Patent Grant
12178681
This application is a National Stage Entry of International Application No. PCT/KR2017/004431, filed on Apr. 26, 2017, and claims priority from and the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2016-0053953, filed on May 2, 2016, each of which are hereby incorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein.
Exemplary embodiments of the invention relate generally to an implant packaging container and, more specifically, to an implant packaging container adapted to maintain a dental implant in a sterilized state before placement of the dental implant in the jawbone of a patient.
A dental implant generally includes a fixture serving as a dental root, an abutment connected to the fixture, and a dental prosthesis seated on the abutment, and it is important to firmly fix the fixture of the dental implant, which is placed in the jawbone, to teeth during the implantation.
Although various metals and alloys have been developed as materials for the fixture, titanium (Ti) or Ti alloys are mainly used as materials for the fixture. Ti or Ti alloys have various advantages including easy machining, high biocompatibility with biological tissues, high mechanical strength, and biological inactivity. However, Ti or Ti alloys have a drawback in that a fixture formed of Ti or Ti alloys requires a long time for bonding with the bone upon implantation in the human body, and metal ions can be dissolved in the body after a long time after implantation.
In order to overcome such drawbacks, several techniques have been developed for enhancing bone bonding through surface treatment on the surface of Ti or an Ti alloy. Specifically, the rate and quality of bone bonding are closely related to the surface properties and chemical composition of the fixture, such as surface adjustment, surface roughness, hydrophilicity, and the like. In particular, it is known in the art that fixtures having highly hydrophilic surfaces are advantageous in interaction with biological solutions, cells, and tissues.
Further, titanium on the surface of the fixture is known to be oxidized to form an oxide layer (TiO2) and the titanium oxide layer is stable in a living body and exhibits good biological compatibility and positive features in reaction with cells, and a dental implant subjected to oxidation treatment has better bone bonding with the bone than a dental implant subjected only to machining.
However, the oxide layer formed on the surface of the fixture can suffer from deterioration in hydrophilicity after a predetermined period of time, as compared with the oxide layer immediately formed thereon. Therefore, the dental implant is typically irradiated with UV light before packaging or further irradiated with UV light using a UV irradiator before placement of the dental implant in order to improve hydrophilicity of the fixture.
However, irradiation of the dental implant with UV light before packaging can cause significant deterioration in hydrophilicity of the fixture after a predetermined period, thereby causing patient pain upon implantation, and use of the UV irradiator can cause contamination of the dental implant in the course of taking the dental implant out of a packaging container thereof.
Therefore, there is a need for development of an effective method or a packaging container for improving hydrophilicity of the fixture in a sterilized state before placement of the dental implant in the jawbone of a patient.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for understanding of the background of the inventive concepts, and, therefore, it may contain information that does not constitute prior art.
An implant packaging container according to an exemplary embodiment can conveniently and efficiently improve hydrophilicity of a fixture before implantation of a dental implant in the jawbone of a patient to reduce patient pain through improvement in biological compatibility of the fixture with living tissue, while reducing a time for bonding with the bone upon implantation.
An implant packaging container according to an exemplary embodiment also maintains a dental implant in a sterilized state before placement of the dental implant in the jawbone of a patient.
Additional features of the inventive concepts will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the inventive concepts.
A dental implant packaging container according to an exemplary embodiment includes a main body having an inner wall defining a space for receiving a dental implant, a cap detachably coupled to one side of the main body, a securing portion mounted on the cap and configured to secure the dental implant inside the main body, a bottom portion coupled to the main body and facing the cap, and a main body reflector disposed on the inner wall of the main body and reflecting UV light emitted towards the cap.
The dental implant packaging container may further include a dental implant configured to be mounted on the main body, the dental implant may include an abutment connector configured to be coupled to the securing portion, an abutment, and a fixture, in which the dental implant is configured to be disposed between the securing portion and the bottom portion.
The bottom portion may be detachable from the main body, and UV light may configured to be emitted into the main body, with the bottom portion removed from the main body.
The securing portion may include a securing portion reflector configured to reflect UV light emitted into the main body from the bottom portion.
The main body reflector may be configured to reflect UV light having passed through the bottom portion.
The main body reflector may include at least one of aluminum materials, a fluorine-based polymer, SUS, glass, ceramic materials, and combinations thereof.
The main body reflector may include aluminum or polytetrafluoroethylene.
The main body reflector may have a thickness of 0.003 mm to 50 mm.
A length of the main body reflector may be at least one third the length of the fixture of the dental implant.
An inner space of the main body may gradually narrow from the bottom portion to the cap.
The main body reflector may include a reflective material.
The reflective material layer may be coated on the inner wall of the main body.
The main body reflector may include a reflective tape attached to the main body.
The main body reflector may have a barrel-shape and may be inserted into the main body.
The dental implant packaging container may further include at least one fastener configured to secure the main body reflector to the inner wall of the main body.
The dental implant packaging container may further include a pedestal disposed between the main body reflector and the bottom portion inside the main body to place the main body reflector thereon.
The dental implant packaging container may further include a UV light source disposed on the bottom portion and configured to emit UV light into the main body.
When A indicates the shortest distance from the main body reflector to the dental implant and B indicates the shortest distance from the UV light source to the dental implant, A and B may satisfy relationships of 0.1 mm≤A≤50 mm and 0.7≤B/A≤1.
The main body reflector may be spaced apart from the cap and the bottom portion.
The main body reflector may be disposed to overlap only a portion of the dental implant.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.
The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate exemplary embodiments of the invention, and together with the description serve to explain the inventive concepts.
In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of various exemplary embodiments or implementations of the invention. As used herein “embodiments” and “implementations” are interchangeable words that are non-limiting examples of devices or methods employing one or more of the inventive concepts disclosed herein. It is apparent, however, that various exemplary embodiments may be practiced without these specific details or with one or more equivalent arrangements. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring various exemplary embodiments. Further, various exemplary embodiments may be different, but do not have to be exclusive. For example, specific shapes, configurations, and characteristics of an exemplary embodiment may be used or implemented in another exemplary embodiment without departing from the inventive concepts.
Unless otherwise specified, the illustrated exemplary embodiments are to be understood as providing exemplary features of varying detail of some ways in which the inventive concepts may be implemented in practice. Therefore, unless otherwise specified, the features, components, modules, layers, films, panels, regions, and/or aspects, etc. (hereinafter individually or collectively referred to as “elements”), of the various embodiments may be otherwise combined, separated, interchanged, and/or rearranged without departing from the inventive concepts.
The use of cross-hatching and/or shading in the accompanying drawings is generally provided to clarify boundaries between adjacent elements. As such, neither the presence nor the absence of cross-hatching or shading conveys or indicates any preference or requirement for particular materials, material properties, dimensions, proportions, commonalities between illustrated elements, and/or any other characteristic, attribute, property, etc., of the elements, unless specified. Further, in the accompanying drawings, the size and relative sizes of elements may be exaggerated for clarity and/or descriptive purposes. When an exemplary embodiment may be implemented differently, a specific process order may be performed differently from the described order. For example, two consecutively described processes may be performed substantially at the same time or performed in an order opposite to the described order. Also, like reference numerals denote like elements.
When an element, such as a layer, is referred to as being “on,” “connected to,” or “coupled to” another element or layer, it may be directly on, connected to, or coupled to the other element or layer or intervening elements or layers may be present. When, however, an element or layer is referred to as being “directly on,” “directly connected to,” or “directly coupled to” another element or layer, there are no intervening elements or layers present. To this end, the term “connected” may refer to physical, electrical, and/or fluid connection, with or without intervening elements. Further, the D1-axis, the D2-axis, and the D3-axis are not limited to three axes of a rectangular coordinate system, such as the x, y, and z-axes, and may be interpreted in a broader sense. For example, the D1-axis, the D2-axis, and the D3-axis may be perpendicular to one another, or may represent different directions that are not perpendicular to one another. For the purposes of this disclosure, “at least one of X, Y, and Z” and “at least one selected from the group consisting of X, Y, and Z” may be construed as X only, Y only, Z only, or any combination of two or more of X, Y, and Z, such as, for instance, XYZ, XYY, YZ, and ZZ. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
Although the terms “first,” “second,” etc. may be used herein to describe various types of elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are used to distinguish one element from another element. Thus, a first element discussed below could be termed a second element without departing from the teachings of the disclosure.
Spatially relative terms, such as “beneath,” “below,” “under,” “lower,” “above,” “upper,” “over,” “higher,” “side” (e.g., as in “sidewall”), and the like, may be used herein for descriptive purposes, and, thereby, to describe one elements relationship to another element(s) as illustrated in the drawings. Spatially relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations of an apparatus in use, operation, and/or manufacture in addition to the orientation depicted in the drawings. For example, if the apparatus in the drawings is turned over, elements described as “below” or “beneath” other elements or features would then be oriented “above” the other elements or features. Thus, the exemplary term “below” can encompass both an orientation of above and below. Furthermore, the apparatus may be otherwise oriented (e.g., rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations), and, as such, the spatially relative descriptors used herein interpreted accordingly.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the singular forms, “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Moreover, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” and/or “including,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. It is also noted that, as used herein, the terms “substantially,” “about,” and other similar terms, are used as terms of approximation and not as terms of degree, and, as such, are utilized to account for inherent deviations in measured, calculated, and/or provided values that would be recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art.
Various exemplary embodiments are described herein with reference to sectional and/or exploded illustrations that are schematic illustrations of idealized exemplary embodiments and/or intermediate structures. As such, variations from the shapes of the illustrations as a result, for example, of manufacturing techniques and/or tolerances, are to be expected. Thus, exemplary embodiments disclosed herein should not necessarily be construed as limited to the particular illustrated shapes of regions, but are to include deviations in shapes that result from, for instance, manufacturing. In this manner, regions illustrated in the drawings may be schematic in nature and the shapes of these regions may not reflect actual shapes of regions of a device and, as such, are not necessarily intended to be limiting.
Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure is a part. Terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and should not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense, unless expressly so defined herein.
Referring to
The main body 110 is not limited to a particular shape and may have a polygonal barrel shape or a cylindrical shape. Preferably, the main body 110 has a cylindrical shape so as to allow the entirety of a dental implant 100 received in the packaging container may be irradiated with UV light reflected by the reflector 140. In addition, although the main body 110 may have any diameter and length so long as a typical dental implant can be received in the main body, the main body 110 may have a length of 10 mm to 30 mm and a diameter of 4 mm to 20 mm in consideration of reflection efficiency and economic feasibility. The main body 110 may be formed of a transparent material to allow the dental implant 100 received therein to be observed from the outside.
The cap 130 may be detachably coupled to one side of the main body 110. The securing portion 120 extending into the main body 110 may be mounted on the cap 130 and may be coupled to an abutment connector 102 of the dental implant 100. Here, inside the implant packaging container, the dental implant 100 may be secured by the securing portion 120 such that a fixture 103 of the dental implant 100 faces the bottom portion 150 and a mount 101 faces the cap 130.
Accordingly, in the implant packaging container, the dental implant 100 is mounted on the securing portion 120 extending from the cap 130, and the main body 110 is coupled to the cap 130 to receive the dental implant 100 in the implant packaging container for storage or transfer of the dental implant 100.
Referring to
As such, the implant packaging container according to an exemplary embodiment further includes the securing portion reflector 280, thereby allowing UV light to be emitted not only from the bottom portion 150 toward the cap 130 but also from the cap 130 toward the bottom portion 150. With this structure, the implant packaging container allows the entirety of the fixture 103 of the dental implant 100 to be uniformly irradiated with UV light before placement of the dental implant in the jawbone of a patient, thereby conveniently and efficiently improving hydrophilicity of the fixture 103 to reduce patient pain through improvement in biological compatibility of the fixture 103 with living tissue while reducing a time for bonding with the bone upon implantation.
The bottom portion 150 may be coupled to the main body in an opposite direction to the cap 130, may be formed of a transparent material to allow UV light to pass therethrough, and may be detachably coupled to the main body 110.
As such, in some exemplary embodiments, the bottom portion 150 may be detachably coupled to the main body 110 and a UV irradiator may be coupled to the main body at the opposite side of the cap 130 after detachment of the bottom portion 150 from the main body 110, thereby allowing the interior of the main body 110 to be irradiated with UV light emitted from the UV irradiator.
Alternatively, the bottom portion 150 may be formed of a transparent material to allow UV light to pass therethrough and the UV irradiator may be disposed at the opposite side of the cap 130 without removing the bottom portion, thereby allowing the interior of the main body 110 to be irradiated with UV light emitted from the UV irradiator.
The implant packaging container may include the main body reflector 140 on the inner wall of the main body 110 to emit UV light emitted from near the bottom portion 150.
The main body reflector 140 may reflect UV light having passed through the bottom portion 150, and may include at least one selected from the group consisting of aluminum materials, a fluorine-based polymer, SUS, glass, ceramic materials, and combinations thereof. The fluorine-based polymer may include polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), polyvinyl fluoride (PVF), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), polychlorotrifluoroethylene (PCTFE), fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP), ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE), ethylene chlorotrifluoroethylene (ECTFE), perfluoropolyether (PFPE), and the like. Preferably, the main body reflector 140 is formed of aluminum or polytetrafluoroethylene.
The main body reflector 140 may have a thickness of 300 nm to 5 cm. If the thickness of the main body reflector 140 is less than 300 nm, the main body reflector 140 can have a significantly low reflectivity with respect to UV light, and if the thickness of the main body reflector 140 exceeds 5 cm, the volume of the implant packaging container increases too much, thereby reducing economic feasibility.
The main body reflector 140 may have a length that is one third the length of the fixture 103 of the dental implant received in the main body. If the length of the main body reflector 140 is less than one third the length of the fixture 103, it is difficult for the entirety of the fixture 103 to be uniformly irradiated with UV light emitted into the main body 110.
Referring to
Each of the main body reflectors 640, 641, 642, 643, 644 according to exemplary embodiments may be realized by the main body 110 formed of a reflective material. Specifically, the main body 110 or the inner wall 111 of the main body may be formed of a reflective material. In this case, it is possible to eliminate coating or deposition of a separate reflective material onto the inner wall 111 of the main body.
Alternatively, the main body reflector 140 may be realized by a reflective material layer coated onto the inner wall 111 of the main body or an outer surface thereof. That is, when the main body 110 or the inner wall 111 of the main body 110 is formed of a UV light transmittable material, the reflective material layer may be coated on the outer surface of the main body 110. Coating of the reflective material layer may be performed by any method known in the art, for example, dipping, spraying, electro-deposition, blasting, spread coating, and the like.
When the main body reflector 140 is provided to the inner wall 111 of the main body, the main body 110 is not necessarily formed of the UV light transmittable material and may be formed of a UV absorbable or reflective material. As such, in the implant packaging container according an exemplary embodiment, the main body 110 is not necessarily formed of the UV light transmittable material, thereby enabling reduction in manufacturing costs.
Alternatively, the main body reflector 140 may be realized by a reflective tape that can be bonded to the main body 110. Specifically, when the main body 110 or the inner wall 111 of the main body 110 is formed of the UV light transmittable material, the reflective tape may be bonded to the surface of the main body 110.
According to some exemplary embodiments, the main body reflector 140 may be a barrel-shaped reflector inserted into the main body 110.
In these exemplary embodiments, referring to
In addition, referring to
The implant packaging container of
In addition, the implant packaging container has the thickness, length, shape, and material of the main body reflector 740 and a connection relationship between the main body 710 and the main body reflector 740 substantially the same as those of the implant packaging container of
Thus, the following description will focus on a connection relationship between a UV light source 760, the bottom portion 750, and a current supplier among the components of the implant packaging container.
The implant packaging container according to an exemplary embodiment further includes the UV light source 760 adapted to emit UV light into the main body 710. The UV light source 760 may be mounted on the bottom portion 750. The bottom portion 750 on which the UV light source 760 is mounted may be realized by a printed circuit board (PCB) or may include the PCB.
Referring to
Referring to
Although the arrangement of the connection terminal is descried with reference to
The UV light source 760 may emit UV light having a wavelength of 200 nm to 380 nm, preferably 250 nm to 350 nm, to improve hydrophilicity of the fixture 103 and a sterilization effect.
In addition, although hydrophilicity of the fixture 103 and the sterilization effect are improved with increasing light output of the UV light source 760, it is desirable that an electric current of 0.01 A to 2 A and a voltage of 2V to 20V be used in consideration of light output generation efficiency.
When A indicates the shortest distance from the main body reflector to the dental implant and B indicates the shortest distance from the UV light source to the dental implant, A and B may be set to satisfy relationships of 0.1 mm≤A≤50 mm and 0.7≤B/A≤1.
If B/A is less than 0.7, the fixture 103 can be damaged or suffer from deterioration in reflection efficiency due to contact between the UV light source 760 and the fixture 103, and if B/A exceeds 1, hydrophilicity of the fixture 103 cannot be sufficiently secured due to an excessively long distance between a portion near the abutment connector 102 of the fixture 103 and the UV light source 760.
According to exemplary embodiments, the implant packaging container is provided with a main body reflector inside a main body to allow a dental implant, particularly, the overall region of a fixture of the dental implant, to be uniformly irradiated with UV light. The implant packaging container may additionally include a cap reflector to allow the entirety of the fixture of the dental implant to be uniformly irradiated with UV light.
According to exemplary embodiments, the implant packaging container is provided with a UV light source inside the main body to prevent the dental implant from being exposed outside for UV irradiation, thereby maintaining the dental implant in a sterilized state before placement of the dental implant in the jawbone of a patient. In addition, including the UV light source inside the main body may allow the container to be formed of a UV transmittable material.
According to exemplary embodiments, the implant packaging container allows the entirety of the fixture of the dental implant to be uniformly irradiated with UV light through control of the shapes and lengths of the reflectors and the vertical shortest distance from the UV light source to the dental implant.
Accordingly, the implant packaging container according to exemplary embodiments allows the entirety of the fixture of the dental implant to be uniformly irradiated with UV light before placement of the dental implant in the jawbone of a patient, thereby conveniently and efficiently improving hydrophilicity of the fixture to reduce patient pain through improvement in biological compatibility of the fixture with living tissue while reducing a time for bonding with the bone upon implantation and maintaining the dental implant in a sterilized state immediately before placement of the dental implant in the jawbone of a patient.
Although certain exemplary embodiments and implementations have been described herein, other embodiments and modifications will be apparent from this description. Accordingly, the inventive concepts are not limited to such embodiments, but rather to the broader scope of the appended claims and various obvious modifications and equivalent arrangements as would be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2016-0053953 | May 2016 | KR | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/KR2017/004431 | 4/26/2017 | WO |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2017/191925 | 11/9/2017 | WO | A |
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20190159874 A1 | May 2019 | US |
