Maxillary Skeletal Expander Mini-Screw Guide Holes
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional maxillary skeletal expanders often fail to properly expand the upper jaw as they are fixed to the teeth rather than the maxillary arch, leading to improper force transmission and potential loosening or bending of mini-screws due to slanted implantation.
Innovation Solution
A maxillary skeletal expander using mini-screws with screw guide holes that ensure vertical implantation and proper force transmission, featuring screw insertion portions with holes perpendicular to the movement direction of the expander bodies, allowing for effective expansion of the maxillary arch.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If mini-screws are implanted in hooks to fix bodies to upper jaw, then fixation is achieved, but mini-screws cannot be guided perpendicular to expansion direction resulting in slanted implantation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces screw guide holes as an intermediary structure between the hooks and the mini-screws. These guide holes are positioned perpendicular to the expansion direction and provide a pathway that constrains the mini-screws to be implanted at the correct angle, thus mediating between the fixation requirement and the precision requirement
Solution Approach 2:
The screw guide holes are designed to automatically guide the mini-screws into the correct orientation during the implantation process itself, without requiring additional external guidance tools or procedures. The structure serves its own guidance function
2Reliability
If mini-screws are implanted slantingly in hooks, then fixation is achieved, but force transmission to bones is improper causing loosening or bending
Solution Approach 1:
The screw guide holes act as an intermediary that ensures force is transmitted properly from the mini-screws to the bone. By constraining the implantation angle to be perpendicular to the expansion direction, the guide holes ensure that the mechanical load is distributed correctly along the bone, preventing loosening and bending
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the critical parameter of mini-screw implantation angle from slanted to perpendicular by providing guided holes. This parameter change optimizes the force transmission capability, ensuring that expansion forces are properly transmitted to the maxillary arch bones
3Productivity
If extending screw rotates to expand space between bodies, then maxillary arch expansion is achieved, but force is not properly transmitted when mini-screws are not vertically implanted
Solution Approach 1:
The screw guide holes serve as an intermediary structure that ensures efficient force transmission from the extending screw to the maxillary arch bones. By guiding the mini-screws to be vertically implanted, the guide holes prevent energy loss and ensure that the expansion force is effectively transmitted to achieve productive arch expansion
Data Source
AI summary
A maxillary skeletal expander includes a pair of bodies, an extending screw adjusting a space between the pair of bodies, guide rails having both sides inserted into the pair of bodies and guiding a movement of the bodies, a key hole integrally formed with the extending screw, screw insertion portions integrally formed with the bodies and having screw insertion holes guiding mini-screws implanted to an upper jaw, arms having one end fixed to the bodies and the other end extending toward teeth, and a teeth fixing part integrally formed with the arms and fixed to teeth of a patient.