Impression Tray With Moveable Sidewalls For Accurate Dental Molding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing mouthguards, particularly boil and bite and stock types, often fail to provide a reliable and accurate fit, leading to potential injury and inconvenience during sports activities, as they require significant user effort and may not be retained properly in the mouth.
Innovation Solution
An apparatus comprising a tray with moveable sidewalls that compress a mouldable element against the teeth using a user-applied biting force, allowing for an accurate impression of the teeth without the need for a dental professional, featuring a compression mechanism and articulated sections for optimal fit.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If stock mouthguards are used, then they are immediately usable and cheaper, but they do not fit the wearer's mouth accurately and may not be retained in the correct position
Solution Approach 1:
The mouthguard is divided into two separate components: a pre-formed stock mouthguard and a custom-molded layer. The stock mouthguard provides immediate usability and basic protection, while the custom-molded layer is added later to achieve accurate fit. This segmentation allows each component to serve its specific function optimally.
Solution Approach 2:
The stock mouthguard is prepared in advance with a rigid structure and basic shaping before the user receives it. This preliminary action ensures immediate usability upon purchase, while leaving room for subsequent customization through the molding process to achieve precise fit accuracy.
2Manufacturing precision
If boil and bite mouthguards are used, then improved fit can be achieved, but the process is time consuming and requires significant effort with inconsistent results
Solution Approach 1:
The material properties are changed by controlling the temperature and pressure parameters during molding. The moldable element is heated to become pliable, then compressed under controlled pressure against the teeth to capture the exact dental anatomy. This controlled parameter change ensures consistent, repeatable results that are more reliable than boil-and-bite methods.
Solution Approach 2:
The manual manipulation process of boil-and-bite mouthguards is replaced with a mechanical compression system. The tray with moveable sidewalls applies uniform, controlled compression forces to the moldable element, eliminating the need for users to manually shape the mouthguard with their fingers and achieving more consistent results.
3Manufacturing precision
If custom mouthguards are produced by a dental professional, then accurate fit is achieved, but the process takes several weeks and is costly
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables users to create their own custom-fitted mouthguards at home without requiring a dental professional. The user takes an impression of their own teeth using the tray and moldable element, then creates the custom mouthguard themselves. This self-service approach eliminates the need for multiple dental visits and professional fabrication time, reducing the process to a single home-based session.
Solution Approach 2:
A moldable element serves as an intermediary between the user's teeth and the final mouthguard. This intermediate material captures the exact dental anatomy when compressed against the teeth, then serves as the template for creating the custom-fitted mouthguard, enabling accurate replication without professional intervention.
4Stability of the object's composition
If a rigid tray is used for receiving the mouldable element, then structural stability is maintained, but it cannot adapt to different tooth arch shapes
Solution Approach 1:
The tray is designed with articulated sections that can move relative to each other, transforming the structure from static to dynamic. This allows the tray to adapt its shape to different tooth arch configurations while maintaining overall structural stability through the interconnected articulated mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The tray is divided into multiple articulated sections that can independently adjust to accommodate different arch shapes. Each section maintains structural integrity while the segmented design as a whole provides adaptability to various dental anatomies.
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
Enables a precise and repeatable impression of the teeth with minimal user effort, eliminating the need for a dental professional and providing a consistent, well-fitting mouthguard solution.
Implementation Method 1
mouldable element compression means, which may be opposed sidewalls extending from a base, wherein at least one of the opposed sidewalls is moveable inwards for compressing the mouldable element against the user's teeth
Implementation Method 2
allow the user to apply a biting force to the mouldable element to provide an impression of the user's teeth
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus comprising: a tray for receiving a mouldable element and for insertion into a user's mouth to allow the user to apply a biting force to the mouldable element to provide an impression of the user's teeth, the tray comprising: opposed sidewalls extending from a base, wherein at least one of the opposed sidewalls is configured to move inwards when the user applies a biting force to the mouldable element received by the tray.