Patent Application
20180042701
The present invention relates to a clear aligner traction device, clear aligners, and a manufacturing method thereof and, more particularly, to a clear aligner traction device, clear aligners, and a manufacturing method thereof, by which an orthodontic force may be increased by hanging an elastic belt on the clear aligners in a case when teeth are excessively misaligned and thus appropriate teeth alignment is not easily achievable using only the clear aligners.
Orthodontic treatment may be classified into metal-brace treatment using metal braces, lingual treatment using lingual braces, and clear-aligner treatment using clear aligners.
In particular, clear-aligner treatment attracts people's attention compared to the other orthodontic treatment methods because a transparent clear aligner covering teeth like a mouth piece is invisible, detachable, and easily wearable.
Clear aligners are manufactured for multiple stages in consideration of the distances and directions of moving teeth to be aligned. If the clear aligners of each stage are worn for a period of time, the teeth move to positions corresponding to the shape of the clear aligners. As such, orthodontic treatment is completed after the clear aligners of the final stage are worn.
However, if the teeth are excessively misaligned or a certain tooth seriously protrudes and thus appropriate teeth alignment is not easily achievable using only the clear aligners, the clear aligners should be used together with another orthodontic treatment method. In addition, the clear aligners are capable of moving the teeth only by small distances and thus should be worn for a long period of time.
A clear aligner traction device capable of ensuring an additional orthodontic force by thermoforming buttons on parts of clear aligners using pliers and hanging an elastic belt around the buttons is disclosed in KR 10-1109114 and used popularly.
However, in the above-described clear aligner traction device, since an elastic force and an additional traction force of the elastic belt are focused on the buttons, the buttons may be easily damaged to lose the traction force, or may be deformed or distorted due to long-term use to reduce accuracy in orthodontic treatment. Furthermore, the damaged or deformed parts may irritate an orthodontic patient to greatly reduce wearability or reliability.
The present invention provides a clear aligner traction device, clear aligners, and a manufacturing method thereof, by which buttons may be firmly reinforced using reinforcers to prevent damage or deformation of the buttons and thus to improve accuracy, wearability, and reliability in orthodontic treatment using clear aligners, an elastic belt having a greater traction force may be applied to greatly improve product performance, a reinforcement process may be simplified to improve productivity, and parts not used to produce the clear aligners may be reused for reinforcer base elements to reduce product costs. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a clear aligner traction device including a button that is integrally formed with a clear aligner body and includes a head having a relatively large width, a neck connected to the head and having a relatively small width, and a connector for connecting the neck to the clear aligner body, such that an elastic member is hooked over the button; and a reinforcer bonded to the button in a shape corresponding to the button to reinforce the strength of the button.
The reinforcer may include a head internal surface counterpart that corresponds to an internal surface of the head of the button; a neck internal surface counterpart that corresponds to an internal surface of the neck of the button; and a connector internal surface counterpart that corresponds to an internal surface of the connector of the button.
The reinforcer may include a head external surface counterpart that corresponds to an external surface of the head of the button; a neck external surface counterpart that corresponds to an external surface of the neck of the button; and a connector external surface counterpart that corresponds to an external surface of the connector of the button.
The button may be produced using a clear aligner base element made of a first material, having a first thickness, and provided in a panel shape, and the reinforcer may be produced using a reinforcer base element made of a second material, having a second thickness, and provided in a panel shape.
The first material and the second material may be the same in such a manner that the button and the reinforcer are overlapped and simultaneously thermoformed.
The reinforcer base element may include at least one selected among a circular panel, an oval panel, a streamlined panel, a polygonal panel, and an apple-shaped panel, which have sizes greater than an external diameter of the connector of the button.
A hole for accommodating a part of the reinforcer therein may be provided in the connector of the button.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a clear aligner including a clear aligner body; a button that is integrally formed with the clear aligner body and includes a head having a relatively large width, a neck connected to the head and having a relatively small width, and a connector for connecting the neck to the clear aligner body, such that an elastic member is hooked over the button; and a reinforcer bonded to the button in a shape corresponding to the button to reinforce the strength of the button.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a clear aligner traction device, the method including preparing a reinforcer base element, bonding the reinforcer base element to a target portion of a teeth model, compressing a heated clear aligner base element onto the teeth model having bonded the reinforcer base element thereto, at positive pressure or vacuum pressure to overlap the reinforcer base element on an internal surface of a clear aligner body, and thermoforming a head and a neck of a button by pressing the overlapped part using heated pliers.
The bonding of the reinforcer base element to the target portion of the teeth model may include coating an adhesive for temporary adhesion on the target portion of the teeth model, and attaching the reinforcer base element to the target portion.
The thermoforming of the head and the neck of the button by pressing the overlapped part using the heated pliers may include primarily thermoforming the head by pressing the overlapped part using heated pliers for forming the head, and secondarily thermoforming the neck by pressing a part of the head using heated pliers for forming the neck.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a clear aligner traction device, the method including preparing a clear aligner body, preparing a reinforcer base element, overlapping the reinforcer base element on an internal surface or an external surface of the clear aligner body, and thermoforming a head and a neck of a button by pressing the overlapped part using heated pliers.
The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which:
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail by explaining embodiments of the invention with reference to the attached drawings.
The invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concept of the invention to one of ordinary skill in the art. In the drawings, the thicknesses or sizes of layers are exaggerated for clarity.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of embodiments. 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. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
Embodiments of the invention are described herein with reference to schematic illustrations of idealized embodiments (and intermediate structures) of the invention. 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, the embodiments of the invention should not be construed as limited to the particular shapes of regions illustrated herein, but are to include deviations in shapes that result, for example, from manufacturing.
A clear aligner traction device, clear aligners, and a manufacturing method thereof, according to some embodiments of the present invention are now described in detail with reference to the attached drawings.
Initially, as illustrated in
For example, as illustrated in
In addition, for example, as illustrated in
Specifically, for example, as illustrated in
Accordingly, the reinforcer 30 may be provided on the internal surface of the button 20 to increase the thickness of the button 20, to improve strength and durability of the button 20, and to prevent damage or deformation of the reinforcer 30.
In addition, the reinforcer 30 may be thermoformed simultaneously with the button 20 in an overlapping state to correspond to the internal surface of the button 20 and thus may be closely bonded and firmly fixed to the internal surface of the button 20. Furthermore, the reinforcer 30 may be provided in a bent state not to be separated from the button 20.
As illustrated in
In addition, an adhesive layer (not shown) or a melted and integrated interface may be provided between the button 20 and the reinforcer 30 to more closely bond the button 20 and the reinforcer 30 to each other.
Therefore, the button 20 may be firmly reinforced using the reinforcer 30 to prevent damage or deformation of the button 20 and thus to improve accuracy, wearability, and reliability in orthodontic treatment using the clear aligners 1000, and an elastic belt having a greater traction force may be applied to greatly improve product performance.
As illustrated in
Accordingly, a lower surface of the reinforcer 30 may not protrude into the clear aligner body 10 but may be buried in the hole H, and thus a part that contacts the gums or teeth of an orthodontic patient may become flat. As such, wearability can be improved and foreign body sensation can be prevented.
As illustrated in
Accordingly, the reinforcer 40 may be provided on the external surface of the button 20 to increase the thickness of the button 20, to improve strength and durability of the button 20, and to prevent damage or deformation of the button 20.
In addition, the reinforcer 40 may be thermoformed simultaneously with the button 20 in an overlapping state to correspond to the external surface of the button 20 and thus may be closely bonded and firmly fixed to the external surface of the button 20. Furthermore, the reinforcer 40 may be provided in a bent state not to be separated from the button 20.
As illustrated in
Accordingly, the material and thickness of the button 20 may differ from those of the reinforcer 30. For example, for wearability of the clear aligner 1000, a relatively soft and thin material may be used for the button 20 and a relatively hard and thick material may be used for the reinforcer 30, or vice versa.
However, as illustrated in
As illustrated in
The apple-shaped panel 2-2 of
Meanwhile, as illustrated in
Herein, the above-described elements have the same configurations and functions as those of the clear aligner traction device 100 according to some embodiments of the present invention, and detailed descriptions thereof are not provided.
As illustrated in
In this case, the adhesive K which is easily detachable may be coated on the target portion of the teeth model 3, and the reinforcer base element 2 may be attached to the target portion.
Subsequently, as illustrated in
Thereafter, as illustrated in
Then, as illustrated in
As illustrated in
Herein, the bonding of the reinforcer base element 2 to the target portion of the teeth model 3 (S12) may include coating the adhesive K on the target portion of the teeth model 3, and attaching the reinforcer base element 2 to the target portion.
In addition, the thermoforming of the head 21 and the neck 22 of the button 20 by pressing the overlapped part using the heated pliers A and B (S14) may include primarily thermoforming the head 21 by pressing the overlapped part using the heated pliers A for forming the head 21 (S141), and secondarily thermoforming the neck 22 by pressing a part of the head 21 using the heated pliers B for forming the neck 22 (S142).
As illustrated in
Subsequently, as illustrated in
Thereafter, as illustrated in
Then, as illustrated in
As illustrated in
Herein, as illustrated in
According to the above-described embodiments of the present invention, buttons may be firmly reinforced using reinforcers to prevent damage or deformation of the buttons and thus to improve accuracy, wearability, and reliability in orthodontic treatment using clear aligners, an elastic belt having a greater traction force may be applied to greatly improve product performance, a reinforcement process may be simplified to improve productivity, and parts not used to produce the clear aligners may be reused for reinforcer base elements to reduce product costs. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described effects.
While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to embodiments thereof, it will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims.
