model 25 of user's jaw and teeth can be used for making custom dental guard 22.
In one implementation the dental guard 12, 22 can comprise means for securing the guard in place when in use. For example, a portion of the edge 17 of the dental guard 12, 22 can be slightly contoured (raised in direction toward the teeth of upper or lower jaws), so that it can tightly grip at least one tooth on each posterior side of the user's lower or upper jaw (depending whether the guard 12, 22 is secured to the teeth of the lower or upper jaw). In one implementation, the entire edge 17 can be contoured, so that it completely grips the teeth of either lower or upper jaw. In such case, the countered part of the edge can comprise a plurality of slits (not shown) to allow fluid to flow easily through the slits. Any other suitable means for securing the guard in place can be used without departing from the scope of the invention.
The wall of the protector's body 18 can be thin so it can be comfortable to use for a certain time period. In some embodiments the protector 14 can be made of a stronger, resilient, material and/or the wall of the protector's body can be thicker to provide the necessary protection required for, for example, contact sports. The guard 12, 22 can also be a thinner or thicker, and both the guard 12, 22 and the protector 14 can be trimmed to size.
In the examples of dental guard and protecting devices illustrated and described with respect to
While particular elements, embodiments and applications of the present disclosure have been shown and described, it will be understood, that the scope of the disclosure is not limited thereto, since modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure, particularly in light of the foregoing teachings. Thus, for example, in any method or process disclosed herein, the acts or operations making up the method/process may be performed in any suitable sequence and are not necessarily limited to any particular disclosed sequence. Elements and components can be configured or arranged differently, combined, and/or eliminated in various embodiments. The various features and processes described above may be used independently of one another, or may be combined in various ways. All possible combinations and sub-combinations are intended to fall within the scope of this disclosure. Reference throughout this disclosure to “some embodiments,” “an embodiment,” or the like, means that a particular feature, structure, step, process, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in some embodiments,” “in an embodiment,” or the like, throughout this disclosure are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment and may refer to one or more of the same or different embodiments.
Various aspects and advantages of the embodiments have been described where appropriate. It is to be understood that not necessarily all such aspects or advantages may be achieved in accordance with any particular embodiment. Thus, for example, it should be recognized that the various embodiments may be carried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving other aspects or advantages as may be taught or suggested herein.
Conditional language used herein, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” “may,” “e.g.,” and the like, unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certain embodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certain features, elements and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that features, elements and/or steps are in any way required for one or more embodiments or that one or more embodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without operator input or prompting, whether these features, elements and/or steps are included or are to be performed in any particular embodiment. No single feature or group of features is required for or indispensable to any particular embodiment. The terms “comprising,” “including,” “having,” and the like are synonymous and are used inclusively, in an open-ended fashion, and do not exclude additional elements, features, acts, operations, and so forth. Also, the term “or” is used in its inclusive sense (and not in its exclusive sense) so that when used, for example, to connect a list of elements, the term “or” means one, some, or all of the elements in the list.
Conjunctive language such as the phrase “at least one of X, Y and Z,” unless specifically stated otherwise, is otherwise understood with the context as used in general to convey that an item, term, etc. may be either X, Y or Z. Thus, such conjunctive language is not generally intended to imply that certain embodiments require at least one of X, at least one of Y and at least one of Z to each be present.
The example calculations, simulations, results, graphs, values, and parameters of the embodiments described herein are intended to illustrate and not to limit the disclosed embodiments. Other embodiments can be configured and/or operated differently than the illustrative examples described herein.
