Method for making orthodontic appliance having textured bonding surface
AssigneeMinnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company
InventorsRobert P. Eckert, Evangelos G. Georgakis
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of making an orthodontic appliance such as a bracket includes the step of forming a preform of molding material while a portion of the molding material is in contact with a textured portion of a web. The web is subsequently degraded by a thermal or solvent degrading process to leave a witness impression on the underside of the preform. The web optionally serves as a conveyor to move the preform from one processing area to another, and optionally has the appearance of a woven material such that the resulting appliance resembles a mesh base appliance having undercut regions.
Claims17
A method of making an orthodontic appliance preform comprising the steps of:
- moving a web having a textured portion toward a cavity of orthodontic appliance preform forming tooling;
- introducing a quantity of molding material into the cavity of the tooling;
- forming the preform with the molding material in the cavity while a portion of the molding material is in contact with the textured portion of the web;
- and
- degrading the textured portion of the web to remove the textured portion and thereby impart a textured surface on the preform.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.