DENTAL PROSTHETIC

Abstract

A system of manufacturing a custom set of pre-manufactured upper and lower dentures is provided. In one form, a set of master upper and lower dentures is created. The master upper and lower dentures are used to create reusable upper and lower dental matrices, respectively. These re-usable upper and lower dental matrices are repeatedly used to manufacture upper and lower pre-manufactured or standard sized dentures, respectively. Optionally, a dental patient can have these upper and lower pre-manufactured dentures custom fit or relined to fit the dental patient's mouth to form upper reline and/or lower reline pre-manufactured dentures. The dental patient can have custom fit dentures in two visits with the dentist, even two visits in the same day.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1-15 are perspective views of one embodiment of a method of manufacturing master dentures.

FIGS. 16-20 are perspective views of one embodiment of a method of manufacturing a dental jig.

FIGS. 21 and 22 are perspective views of another embodiment of a method of manufacturing a dental jig.

FIGS. 23 and 24 are perspective views of one embodiment of a method of manufacturing a pre-manufactured denture.

FIG. 25 is a bottom view of one embodiment of a pre-manufactured upper denture.

FIGS. 26-37 are perspective views of one embodiment of a method of relining a pre-manufactured denture.

Claims

1. A method of manufacturing a denture comprising: forming a dental matrix by removing a master denture from a denture container filled with a hard dental material and an impression material to expose an impression of a plurality of prosthetic teeth in said impression material created from said master denture;forming a standard sized denture from said dental matrix by placing a plurality of prosthetic teeth in said impression, covering said plurality of prosthetic teeth with a doughy material, and curing said doughy material to create said standard sized denture; andrelining said standard sized denture to form a custom fit denture for a medical patient by filling said standard sized denture with an impression material, placing said standard sized denture in a reline jig, setting said reline jig to a reline configuration determined by a reline impression created from said medical patient's teeth, and curing said impression material to form said custom fit denture.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of forming a dental matrix further comprises: covering said master denture having a plurality of prosthetic teeth with a layer of said doughy material;placing said master denture covered with said doughy material in said denture container;filling said denture container with a fluent curable dental material to cover said master denture and said layer of doughy material with said fluent dental material;curing said fluent dental material in said denture container over a period of time to form said hard dental material; andremoving said master denture from said denture container to expose said impression formed from said plurality of prosthetic teeth in said layer of doughy material to create said dental matrix.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising: removing said dental matrix from said denture container; andcreating a subsequent dental matrix in said denture container by using said master denture or a subsequent denture.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said master denture is a master upper denture and said dental matrix is an upper dental matrix; and said step of covering said master upper denture with said layer of doughy material includes packing said doughy material into a tissue side of said master upper denture to form a substantially flat palate on said tissue side.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of forming a dental matrix further comprises: filling a cavity with said impression material, wherein said denture container includes an upper plate and a lower plate, said upper plate having said master denture attached thereto, and said lower plate defining said cavity;positioning said master denture in said cavity filled with said impression material;curing said impression material in said cavity over a period of time to form said hard dental material, said hard dental material substantially resistant to degradation; andremoving said master denture from said cavity to expose said impression formed from said plurality of prosthetic teeth in said hard dental material to create said dental matrix.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said impression material is silicone.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein said step of filling said cavity includes filling a plurality of cavities, said upper plate having a plurality of master dentures attached thereto, and said lower plate defining a plurality of cavities.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of relining said standard sized denture further comprises: filling said standard sized denture with an amount of impression material;creating a reline impression of said medical patient's teeth in said standard sized denture filled with said impression material;placing said standard sized denture filled with said reline impression in said reline jig;curing said impression material in said reline jig wherein said reline impression determines a certain configuration of said reline jig; andremoving said reline impression from said standard sized denture.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said filling said standard sized denture includes filling an upper standard sized denture and a lower standard sized denture with amounts of impression material; and occluding said upper standard sized denture and said lower standard sized denture by pressing said upper standard sized denture filled with said impression material and said lower standard sized denture filled with said impression material into a pre-manufactured bite registration while said upper standard sized denture and said lower standard sized denture are each positioned on said medical patient's gums.

10. A method of manufacturing a standard sized denture comprising: placing a plurality of prosthetic teeth in an impression in a dental matrix, wherein said plurality of prosthetic teeth are a similar size as a plurality of teeth from a master denture, and wherein said master denture was used to create said impression in said dental matrix;packing a doughy material in said impression to cover said plurality of prosthetic teeth;pressing portions of said dental matrix together to compress said doughy material into said impression;curing said doughy material in said dental matrix; andremoving a standard sized denture from said dental matrix.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising: forming an upper standard sized denture; andplacing a flexible material on said upper standard sized denture to form an adjustable palate for conforming to a medical patient's palate.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising: bending said adjustable palate to fit snugly against said medical patient's palate.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein said plurality of prosthetic teeth are an arch of prosthetic teeth.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein said plurality of prosthetic teeth are a plurality of individual prosthetic teeth.

15. A method of forming a custom fit denture from a standard sized denture for a medical patient, comprising: filling a standard sized denture with an amount of impression material;creating a reline impression of a medical patient's teeth in said standard sized denture filled with said impression material;placing said standard sized denture filled with said reline impression in a reline jig;curing said impression material in said reline jig wherein said reline impression determines a certain configuration of said reline jig;removing said reline impression from said standard sized denture;filling said standard sized denture with a packing material;placing said standard sized denture filled with said packing material in said reline jig;adjusting said reline jig to said certain configuration determined by said reline impression; andcuring said packing material in said standard sized denture to form a custom fit denture for said medical patient.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said filling said standard sized denture includes filling an upper standard sized denture and a lower standard sized denture with amounts of said impression material; and occluding said upper standard sized denture and said lower standard sized denture by pressing said upper standard sized denture filled with said impression material and said lower standard sized denture filled with said impression material into a pre-manufactured bite registration while said upper standard sized denture and said lower standard sized denture are each positioned on said medical patient's gums.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising: wherein said step of curing includes placing said reline jig in a hot water pressure pot, said pot sealed and configured to receive compressed air.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising: polishing said custom fit denture.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising: adjusting said custom fit denture to fit an oral cavity of said medical patient.