Tooth inclination assessment
AssigneeUniversity of Wales College of Medicine
InventorStephen Richmond
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A tooth inclination apparatus (10) for allowing assessment of the angle of inclination of an incisor tooth or cast thereof comprises a plane element providing a flat datum surface (14) for resting against e.g. the upper molars in the maxillary plane. From the underside of the plane element projects a protractor portion (18) with a graduated angular scale (24) which measures the angular deviation of an indicator pin (22) pivoted to the plane member at (20) and moved to contact the tooth whose inclination is being measured. Other mechanical or electro-optic devices may be used to determine the inclination of the incisor relative to the datum surface.
Claims11
A tooth inclination assessment apparatus for allowing assessment of the angle of inclination of an incisor tooth or cast thereof in or from the human or animal body, which apparatus comprises:
- a datum element defining a generally flat datum surface (14) for being placed in use against two or more upper or lower molars or pre-molars thereby to become generally aligned with the respective mandibular or maxillary plane, and
- an angular detector (18-24) associated with said datum element for detecting the angular disposition relative to said datum surface (14) of at least one of the upper or lower incisors respectively,
- characterised in that
- said angular detector (18-24) comprises an indicator member (22) pivotally mounted with respect to said datum surface (14) and extending to opposite sides of said datum surface, to define a tooth contact portion to one side, and a measuring portion to the other, and
- an angle measurement device (18) associated with said datum surface (14) to allow the angle of deflection of the indicator member (22) relative to the datum surface (14) to be determined,
A tooth inclination assessment apparatus according to any of the preceding claims, wherein said datum element and said angle measurement device (18) are made up from a folded sheet element blank (12).
A tooth inclination assessment apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the paper or card is laminated or coated with a waterproof or water resistant coating.
A tooth inclination assessment apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said indicator member includes a shaft (20) which is rotatably located in the fold region between said two symmetric portions.
A method of assessing the angle of inclination of an incisor tooth or a cast thereof in or from the human or animal body, which comprises applying to two or more of the upper molar or lower molars, or pre-molars, a flat datum surface (14) thereby to be generally aligned with the maxillary or mandibular plane respectively, said datum surface (14) having associated therewith an angular detector (18-24) for detecting the angular disposition of at least one of the incisors, and thereby determining the angular orientation of said incisor relative to said datum surface 14, wherein said angular detector (18-24) comprises an indicator member (22) pivotally mounted with respect to said datum surface (14) and extending to opposite sides of said datum surface, to define a tooth contact portion to one side, and a measuring portion to the other, and
- an angle measurement device (18) associated with said datum surface (14) to allow the angle of deflection of the indicator member (22) relative to the datum surface (14) to be determined.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.