US 5,383,752 AGranted

Apparatus for making dental replacements

AssigneeLiconic AG

InventorsVolker M. Rheinberger, Gary Unterbrink, Cosmas Malin, Harry L. Sawatzki

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Abstract

The method described in this disclosure permits the production of dental replacements, such as inlays, onlays, and crowns, at high accuracy of fit and low cost in a single session of the patient's at the dentist's. For this purpose, a material that hardens is used for making a temporary inlay which provides an impression of the prepared dental cavity. After hardening, this material is removed from the tooth. In a first processing run, a first sensor (7a) does a preliminary scan of the temporary inlay (4) and a first processing tool (30a) is used for preliminary processing of the substrate mass (6). In a second processing run a second sensor (7b) and a second processing tool (30b) are used for a fine scan and fine processing. For this purpose the sensors (7a, 7b) and the processing tools (30a, 30b) are all arranged on a single linear stage (13). The temporary inlay (4) and the substrate mass (6) are attached to holder units (3, 5 ) of a rotation-synchronizer system (10) which in turn is arranged on a slide and elevator system (11, 12).

Claims22

Dependent claims

Apparatus for making dental replacements such as inlays, onlays and crowns and the like by scanning a template comprising:

a template holder rotatable about a first axis of rotation for rotating and holding a template resembling a dental replacement;
a movable blank holder rotatable about a second axis of rotation in spaced relationship from the first axis of rotation for rotating and holding a blank to be processed into a dental replacement;
a sensor mounted to detect the contours of a template on the template holder and producing an output signal in response to the contours;
a processing tool mounted a fixed distance from the sensor to make contact with and process a blank on the blank holder;
a synchronized rotary drive means for rotating the template holder and a template thereon relative to the sensor and simultaneously rotating the blank-holder and a blank thereon by the same amount relative to the processing tool, the synchronized rotary drive means having:
two upper and two lower sections of rotating shaft, each upper section of rotating shaft being rigidly connected to an upper disk, and each lower section of rotating shaft being likewise rigidly connected to a lower disk;
intermediate disks between the upper and lower disks;
the upper, lower, and intermediate disks being concentric relative to their respective sections of rotating shaft;
the upper disks being connected to the intermediate disks by first bolts and the intermediate disks being in turn attached by second bolts to the lower disks;
the first and second bolts being eccentric in relation to the sections of rotating shaft, and the center of each first bolt on an upper disk and the center of each second bolt on a lower disk being disposed 90.degree. from one another about their respective sections of rotating shaft;
and
two synchronizer rods the one synchronizer rod forming mobile joints with the first bolts by means of first bearing elements, and the other synchronizer rod likewise forming mobile joints with the second bolts by means of second bearing elements;
and
a processing means connected with the sensor and the processing tool for moving the sensor and tool relative to the template and the blank respectively by controlled amounts in response to the output signal of the sensor.

11 more elements

Apparatus for making dental replacements such as inlays, onlays and crowns and the like by scanning a template comprising:

a template holder rotatable about a first axis of rotation for rotating and holding a template resembling a dental replacement;
a movable blank holder rotatable about a second axis of rotation in spaced relationship from the first axis of rotation for rotating and holding a blank to be processed into a dental replacement;
a sensor mounted to detect the contours of a template on the template holder and producing an output signal in response to the contours;
a processing tool mounted a fixed distance from the sensor to make contact with and process a blank on the blank holder;
a synchronized rotary drive means for rotating the template holder and a template thereon relative to the sensor and simultaneously rotating the blank holder and a blank thereon by the same amount relative to the processing tool;
and
a processing means connected with the sensor and the processing tool for moving the sensor and tool relative to the template and the blank respectively by controlled amounts in response to the output signal of the sensor, the processing means including means for reducing the speed of movement of the sensor and processing tool relative to one another when a predetermined level of the output signal of the sensor is exceeded.

4 more elements

Apparatus for making dental replacements such as inlays, onlays and crowns and the like by scanning a template comprising:

a template holder rotatable about a first axis of rotation for rotating .and holding a template resembling a dental replacement;
a movable blank holder rotatable about a second axis of rotation in spaced relationship from the first axis of rotation for rotating and holding a blank to be processed into a dental replacement;
a sensor mounted to detect the contours of a template on the template holder and producing an output signal in response to the contours;
a processing tool mounted a fixed distance from the sensor to make contact with and process a blank on the blank holder;
a synchronized rotary drive means for rotating the template holder and a template thereon relative to the sensor and simultaneously rotating the blank holder and a blank thereon by the same amount relative to the processing tool;
a processing means connected with the sensor and the processing tool for moving the sensor and tool relative to the template and the blank respectively by controlled amounts in response to the output signal of the sensor;
the sensor including a Hall element producing the sensor output signal, and the processing means which receives the output signal having a preamplifier which has a signal-regulator stage and a stop-filter stage downstream for processing the output signal and an output connected to an electronic coordinator system and wherein the processing system additionally includes:
a drive connected to an electronic milling-system monitor whose output is connected to the electronic coordinator system;
a first output from the electronic coordinator system which has a linear power-driver stage downstream to control the drive for a linear drive stage producing the driving forces for moving the sensor and the tool linearly;
a second output from the electronic coordinator system connected to a rotary regulator stage that has a rotary driver stage downstream which is connected to the synchronized rotary drive means;
and
the second output being connected to an elevation-regulator stage that has an elevation-driver stage downstream which is in turn connected to elevator drive means for raising and lowering the template holder and the blank holder.

9 more elements

Apparatus for making dental replacements such as inlays, onlays and crowns and the like by scanning a template comprising:

a template holder rotatable about a first axis of rotation for rotating and holding a template resembling a dental replacement;
a movable blank holder rotatable about a second axis of rotation in spaced relationship from the first axis of rotation for rotating and holding a blank to be processed into a dental replacement;
a sensor mounted to detect the contours of a template on the template holder and producing an output signal in response to the contours;
a processing tool mounted a fixed distance from the sensor to make contact with and process a blank on the blank holder;
a synchronized rotary drive means for rotating the template holder and a template thereon relative to the sensor and simultaneously rotating the blank holder and a blank thereon by the same amount relative to the processing tool;
a processing means connected with the sensor and the processing tool for moving the sensor and tool relative to the template and the blank respectively by controlled amounts in response to the output signal of the sensor and wherein;
the sensor is one of two different sensors mounted on a first support along a first ordinate in spaced relationship from one another;
the processing tool is one of two different processing tools mounted on a second support along a second ordinate parallel to the first ordinate and with the same spaced relationship as the sensors;
and
slide means are connected to the supports for shifting the sensors and the processing tools relative to the template holder and blank holder respectively to permit the different sensors and tools to make a dental replacement from a blank according to a template.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.