Extracoronal dental splint and splinting method
OwnerJon C. Garito, Alan G. Ellmaninventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A novel extracoronal dental splint and procedure comprises a thin, flat, slightly malleable perforated strip or mesh which is adhered to the patient's inner dental arch and then covered with a thin layer of resin or composite material, which when hardened firmly bonds the strip to the patient's teeth stabilizing any mobile teeth.
Claims11
An extracoronal dental splint comprising a thin, flat, perforated strip, said strip being substantially straight and elongated in a longitudinal direction and having a width dimension in the plane of the strip and a thickness direction perpendicular to the plane of the strip, said strip having a width substantially smaller than its length and a thickness substantially smaller than its width and being slightly malleable in its thickness direction, thereby adapting the strip to be bent and fitted against the uncut inner dental arch, said perforations being sufficiently large to allow passage of a dental adhesive, said strip comprising two strip segments with a hinged connection connecting their ends allowing flexing in the strip plane.
An extracoronal dental splinting procedure for immobilizing one or more intermediate mobile teeth in a continuous row of at least four teeth without any missing teeth and with at least the end teeth being immobile, comprising the steps of:
- a. providing a thin flat substantially straight slightly malleable strip having holes therein and having a length sufficient to span the entire row,
- b. without cutting or drilling any of the teeth, fitting the strip to the lingual surfaces of an inner dental arch of the patient so as to overlie the row of at least four teeth including the end immobile teeth and at least one intermediate mobile tooth,
- c. without cutting or drilling any of the teeth, applying the strip to the said inner dental arch defined in step b,
- d. while holding the strip against the inner dental arch, smoothing a hardenable creamy-type resin or composite material over the entire held strip so as to fill the holes therein and contact the tooth surfaces against which the strip is held, and
- e. while still retaining the strip against the inner dental arch, allowing the hardenable material to harden firmly bonding the strip to the said row of immobile and mobile teeth along the inner dental arch and stiffening the strip to stabilize the mobile tooth.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.