Dento-facial analyzer
AssigneePanadent Corporation
InventorsJohn C. Kois, Thomas E. Lee
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A face bow assembly including a face bow having a bite fork portion to carry an index trays to be positioned in a patient's mouth. The bow has outwardly extending wings to enable a dentist to support the bow. A vertical indicator rod mounted to the bow helps align the tray horizontally and the indicator rod vertically to the patient's mid-sagittal, while bite impression material on the tray hardens. The upper index tray is then mounted on a platform on a dental articulator. The platform has an incisal line for alignment with an incisal line(s) for adjustability on the upper index tray. The platform also has vertical or horizontal adjustability with a built-in scale.
Claims53
A method of transferring patient dental-facial information to a dental articulator to facilitate the mounting of dental casts on the dental articulator, said method comprising the steps of:
- positioning an index tray in a patient's mouth and aligning the facial incisal edge of the patient's maxillary incisors to an incisal line marked on an upper surface of the tray, said tray having soft bite registration material on its upper surface for receiving impressions of the patient's maxillary teeth and registering the patient's plane of occlusion;
- instructing the patient to bite lightly into the registration material;
- adjusting the tray to a horizontal position with the patient sitting erect and looking straight ahead;
- carefully removing the index tray from the patient's mouth after the registration material has set with the tray in said horizontal position;
- and
- placing the index tray onto a horizontal mounting platform mounted on the lower frame of a dental articulator, with the mounting platform being centrally positioned from side-to-side and positioned between the upper and lower frames of the articulator, said articulator having supports defining a hinge axis, and said platform being positioned forwardly and downwardly from the hinge axis, the tray being positioned so that the tray incisal line is spaced a known distance from said axis, whereby the index tray is fixed on the mounting platform, in a known relationship corresponding to the patient's specific dental information or average values.
Dental apparatus for mounting a dental cast on an articulator in accordance with patient specific dental-facial information or average values, said apparatus comprising:
- a face bow analyzer assembly including a face bow having a bite fork, an upper index tray, and a lower index tray, said bite fork being sandwiched between the trays, said trays being adapted to receive dental registration material to provide an impression of a patient's teeth in relation to a patient's face and an average or specific distance from a patients' hinge axis to the patient's maxillary incisal edge, said upper tray having an incisal marking on its upper surface to be aligned with the foremost edges of a patient's maxillary incisors;
- and
- a dental cast mounting platform assembly to be mounted to the lower frame of a dental articulator, the platform assembly including an upper mounting platform configured to mate with said upper tray, said platform having an incisal marking to be aligned with the incisal marking on the upper tray, said platform to be mounted on the articulator at a known distance between a hinge axis on the articulator and the incisal marking on the index tray that is related to the distance between the patient's specific or average hinge axis and the patient's maxillary incisal edge.
Dental apparatus comprising a face bow comprising a rigid element having a generally flat bite fork configured to be positioned in a patient's mouth between the patient's upper and lower teeth, said bow further having a forward portion connected to the bite fork and being adapted to support a vertical indicator rod in generally perpendicular relation to the bite fork and face bow, and including an upper index tray mounted to said bite fork and configured to receive bite impression material, said upper tray having a marking thereon indicating an incisal line for alignment with the edge of a patient's maxillary incisors.
Dental apparatus for mounting a dental cast on an articulator in accordance with patient specific dental-facial information or average values, said apparatus comprising:
- an upper index tray adapted to receive dental registration material to provide an impression of a patient's maxillary teeth, said tray having an incisal marking on its upper surface to be aligned with the foremost edges of a patient's maxillary incisors;
- and
- a dental cast mounting platform assembly to be mounted to the lower frame of a dental articulator, the platform assembly including an upper mounting platform configured to mate with said upper tray, so that the incisal marking on the upper tray when mounted on the platform is spaced a known distance from a hinge axis on the articulator and that is related to the distance between the patient's specific or average hinge axis and the patient's maxillary incisal edge.
Dental apparatus comprising a face bow comprising a rigid element having a generally flat bite fork configured to be positioned in a patient's mouth between the patient's upper and lower teeth, said bow further having a forward portion connected to the bite fork and being adapted to support a vertical indicator rod in generally perpendicular relation to the bite fork and face bow, and an upper index tray mounted to an upper surface of said bite fork, and a lower index tray mounted to a bottom surface of said bite fork, said index trays being adapted to receive bite impression material to receive a patient's teeth;
- and including a plurality of pins depending from said upper tray and extending through holes in said bite fork and into holes in said lower index tray so as to fix the trays to the bite fork.
Dental apparatus comprising a face bow comprising a rigid element having a generally flat bite fork configured to be positioned in a patient's mouth between the patient's upper and lower teeth, said bow further having a forward portion connected to the bite fork and being adapted to support a vertical indicator rod in generally perpendicular relation to the bite fork and face bow, and an upper index tray mounted to an upper surface of said bite fork, and a lower index tray mounted to a bottom surface of said bite fork, said index trays being adapted to receive bite impression material to receive a patient's teeth;
- and including a line formed on the upper surface of said upper tray in a forward portion to be aligned with a patient's incisors when the trays and the bite fork are gripped lightly by the patient's teeth.
Dental apparatus comprising a face bow including a thin flat rigid plate having a flat bite fork configured to be positioned in a patient's mouth between the patient's upper and lower teeth and a flat forward portion formed as one piece with the bite fork, said forward portion including a slot that opens to a front edge of the plate and extends toward the bite fork, said slot being configured to slidably receive a vertical indicator rod to enable the rod to be slid close to the patient's face when the bite fork is in the patient's mouth, said plate including a pair of flat wings extending outwardly from and formed as one piece with said forward portion to verify horizontal positioning of the bow and to facilitate manipulating of the bow by an operator, said wings curving rearwardly with respect to the forward portion and being spaced from the bite fork so as to be located adjacent to but spaced from a patient's face when the bite fork is in the patient's mouth.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.