Demountable Dental Models With Compliance Features
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing dental models lack demountable components that can be accurately positioned and repeatedly removed, limiting their utility in the preparation of dental crowns, bridges, and implants, as they often rely on milled materials with limited geometric flexibility and high frictional forces.
Innovation Solution
The development of dental models with demountable components featuring locally protruding compliance features, such as sockets and shafts with integrated springs or ribs, that accommodate manufacturing variations and provide a secure interference fit, allowing for accurate and repeatable mounting and demounting without excessive friction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If milled jaw models are used, then manufacturing precision is achieved, but demountable components cannot be accurately positioned and repeatedly removed
Solution Approach 1:
The jaw model is divided into multiple separable components: a jaw component, tooth components, and implant analogue components. Each component can be independently manufactured and then assembled through demountable attachments, enabling both manufacturing precision and repeated removal/attachment cycles.
Solution Approach 2:
Tooth components and implant analogues are inserted into sockets within the jaw component, creating a nested structure where smaller components fit within larger ones. This nesting arrangement allows for accurate positioning while maintaining demountability through precise geometric interlocking features.
2Adaptability or versatility
If demountable components are added, then adaptability is improved, but frictional forces increase causing jamming
Solution Approach 1:
The interface between components features localized geometric characteristics including tapered surfaces, rounded edges, and specific socket geometries. These local quality features reduce friction by optimizing contact surfaces and enabling smooth insertion and removal while maintaining secure attachment during use.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple components are used, then versatility is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The jaw component is designed as a universal base that can accommodate multiple different tooth components and implant analogues through standardized socket interfaces. This multi-functionality allows a single jaw component to serve various dental preparation scenarios without requiring separate specialized fixtures for each case.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
These models enable precise and repeatable positioning of dental structures, reducing frictional forces and improving the accuracy of dental preparations by accommodating manufacturing tolerances and geometric complexities, while allowing for multiple uses without jamming or misalignment.
Implementation Method 1
The interface between the jaw component and the tooth component or implant analogue component includes a folded spring that provides compliance to accommodate an interference fit between the jaw component and the tooth component or implant analogue component.
Data Source
AI summary
A dental model and related systems and methods, including a first component representing a portion of a patient's jaw and a second component that is demountably attachable to the first component, and a second component representing a dental structure of interest, such as the remaining portion of a tooth or a dental implant.