Invisible orthodontic appliance diaphragm with personalized design and adjustable hardness

Abstract

A personalized design hardness-adjustable invisible orthodontic appliance diaphragm comprises an inner interlayer and a sandwich type interlayer structure formed by outer layers on the two sides of the interlayer, and the elastic modulus and hardness of the outer layer material are higher than those of the interlayer material; the inner layer of the sandwich type sandwich structure is TPU, and the outer layer of the sandwich type sandwich structure is PETG; the thickness ratio of interlayer and outer layer materials in corresponding areas in the diaphragm can be designed according to the requirements of tooth movement at different positions, the hardness of different positions of the diaphragm is controlled, and the diaphragm is manufactured and formed in a 3D printing mode; in the process of forming the orthodontic appliance through hot pressing, teeth with a large amount of movement are made to correspond to areas with low diaphragm hardness, teeth with a small amount of movement or teeth without movement are made to correspond to areas with high diaphragm hardness, so that the individualized orthodontic appliance with adjustable hardness is obtained, the purpose of ideal tooth movement is achieved, and the efficiency of the orthodontic appliance is improved; the method has the characteristics of good effect, low cost and high practical value.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the technical field of oral orthodontic appliances, and in particular to an invisible appliance diaphragm with a personalized design and adjustable hardness. Background Art

[0002] Malocclusion is a common oral disease in clinical practice. It is listed as one of the three major oral diseases along with caries and periodontal disease. Malocclusion is not only detrimental to the patient's oral physiological health and function, but also has a negative impact on the patient's facial development, aesthetics and mental health. With the advancement of technology and the improvement of living standards, people are paying more and more attention to oral health and aesthetics, and thus the number of patients seeking orthodontic treatment is increasing.

[0003] In today's era of rapid development of digital technology, bracketless invisible braces technology has come into being. Bracketless invisible braces technology is to pre-design a digital correction plan, then 3D print each step of the tooth movement model, then place the invisible braces membrane on a laminator to make invisible braces for the 3D printed dental model, and finally cut the edges of the braces to obtain a series of customized braces. Patients change them in sequence every 7-14 days. Each pair of braces will produce a slight elastic deformation force after being worn, gradually moving the patient's teeth according to the correction plan, and finally achieving the correction of malocclusion. Compared with traditional fixed orthodontic treatment, invisible braces meet the patient's requirements for beauty in orthodontic treatment, and have the advantages of high comfort, little impact on eating, easy to maintain oral hygiene, and fewer follow-up visits. It has been increasingly used in orthodontic clinics at home and abroad.

[0004] However, current invisible orthodontic appliances also have drawbacks. The membranes currently used in clinical practice to fabricate invisible orthodontic appliances have uniform softness and hardness in all directions, and the following problems exist in actual application: In orthodontic treatment, the types of movement of each tooth within the same dental arch are different. Some teeth need to move a relatively large amount, some teeth, as anchorage teeth, move less, and some teeth are adjacent to the extraction area and are prone to tilting during movement. The orthodontic appliances fabricated with membranes of uniform softness and hardness in all directions have uneven control effects on different types of tooth movement. The appliances fabricated with softer membranes are prone to causing the teeth adjacent to the extraction area to tilt, resulting in poor tooth movement effects, and the anchorage teeth are prone to moving, thus leading to loss of anchorage; the appliances fabricated with harder membranes may not fit completely in the areas where the teeth need to move more, or it may be difficult to put on and take off the appliances after fitting. Therefore, the membranes of uniform softness and hardness in all directions cannot meet the requirements of different types of tooth movement simultaneously, and are prone to causing some teeth to move incompletely, tilt, lose anchorage, or have difficulty in fitting the orthodontic appliance, and the subsequent orthodontic appliance cannot be worn continuously, and only the treatment can be restarted, and the orthodontic treatment plan and orthodontic appliance need to be remade. Restarting the treatment will increase the time cost of orthodontic treatment and the material cost of the orthodontic appliance, and affect the patient's satisfaction and trust in the doctor. How to improve the treatment efficiency of invisible orthodontics and reduce the restart rate is a difficult point that needs to be solved urgently at present. Summary of the Invention

[0005] Aiming at the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, the purpose of the present invention is to provide an invisible orthodontic appliance membrane with personalized design and adjustable hardness, which adopts a "sandwich"-like sandwich structure containing two different materials to form an invisible orthodontic appliance membrane with adjustable hardness in different regions. It is fabricated by 3D printing. The thicknesses of TPU and PETG in the corresponding regions of the membrane can be designed according to the requirements of tooth movement at different positions, and further an orthodontic appliance with personalized adjustable hardness can be obtained, so as to achieve the ideal tooth movement purpose and improve the efficiency of the orthodontic appliance; the present invention has good effects, low cost, and high practical value, and is worthy of wide promotion and application.

[0006] To achieve the above purpose, the technical solution of the present invention is as follows:

[0007] An invisible orthodontic appliance membrane with personalized design and adjustable hardness, comprising a "sandwich"-type sandwich structure composed of an inner sandwich 1 and outer layers 2 on both sides of the sandwich 1. The elastic modulus and hardness of the material of the outer layer 2 are higher than those of the material of the sandwich 1. The higher the proportion of the thickness of the sandwich 1, the softer the membrane, and vice versa.

[0008] The material of the sandwich 1 is TPU, with an elastic modulus of 10 - 600 MPa, a hardness of 60 - 100 HA, and the thickness is adjustable within the range of 0.20 - 1.5 mm.

[0009] The material of the outer layer 2 is PETG, with an elastic modulus ≥ 700 MPa, a hardness of 10 - 70 HD, and the thickness is adjustable within 0.10 - 0.75 mm.

[0010] The total thickness of the diaphragm is 1.5 - 2 mm, and the thickness of the outer layer 2 on both sides of the interlayer 1 is the same.

[0011] A preparation method for a personalized and hardness - adjustable invisible orthodontic appliance diaphragm is as follows: Heat - melt the materials of the outer layer 2 and the interlayer 1. According to the thickness and contour of each layer of material set by the digital orthodontic treatment plan for different patients, in the order of outer layer → interlayer → outer layer, apply the outer layer material on the 3D printing workbench and cool it to form. Subsequently, apply the interlayer material on the formed outer layer material, and after cooling and forming, apply the outer layer material on the formed interlayer material and cool it to form until the entire diaphragm is formed, thus preparing a personalized diaphragm with adjustable softness and hardness in all directions.

[0012] An application method for a personalized and hardness - adjustable invisible orthodontic appliance diaphragm: Place the personalized diaphragm of the patient and the corresponding solid dental and jaw model on a laminating machine. Corresponding to the teeth with a large movement amount, the corresponding area of the diaphragm has a low hardness, and for the teeth with a small movement amount or no movement or the extraction area, the corresponding area of the diaphragm has a high hardness. Then, perform hot pressing and forming, and trim the edges to obtain a personalized orthodontic appliance with adjustable hardness.

[0013] A personalized and hardness - adjustable orthodontic appliance includes the above - mentioned invisible orthodontic appliance diaphragm.

[0014] A personalized and hardness - adjustable orthodontic appliance is prepared by the above - mentioned application method.

[0015] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following characteristics:

[0016] 1. The present invention has a "sandwich" - like structure composed of two different materials. Among them, the interlayer material has a low elastic modulus and relatively low hardness; the outer layer material has a high elastic modulus and relatively high hardness. Clinically, the thickness ratio of the interlayer material and the outer layer material in the corresponding area of the diaphragm can be adjusted according to the movement requirements of teeth in different positions, controlling the softness and hardness of different positions of the diaphragm to meet the movement requirements of teeth in different positions during the orthodontic process. The materials are simple, the cost is low, the application effect is good, and the practicability is high.

[0017] 2. In the present invention, the diaphragm area corresponding to the teeth with a relatively large desired movement amount is designed to have a low hardness, so that the corresponding area of the fabricated orthodontic appliance can provide sufficient deformation space to facilitate tooth movement. The diaphragm area corresponding to the teeth with a relatively small desired movement amount or no movement is designed to have a high hardness, so that the corresponding area of the fabricated orthodontic appliance is conducive to maintaining the position of the teeth, thereby achieving the ideal tooth movement purpose, further improving the efficiency of invisible orthodontics, and reducing the restart rate of invisible orthodontic appliances. The present invention has good effects, low cost, and high practical value, and is worthy of wide promotion and application.

[0018] In summary, the present invention adopts a "sandwich"-like sandwich structure containing two different materials, designs the thickness ratio of the corresponding areas of TPU and PETG in the diaphragm according to the movement requirements of teeth in different positions, and is fabricated by 3D printing to form an invisible orthodontic appliance diaphragm with adjustable hardness. Further, a personalized designed invisible orthodontic appliance with adjustable hardness is obtained through thermoforming, thereby achieving the ideal tooth movement purpose and improving the efficiency of the orthodontic appliance. The present invention has good effects, low cost, and high practical value, and is worthy of wide promotion and application. Description of the Drawings

[0019] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of an invisible orthodontic appliance diaphragm with personalized design and adjustable hardness.

[0020] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of an invisible orthodontic appliance with personalized design and adjustable hardness.

[0021] In the figure, 1 is the sandwich layer, and 2 is the outer layer. Detailed Embodiments

[0022] The present invention will be further described below in conjunction with the drawings and specific embodiments.

[0023] As Figure 1 shown, an invisible orthodontic appliance diaphragm with personalized design and adjustable hardness, the invisible orthodontic appliance diaphragm includes a "sandwich"-type sandwich structure composed of an internal sandwich layer 1 and outer layers 2 on both sides of the sandwich layer 1,

[0024] The elastic modulus and hardness of the material of the outer layer 2 are higher than those of the material of the sandwich layer 1. The material of the sandwich layer 1 is TPU, with an elastic modulus of 10 - 600 MPa, a hardness of 60 - 100 HA, and a thickness of 0.20 - 1.5 mm. The material of the outer layer 2 is PETG, with an elastic modulus ≥ 700 MPa, a hardness of 10 - 70 HD, and a thickness of 0.10 - 0.75 mm. The total thickness of the diaphragm is 1.5 mm. According to the tooth movement types in different regions, the thickness design ratio of the materials of the outer layer 2 and the sandwich layer 1 is regulated through big data artificial intelligence algorithm to control the softness and hardness of the diaphragm.

[0025] It should be noted that in the specific implementation process, before orthodontic treatment, the patient's oral scan data, facial image, intraoral image data, lateral radiograph and three-dimensional CBCT data of the skull are first obtained to obtain the imaging data required for orthodontic treatment, and then the correction plan is designed.

[0026] The scanned image is reconstructed into a three-dimensional dental model through software. According to the correction goal, virtual tooth arrangement is performed in the software, and sequential tooth movement is designed to obtain a three-dimensional correction animation plan.

[0027] A series of digital jaw models are obtained according to the three-dimensional correction animation scheme, and then each step of tooth movement model is 3D printed to obtain a solid jaw model.

[0028] According to the patient's digital correction plan and the analysis of tooth movement, the way of tooth movement in different areas in each step is determined, and the thickness ratio of interlayer 1 and outer layer 2 on both sides of interlayer 1 in different areas of the corresponding appliance diaphragm in each step is adjusted. The diaphragm area corresponding to the tooth that is expected to move a large amount is designed to have low hardness. The interlayer 1 material in this area is relatively thick, and the outer layer 2 material is relatively thin. The orthodontic appliance manufactured in this area is relatively soft, and sufficient deformation space can be provided to facilitate tooth movement; the diaphragm area corresponding to the tooth that is expected to move a small amount, the tooth that does not move, or the tooth adjacent to the extraction area is designed to have high hardness. The outer layer 2 material in this area is relatively thick, and the interlayer 1 material is relatively thin. The orthodontic appliance manufactured in this area is relatively hard, which is beneficial to maintain the position of the anchor teeth and prevent the tilting of the teeth adjacent to the extraction area.

[0029] The diaphragm is 3D printed using melt lamination technology to obtain a series of personalized diaphragms with adjustable hardness in all directions.

[0030] The 3D printed personalized membrane and the corresponding physical dental model are placed on a laminating machine. During the process of hot pressing to form the orthodontic appliance, the teeth that are expected to move more are placed in the area with lower hardness of the membrane, and the teeth or tooth extraction areas that are expected to move less or not move are placed in the area with higher hardness of the membrane, thereby obtaining a series of personalized orthodontic appliances with adjustable hardness. The present invention is described in detail above in conjunction with the embodiments of the accompanying drawings, and a person of ordinary skill in the art can make various variations of the present invention based on the above description. Therefore, certain details in the embodiments should not constitute a limitation of the present invention, and the present invention shall be protected within the scope defined by the attached claims.

Claims

1. A personalized invisible brace diaphragm with adjustable hardness, comprising a sandwich structure consisting of an inner interlayer (1) and outer layers (2) on both sides of the interlayer (1), characterized in that: The elastic modulus and hardness of the material of the outer layer (2) are higher than those of the material of the interlayer (1). The higher the thickness of the interlayer (1), the softer the diaphragm, and vice versa.

2. The personalized hardness adjustable invisible brace diaphragm according to claim 1, characterized in that: The material of the interlayer (1) is TPU, with an elastic modulus of 10-600 MPa, a hardness of 60-100 HA, and an adjustable thickness of 0.20-1.5 mm.

3. The personalized hardness adjustable invisible brace diaphragm according to claim 1, characterized in that: The material of the outer layer (2) is PETG, with an elastic modulus of ≥700 MPa, a hardness of 10-70 HD, and an adjustable thickness of 0.10-0.75 mm.

4. The personalized hardness-adjustable invisible brace diaphragm according to claim 1, characterized in that: The total thickness of the diaphragm is 1.5-2 mm, and the thickness of the outer layers (2) on both sides of the sandwich (1) is the same.

5. A method for preparing a personalized invisible brace diaphragm with adjustable hardness, characterized in that: Specifically, the materials of the outer layer (2) and the interlayer (1) are heated and melted, and according to the thickness and contour of each layer of material set in the digital correction plan for different patients, the outer layer material is coated on the 3D printing workbench in the order of outer layer → interlayer → outer layer, and then the interlayer material is coated on the formed outer layer material, and after cooling and forming, the outer layer material is coated on the formed interlayer material and cooled and formed until the entire membrane is formed, thereby preparing a personalized membrane with adjustable hardness in all directions.

6. A method for applying a personalized invisible brace diaphragm with adjustable hardness, characterized in that: The patient's personalized diaphragm and the corresponding physical dental model are placed on the laminating machine. The teeth that need to move a large amount will correspond to the areas with low diaphragm hardness, and the teeth that need to move a small amount or no movement or the tooth extraction area will correspond to the areas with high diaphragm hardness. Hot pressing and edge trimming are performed to obtain a personalized orthodontic appliance with adjustable hardness.

7. A personalized brace with adjustable hardness, comprising any one of the invisible brace membranes of claims 1 to 4; or comprising the invisible brace membrane prepared according to claim 5.

8. A personalized hardness-adjustable orthodontic appliance, made by the method of claim 6.

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