Composite temporary and long-term provisional crowns and bridges

A temporary or long-term provisional crown comprising:

• a shell having a top wall defining an occlusal surface, a buccal sidewall, a lingual sidewall, and opposite mesio-distal sidewalls connected to the top wall and buccal and lingual sidewalls and spaced apart to define a central cavity sized and shaped to fit passively over a prepared tooth;
• a quantity of resin disposed in the central cavity and shaped to conform to a prepared tooth;
• and
• a partial opening arranged in each of the mesio-distal sidewalls, said partial opening configured to permit a portion of the resin to protrude mesio-distally from the cavity to contact one or more adjacent teeth, wherein mesio-distal sides of the crown comprise a plurality of layers, and wherein a first layer of the mesio-distal sides of the crown is formed from the portion of the resin protruding from the partial openings overlying the mesio-distal sidewalls of the shell.

A composite crown, comprising:

• a shell having a top wall, a buccal sidewall and a lingual sidewall, wherein said top wall defines an occlusal surface of the crown, wherein said buccal and lingual sidewalls are spaced apart to define a central cavity sized and shaped to fit passively over a prepared tooth, and wherein said buccal and lingual sidewalls wrap partially around each mesio-distal side of the shell to form a mesio-distal sidewall that defines a U-shaped mesio-distal opening extending from a gingival margin towards the top wall;
• and
• a quantity of resin disposed in the central cavity of the shell, wherein a portion of said resin protrudes from the shell through the mesio-distal openings around the mesio-distal sidewalls to form a marginal seal along the gingival margins;
• the protruding portion of the resin being shaped to conform to one or more adjacent teeth disposed on mesio-distal sides of the composite crown.

A method of forming a composite crown, said method comprising:

• selecting a shell having a top wall, a buccal wall, a lingual wall, and mesio-distal walls, wherein said top wall defines an occlusal surface of the crown, and wherein said walls define a central cavity of the shell sized and shaped to fit passively on the prepared tooth;
• forming a mesio-distal opening in a portion of one or more of the mesio-distal walls to permit extrusion of resin therefrom;
• placing a quantity of resin in the central cavity of the shell;
• positioning the resin-containing shell on a prepared tooth;
• and
• arranging the resin-containing shell on a prepared tooth such that the resin in the central cavity conforms to a shape of the prepared tooth and a portion of the resin extrudes from the shell through the mesio-distal opening around the mesio-distal walls.

A temporary or long-term provisional crown comprising:

• a shell having a too wall defining an occlusal surface, a buccal sidewall, a lingual sidewall, and opposite mesio-distal sidewalls connected to the top wall and buccal and lingual sidewalls and spaced apart to define a central cavity sized and shaped to fit passively over a prepared tooth;
• a quantity of resin disposed in the central cavity and shaped to conform to a prepared tooth;
• and
• a partial opening arranged in each of the mesio-distal sidewalls, said partial opening configured to permit a portion of the resin to protrude mesio-distally from the cavity to contact one or more adjacent teeth, the partial opening comprising a substantially U-shaped window extending from a gingival margin towards the top wall, wherein resin protruding through the U-shaped mesio-distal openings forms a marginal seal along the gingival margins.

A temporary or long-term provisional crown comprising:

• a shell having a top wall defining an occlusal surface, a buccal sidewall, a lingual sidewall, and opposite mesio-distal sidewalls connected to the top wall and buccal and lingual sidewalls and spaced apart to define a central cavity sized and shaped to fit passively over a prepared tooth;
• a quantity of resin disposed in the central cavity and shaped to conform to a prepared tooth;
• and
• a partial opening arranged in each of the mesio-distal sidewalls, said partial opening configured to permit a portion of the resin to protrude mesio-distally from the cavity to contact one or more adjacent teeth, wherein the top wall of the shell includes a window for resin to protrude occlusally from the cavity.

A temporary or long-term provisional crown comprising:

• a shell having a too wall defining an occlusal surface, a buccal sidewall, a lingual sidewall, and opposite mesio-distal sidewalls connected to the top wall and buccal and lingual sidewalls and spaced apart to define a central cavity sized and shaped to fit passively over a prepared tooth;
• a quantity of resin disposed in the central cavity and shaped to conform to a prepared tooth;
• and
• a partial opening arranged in each of the mesio-distal sidewalls, said partial opening configured to permit a portion of the resin to protrude mesio-distally from the cavity to contact one or more adjacent teeth, wherein the mesio-distal sidewall has a mesio-distal first surface and a recessed second surface between the first surface and the partial opening, forming a recessed margin around the partial opening for receiving and retaining protruding resin.

A shell for making a temporary or long-term provisional crown comprising:

• a top wall defining an occlusal surface;
• a buccal sidewall connected to the top wall;
• a lingual sidewall connected to the top wall and spaced from the buccal sidewall, wherein the lingual sidewall is shorter than the buccal sidewall such that the shell is free to pivot about an axis formed by a facial gingival margin of the buccal sidewall to facilitate proper positioning of the shell as a patient bites down on the shell;
• opposite mesio-distal sidewalls, connected to the top wall and buccal and lingual sidewalls and spaced apart to define a central cavity to fit over a prepared tooth;
• and
• a window in the top wall of the shell for a portion of resin to protrude occlusally from the cavity and shaped to conform to dentition of an opposed tooth.

A shell for making a temporary or long-term provisional crown, comprising:

• a top wall defining an occlusal surface;
• a buccal sidewall connected to the top wall;
• a lingual sidewall connected to the top wall and spaced from the buccal sidewall;
• opposite mesio-distal sidewalls, connected to the top wall and buccal and lingual sidewalls and spaced apart to define a central cavity to fit over a prepared tooth of a patient;
• and
• a window in the top wall of the shell configured to allow resin to protrude occlusally from the cavity and to conform to dentition of an opposed tooth, wherein the lingual sidewall is sized such that the lingual sidewall is spaced from a gingiva of the patient when the shell is being positioned on the prepared tooth and the buccal sidewall is in contact with the gingiva.