Dental Blank Holding Ring With Damped Edge Support for Milling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing round dental blank holding rings have limitations in material usage efficiency and stability during milling, leading to potential breakage and waste due to the need for a wide non-millable edge for stability.
Innovation Solution
The solution involves elastically mounting the round dental blank in a holding ring with a C-shaped or L-shaped cross-section, using a combination of harder and softer components. The softer component absorbs vibrations and stresses, allowing milling closer to the edge while maintaining stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a wide non-millable edge is maintained to ensure stability during milling, then the risk of breakage is reduced, but the material usage efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies a flexible mounting ring with elastomeric material to the edge region of the dental blank. This flexible element can deform elastically under milling forces, absorbing stress peaks and preventing brittle fracture of the ceramic material. The flexible ring allows milling operations to proceed with a smaller non-millable edge while maintaining stability, thus resolving the contradiction between reliability and material efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the mechanical parameters of the edge region by introducing an elastomeric material with specific hardness (Shore A 20-80) and damping capacity. This material parameter change enables the edge to withstand milling forces that would otherwise cause breakage, allowing reduction of the non-millable edge width while maintaining structural integrity during machining.
2Loss of substance
If the non-millable edge is reduced to optimize material usage, then material efficiency improves, but the stability against milling forces deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible mounting ring made of elastomeric material is applied to the edge region, providing flexibility and shock absorption. This allows the non-millable edge to be reduced in width while the elastomeric material compensates for the reduced structural support, maintaining stability against milling forces through elastic deformation and stress distribution.
Solution Approach 2:
The elastomeric mounting ring acts as an intermediary element between the rigid ceramic dental blank and the milling forces. It mediates the interaction by absorbing and dampening the forces transmitted to the blank, enabling stable milling with reduced edge width and thus improving material efficiency while maintaining stability.
3Stability of the object's composition
If a unitary construction holding ring is used to stabilize the blank edge, then the stability improves, but the material cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the holding ring into two functional parts: a rigid support structure and a flexible elastomeric mounting ring. This segmentation allows the expensive rigid material to be used only where structural support is needed, while the cheaper elastomeric material provides the stabilizing function at the edge. The result is reduced overall material cost while maintaining edge stabilization capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by using different materials in different regions of the holding ring. The elastomeric material is applied specifically to the inner circumference where contact with the dental blank occurs, providing localized flexibility and shock absorption. The outer structure can be made of less expensive rigid material, optimizing the balance between stabilization performance and material cost.
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
This design reduces the risk of breakage during milling by damping stress peaks and allowing for a smaller non-millable edge, thereby optimizing material usage and improving the efficiency of dental restoration production.
Implementation Method 1
The shaking and stresses on the comparatively brittle ceramic material of the round dental blank which are introduced by the milling machine are gently absorbed by the softer mounting material. This unexpectedly leads to milling being possible even with a smaller remaining free edge
Implementation Method 2
the vibrations are damped at their stress peaks. This leads to the greatest stress peaks which are introduced into the remaining stabilizing edge, also called the clear margin, of the semi-milled round dental blank being ground down, so to speak
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a round dental blank holding ring, in particular having a holding projection (22) forming an undercut, wherein the holding ring (10) consists of at least two components (26, 28), the harder one of which overlaps the softer one.