Dental appliance to be worn in the mouth, in particular in the form of a bracket
US5944517A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 28, 1998 |
| Grant date | Aug 31, 1999 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 28, 2018 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC A)Human Necessities
- CPC primaryA61C7/16
- WIPO fieldMedical technology
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
Dental appliance to be worn in the mouth consisting of a meltable material, this appliance having a bonding surface to be bonded to a tooth region in a form-locking and substance-bonding manner, this surface possessing at least retention areas with recesses produced by melting the material by means of a laser beam, at least some of these recesses forming undercuts, wherein for achieving a high bonding strength the retention areas have next to the recesses a plurality of irregular elevations which are formed by the material melted during the formation of the recesses and of which at least some likewise form undercuts, wherein at least some of these elevations each have a volume equal to a fraction of the volume of the largest of these recesses. A dental appliance with a bonding surface designed in this way may be produced particularly simply when a laser beam is guided over the bonding surface in such a manner that material of the dental appliance is melted and/or vaporized at those points of the bonding surface, at which recesses are formed, is thereby ejected from the resulting recesses and forms elevations in the vicinity of the recesses.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.