Patent Application
20220284831
As expressed in the title of the present specification, the invention relates to a model for teaching in dental disciplines providing for the function for which it is intended advantages and features which are described in detail below and represent an improvement of the current state of the art.
Specifically, the object of the present invention relates to a model for teaching which reproduces a part of the human or animal stomatognathic system, where said part may consist of a single tooth, several teeth, or a jaw or maxilla bone including or not including teeth, the part basically being distinguished by the fact that it is manufactured from structures which, in order to delimit the different tissues or states of same which they reproduce, comprise differentiated areas, which will be one or the other depending on the specific discipline for which the various variants of each model are intended, with different mechanical properties defined by a different density and/or a different colour. Specifically, the model of the invention contemplates an embodiment variant with a structure specifically applicable for learning dental anatomy, a variant for learning the opening of cavities and/or predefined dental preparations, and a variant for learning the removal of carious dental tissue. The model also preferably has means for attaching same to a phantom and allowing the student to practice in his/her real position to perform the work.
The field of application of the present invention is comprised within the sector of the industry dedicated to the manufacturing of models for teaching, focusing particularly on the field of models intended for the practice of dental disciplines.
Today, there are different types of anatomical models for teaching practices in different fields, including dentistry.
On the other hand, in most practical dental pathology and therapeutics programmes at universities, bars of soap, wax, or other materials are used to acquire said anatomical knowledge and cutting skills, with there being problems relating to proportionality, size, and variations of the anatomical structures, and therefore the work of the student is limited to only carving without any guide until a structure similar to the real anatomical model is obtained, given that anatomical learning models by means of subtraction techniques are not available.
In terms of dental models, there is a large variety of dental models today which faithfully reproduce the natural anatomy of each tooth, allowing students to open and design cavities and/or preparations. Frasaco® offers a wide range of educational products with study materials, just like Nissin Dental Products INC.
The main problem is that these dental models reproduce healthy teeth with an anatomy that is free of caries, i.e., of carious teeth on which the student can experience the feeling of making a cut, opening cavities and/or preparations, according to the specifications established by Black (G.V. Black, 1895), or specific preparations described by the teacher for the purpose of acquiring the skill required in handling cutting instruments; however, the absence of defined limits and an established cutting pattern leads to the student making inaccurate, out-of-proportion cavities and/or preparations during practice, and ultimately to him/her failing to acquire the skill needed to suitably guide the cutting instrument.
Nissin Dental places on the market operative jaw model CON2001-UL-SP-FEM-32 and operative jaw model CON2001-UL-UP-FEM-32, both for the purpose of learning surgical techniques, but without defining the area to be removed, and therefore without any precise motor leaning capacity.
Like Nissin Dental, Frasaco makes available dental models of healthy teeth which correspond with an ideal natural set of adult teeth made from hard plastic, and it is described that these models are primarily used for practicing preventive, conservative, and prosthodontics dentistry given that, since the teeth are healthy natural teeth, they allow any type of manipulation with cutting instruments, and therefore these models offer neither the possibility of performing psychomotricity exercises nor the possibility of acquiring precision in the handling of cutting instruments.
The objective of the present invention is therefore to provide an improved type of models for teaching which allows for added realism in the student's practice through a more faithful reproduction of the different mechanical properties of the different tissues and areas of the part of the buccal or dental system to be treated.
Moreover, and as a reference to the current state of the art, it should be pointed out that at least the applicant is unaware of the existence of any other model for teaching in dental disciplines or any other invention with similar application having technical, structural, and constitutive features that are identical or similar to those of the model herein claimed.
The model for teaching in dental disciplines proposed by the invention allows the described drawbacks of the current models to be solved and the objectives indicated above to be achieved in a satisfactory manner, with the characterising details making it possible and suitably distinguishing it being described in the final claims attached to the present description.
More specifically, as indicated above, the invention proposes a model for teaching that reproduces a part of the human or animal stomatognathic system, which part consists of either a set comprising a jaw and/or maxilla area or a portion thereof, including one or more teeth and/or edentulous areas, or else only a specific temporary or permanent tooth, or a group of two or more adjacent teeth, and the part basically being distinguished by the fact that it is manufactured from structures which, in order to delimit the areas to be removed, comprise areas with different mechanical properties differentiated from each other by the fact that they have at least a different density and/or a different colour, providing optimal realism when a student uses same for practice, also serving as a guiding system in certain cases so as to make it easier to learn the work to be performed.
It should be pointed out that the aforementioned areas of the model with the described different properties defined by a different density and/or colour will be one or the other in each case, depending on the specific type of model and on the discipline for which it is intended, therefore the model has various variants applicable for learning different types of work, where they may have, in addition to different density and different colour, different porosity and/or different elasticity and/or different flexibility.
Specifically, the model of the invention contemplates a first embodiment variant with a structure specifically applicable for learning dental anatomy, a second embodiment variant in which the structure thereof is specifically designed for learning the opening of cavities and/or predefined dental preparations, and a third embodiment variant in which the structure of the model is specifically designed for learning the removal of carious dental tissue.
One, several, or all of the variants of the model object of the invention also preferably contemplate the inclusion of means for attaching same to a phantom, usually a head, and allowing the student to practice in his/her real position to perform the work.
Going into more detail of the invention, in a first embodiment variant applicable for learning dental anatomy, the model of the invention contemplates that the structure of the model reproduces a single tooth, several teeth, or a complete arch which, in order to allow the student to be able to acquire knowledge about the anatomical characteristics of each of the teeth to be treated by means of subtraction techniques with manual cutting materials, are integrated in an external body that can be “chipped off” or “break away”, has a different density and preferably also a different colour, and must be removed by the student until the inner tooth or teeth is/are exposed, where the inclusion of several teeth or groups of teeth of different proportion integrated inside each other, logically from largest to smallest, may be contemplated, in which the student by means of the mentioned subtraction techniques must expose the dental anatomical structure at different scales marked by density and colour changes, accessing smaller proportions or scales as he/she acquires anatomical expertise and instrument handling skill. Preferably, the external body is a polyhedron, although this does not entail a limitation.
More specifically, in this first embodiment variant applicable for learning the anatomy, the structure of the model reproduces a temporary or permanent human or animal tooth with a complete anatomical design included in a preferably polyhedral external body formed by a multi-colour composition which delimits similar dental structures in different scales of proportion (from largest to smallest) varying in hardness and density so as to improve the training in handling cutting instruments in different types of preparations.
The present invention allows the anatomical figure to be made by the student to be predefined by means of different colours which allow differentiating the different scales of size of the said anatomical figure preferably comprising:
The polyhedral shape of the external body in which the dental anatomical figure is included can vary in both shape and thickness, according to training or skill acquisition needs. Similarly, the sizes of scales may vary according to the sector for which the models are intended and to the skills in handling the cutting materials.
In a second embodiment variant for learning the opening of cavities and/or predefined dental preparations, the model allows acquiring the skill and precision necessary in the handling of both manual and rotary dental cutting instruments, for which the structure thereof reproduces a tooth or group of temporary or permanent teeth in which there is contemplated at least an area to be removed having a density and/or colour different from the rest and its extension can vary depending on the educational needs for training the handling of the cutting instruments in different types of preparations.
This variant of the model of the invention therefore allows the preparation to be made by the student to be predefined by means of different densities and/or colours which allow the part of the tooth to be removed to be differentiated from the part to be preserved.
More specifically, the preferred embodiment of this variant of the model the structure reproduces a single tooth comprising:
The model of this variant for teaching the opening of cavities and/or predefined preparations can be developed individually, such that it can be attached to a phantom by means of a compatible base, or it can be developed such that it is a permanent part of a practice phantom, without the possibility of personalising the teeth.
Lastly, the model contemplates a third embodiment variant applicable for learning the removal of carious dental tissue which allows acquiring the skill necessary in the intraoral handling of both manual and rotary dental cutting instruments during the removal of carious tissue, both in the cases where only the hard tissue is affected and in the cases where the pulp tissue is also affected, for which the structure thereof reproduces a tooth or group of temporary or permanent teeth in which there is contemplated at least an area having a density different from the rest which imitates a caries lesion to be removed with cutting instruments.
In addition to reproducing healthy and sick tissue, in this variant, the model preferably also reproduces the pulp tissue, such that the student must establish and apply real therapeutic criteria when removing the hard tissue in view of the possibility of finding or causing a damaged pulp.
This variant therefore allows the student to make preparations in the models by means of removing the hard tissue with dental cutting instruments and then performing the filling thereof using different restoration materials and techniques according to the needs generated in each case.
In the preferred embodiment of this variant, the structure of the model reproduces a single tooth comprising:
Like in the preceding variant, the model in this variant for teaching the removal of carious tissue can be developed individually, such that it can be attached to a phantom by means of a compatible connection, or it can be developed such that it is a permanent part of a practice phantom.
To complement the description that is being made and for the purpose of helping to better understand the features of the invention, a set of drawings is attached to the present specification as an integral part thereof in which the following is depicted in a non-limiting, illustrative manner:
In view of the mentioned figures and according to the numbering used, several non-limiting examples of the various embodiment variants of the proposed model for teaching in dental disciplines can be seen therein, which model comprises the parts and elements indicated and described in detail below.
In that sense, as can be seen in said figures, the model in question consists of a structure (1) that reproduces a part of the human or animal stomatognathic system, consisting of a jaw and/or maxilla bone or a portion thereof, with or without teeth (5) and/or edentulous gum areas, or of a temporary or permanent tooth (5) or a group of adjacent teeth, and said model is distinguished by comprising two or more areas (a, b, c, d) with different mechanical properties, differentiated from each other in order to delimit the different tissues that they reproduce and/or the natural or affected state of same, having at least a different density and possibly also a different colour and/or porosity and/or elasticity and/or flexibility, depending on the specific type of model and on the discipline for which it is intended, providing realism and guidance when a student uses same for practice so as to make it easier to learn the work to be performed.
Furthermore, the structure (1) of the model object of the invention also preferably comprises compatible means, such as a base (2), for attaching same to a practice phantom, usually a head.
Optionally, in this embodiment variant of the model (1), the structure (1) comprises two or more teeth or groups of teeth (5) which are integrated, inside each other in different scales of proportion, from largest to smallest, within the external body (7) and which the student must successively expose by means of subtraction techniques accessing teeth having smaller proportions or scales, said inner teeth (5) constituting the corresponding third and fourth areas (c, d) with different mechanical properties which also have a different density with respect to each other and to the external body (7).
Furthermore, each of the teeth (5) successively incorporated inside each other and within the external body (7) constituting the aforementioned areas (a, b, c, d) with different mechanical properties in the structure (1) of the model are also preferably different in colours from each other.
In a preferred embodiment like the one shown in
In a second embodiment variant, the structure (1) of the model is applicable for learning the opening of cavities and/or predefined dental preparations, and as can be seen in
Preferably, the structure (1) also comprises a compatible base (2) for attaching same to a phantom so that the practice can be carried out in a more realistic position.
In a preferred embodiment of this variant of the model, the structure (1) reproduces a single tooth (5) comprising:
The model of this variant for teaching the opening of cavities and/or predefined preparations preferably has a structure (1) which reproduces the tooth (5) individually, such that it can be attached to a phantom by means of the compatible base (2), as shown in
Lastly,
In the preferred embodiment of this variant, the structure (1) of the model reproduces a single tooth (5) comprising:
Optionally, said pulp tissue part (53) constituting this fourth area (d) incorporates sensors (8) which, when connected to a device (not depicted) provided to that end, record the damage caused by errors during the removal of hard tissue from the part to be removed (51) of the tooth (5).
Preferably, in this variant, the structure (1) also has a base (2) compatible with a practice phantom, or alternatively is integrated in the phantom itself, being a permanent part thereof along with other teeth of a set of human or animal teeth.
Having sufficiently described the nature of the present invention, as well as the manner of putting it into practice, it is not considered necessary to expand on this explanation so that one skilled in the art will understand its scope and the advantages derived from it, hereby stating that within its essential nature, the invention may be carried out to practice in other embodiments which differ in detail from that indicated by way of example and which will likewise attain the protection that is sought provided that its fundamental principle is not altered, changed, or modified.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| P201930338 | Apr 2019 | ES | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/ES2020/070235 | 4/11/2020 | WO |
