Orthodontic appliance with self-releasing latch
Assignee3M Innovative Properties Company
InventorsRussell A. Jordan, Ming-Lai Lai, Evangelos G. Georgakis, Robert C. Manemann, Oscar M. Binder, James D. Cleary
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An orthodontic appliance such as a bracket or buccal tube has a latch for retaining an archwire in an archwire slot. The latch releases the archwire from the archwire slot whenever the archwire exerts a force on the appliance that exceeds a certain minimum value. The minimum value is less than about one-half of the force required in the same direction to debond the appliance from the tooth, and thus reduces the likelihood that the appliance will unintentionally debond from the tooth during the course of orthodontic treatment.
Claims52
An orthodontic appliance comprising:
- a base for bonding an appliance to a tooth;
- a body extending from the base;
- an archwire slot extending across the body in a generally mesial-distal direction;
- and
- a latch connected to the body for releasably retaining an archwire in the archwire slot, wherein the latch releases the archwire from the archwire slot in a certain direction whenever the archwire exerts a force in the range of about 0.1 kg to about 5 kg in the same direction on the appliance.
An orthodontic appliance comprising:
- a base for bonding the appliance to a tooth;
- a body extending from the base;
- an archwire slot extending across the body in a generally mesial-distal direction;
- and
- a latch connected to the body for releasably retaining an archwire in the archwire slot, wherein the latch releases the archwire from the archwire slot whenever the archwire exerts a force in a certain direction on the appliance that exceeds a certain minimum value, and wherein the minimum value is less than about one-half of the force required in the same direction to debond the appliance from the tooth.
An orthodontic appliance comprising:
- a base for bonding the appliance to a tooth;
- a body extending from the base;
- an archwire slot extending across the body in a generally mesial-distal direction and having an occlusal side, a gingival side and a lingual side;
- a channel extending in a generally occlusal-gingival direction along a path located lingually of the archwire slot;
- and
- a latch connected to the body for releasably retaining an archwire in the archwire slot, wherein the latch is movable to a slot-open position to enable passage of the archwire into the slot by pressing the archwire against the latch in a direction toward the lingual side of the archwire slot, wherein the latch includes a lingual portion that is received in the channel, and wherein the latch includes a pair of arm portions that extend toward each other along a labial side of the archwire slot.
A method of releasing an archwire from an archwire slot of an orthodontic appliance comprising:
- placing at least one leg of a hand instrument along a tooth-facing side of the archwire;
- manipulating the hand instrument in order to urge the archwire in a direction toward a latch of the appliance;
- and
- pressing the archwire against the latch with sufficient force to open the latch and release the archwire from the archwire slot, wherein the act of manipulating the hand instrument includes the act of bearing against the appliance with the hand instrument in an area spaced from the latch as the archwire is pressed against the latch.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.