Stress-reduced denture base disc
AssigneeCMP Industries LLC
InventorsRichard McDERMOTT, Devon O. HOWE
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and apparatus for making a denture base disc that is used subsequently to form a removable denture. A vessel with an elastomeric lining is used to form the denture base disc so that the compression of the elastomeric material is approximately equivalent to the shrinkage of the denture base disc material during its polymerization. The vessel and elastomeric lining contained therein work cooperatively to cause the denture base disc to cure in a homogenous manner with consistent pressure on all sides so that residual stresses in the finished disc are minimized.
Claims19
A method of fabricating a denture base disc, the method comprising:
- a) filling a cavity formed within a mold vessel with an uncured denture base material, the mold cavity bounded by a first compressible liner contiguous with a bottom wall of the vessel;
- b) fitting a removable mold top comprising a second compressible liner on an inner surface thereof to the top opening of the vessel;
- c) applying pressure to the uncured denture base material, thereby compressing the first and second compressible liners from an uncompressed state to a compressed state;
- d) curing the uncured denture base material into an at least partially cured and solid state, wherein the at least partially cured solid state denture base material shrinks to a lesser volume than the uncured denture base material, and wherein the first and second compressible liners expand from a compressed state to a less compressed state, the expansion in compressible liner volume substantially equal to the volume of shrinkage of denture base material during the at least partial curing.
A part molding apparatus comprising:
- a) a mold vessel comprising a bottom wall, a side wall, and a top opening;
- b) a first compressible liner contiguous with an inner surface of the vessel bottom wall;
- and
- c) a removable mold top fittable to the top opening of the vessel and comprising a second compressible liner on an inner surface thereof;
- wherein when the mold top is fitted to the top opening of the mold vessel, a mold cavity is formed between the first and second compressible liners.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.