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US 7,874,836 B2Granted
System and method for palatal expansion
OwnerDavid W. McSurdy, Jr.inventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Provided, among other things, is a system for progressive palatal expansion, the system comprising a series of incremental expanders, including: a) a first incremental expander having a geometry selected to incrementally expand the palate; b) one or more intermediate expanders having geometries selected to progressively expand the palate; and, c) a final expander, having a geometry selected to expand the palate to a target desired breadth.
Claims15
A method for producing a series of incrementally sized expanders, having geometries selected to expand the palate of a patient wherein the method comprises:
- (a) forming an initial physical or electronic model of a patient's upper jaw;
- (b) forming a first expanded model by separating the initial model of the patient's upper jaw into two or more pieces in a manner such that the inter-molar distance between the pieces of the model is increased by a defined amount across the palatal portion of the model;
- (c) generating a first expander in the series approximating the dimensions of the first expanded model of the patient's upper jaw;
- (d) forming one or more intermediate expanded models by serially separating the first expanded model of the patient's upper jaw into two or more pieces at successively larger distances in a manner such that the inter-molar distance between the pieces of each expanded model is increased by a defined amount across the palatal portion;
- (e) generating one or more intermediate expanders in the series by sequentially approximating the dimensions of each intermediate expanded model of the patient's upper jaw;
- (f) forming a final model by moving the pieces of an intermediate expanded model further apart such that the inter-molar distance is increased to a final desired amount across the palatal portion of the final model;
- and
- (g) generating a final expander in the series by approximating the dimensions of the final model.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.