Orthodontic appliance
OwnerVelton C. Whiteinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and apparatus for orthodontic treatment employs a cast mass-type appliance with a labial bow and combinations of labial and lingual springs to produce multiple coupled forces on selected teeth. The lingual spring has a stem embedded in the appliance and a plurality of pairs of activation loops at its active, tooth-contacting end, which extend laterally outward from the longitudinal axis of the stem. The labial spring has a pair of lateral wings for attachment to a labial bow, and one or more rabbit ears extending selectively either occlusally or gingivally along the labial surface of the tooth.
Claims26
An orthodontic appliance for correcting the position of selected teeth comprising:
- a removable appliance with a polymer substrate;
- a labial bow extending from the substrate of the appliance;
- at least one labial spring attached to the labial bow exerting a force on the labial surface of a tooth at a predetermined elevation;
- and
- at least one lingual spring having a stem embedded in the substrate of the removable appliance and a tooth-contacting end extending from the appliance to exert a force on the lingual surface of the tooth at a predetermined elevation;
- wherein the forces exerted by the labial spring and the lingual spring create a couple acting on a selected tooth.
An orthodontic appliance for correcting the position of selected teeth comprising:
- a removable appliance with a polymer substrate;
- and
- at least one lingual spring shaped from a length of wire having ends forming a stem embedded in the substrate of the removable appliance and opposing, generally S-shaped sides extending from the stem and toward a tooth that overlap one another to form a lineal series of loops, wherein the loops can be deformed and extended to exert a force at a desired elevation and direction on the lingual surface of a tooth.
An orthodontic appliance for correcting the position of selected teeth comprising:
- a removable appliance with a polymer substrate;
- a labial bow extending from the substrate of the appliance;
- a labial spring having opposing lateral wings for attachment to the labial bow and at least one rabbit ear extending to contact and exert a force on the labial surface of a selected tooth at a predetermined elevation;
- and
- at least one lingual spring having a stem embedded in the substrate of the removable appliance and a tooth-contacting end extending from the appliance to exert a force on the lingual surface of the tooth at a predetermined elevation;
- wherein the forces exerted by the labial spring and the lingual spring create a couple acting on the tooth.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.