Artificial Tooth Inner Surface Roughness for Secure Denture Bonding

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative Solutions
Generate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

The accuracy and quality of artificial tooth elements depend heavily on the skill of dental technicians, leading to variable quality and increased costs due to the need for machining and roughening of the inner part by hand.

Innovation Solution

The artificial tooth element is designed with a defined surface roughness on the inner part, created by the manufacturer, ensuring it can be used directly without further post-processing, and features a virtual gingival line to differentiate the inner and outer parts, with the inner part being rougher than the outer part to ensure secure bonding.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Strength

If the inner part of the artificial tooth element is machined and roughened by a dental technician, then the bonding strength and stability are improved, but the manufacturing cost and time increase, and the quality varies depending on the technician's skill

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvebonding strengthVSAvoidmanufacturing cost
Core Design Contradiction:
StrengthVSEase of manufacture

Solution Approach 1:

The inner part of the artificial tooth element is pre-roughened during factory manufacturing before distribution to dental technicians. This preliminary action ensures that the bonding surface has the necessary roughness for strong adhesion without requiring additional manual roughening, thereby reducing manufacturing costs and eliminating quality variations due to technician skill differences.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

2Manufacturing precision

If the inner part is shortened and roughened by a dental technician, then the adaptation to the denture base cavity is improved, but the accuracy depends on the technician's skill leading to variable quality

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveadaptation accuracyVSAvoidquality consistency
Core Design Contradiction:
Manufacturing precisionVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The inner part is pre-shortened and pre-roughened to precise specifications during factory manufacturing. This ensures consistent adaptation accuracy and eliminates quality variations that occur when different technicians perform these operations manually, thereby improving both manufacturing precision and quality consistency.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The artificial tooth element is designed to be self-adaptable to the denture base cavity through its pre-configured dimensions and surface properties. The element requires minimal or no additional processing by the dental technician, allowing for consistent results without relying on technician skill levels.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

3Adaptability or versatility

If manual cutting and roughening is performed by a dental technician, then the tooth element can be adapted to the cavity, but considerable costs are incurred

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecavity adaptationVSAvoidmanufacturing cost
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSEase of manufacture

Solution Approach 1:

The tooth element is pre-adapted during factory manufacturing with the inner part shortened and roughened to match standard cavity specifications. This eliminates the need for costly manual adaptation by dental technicians while maintaining the necessary adaptability to fit the denture base cavity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The artificial tooth element is designed with universal dimensions and surface properties that allow it to be directly inserted into standard denture base cavities without requiring custom adaptation. This multi-functional design reduces the need for skilled manual work and associated costs.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Data Source

PatentEP4051166B1Artificial tooth element
Publication Date: 2026.01.07 VITA ZAHNFABRIK H RAUTER GMBH & CO KG
  • EP4051166B1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP4051166B1 patent drawingFigure 3~4
  • EP4051166B1 patent drawingFigure 5

AI summary

The invention relates to an artificial tooth element which is insertable into a cavity (22) of a prosthesis base (20) and has an outer part (12) and an inner part (14). The outer part (12) is the part of the artificial tooth element which is visible in the inserted state. Consequently, the inner part (14) is the part of the artificial tooth element which is not visible in the inserted state. According to the invention, the inner part (14) has a surface (11) which has, at least partially, in particular completely, a defined surface roughness.