Mandibular Advancement Appliance Geometry for Tooth Force Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing mandibular advancement devices for treating obstructive sleep apnea often cause undesirable side effects such as tooth repositioning, jaw discomfort, and muscle strain, and lack sufficient control over the forces applied to the patient's teeth, limiting customization.
Innovation Solution
Intraoral appliances with cavity geometries shaped to reduce unintentional tooth repositioning by redistributing forces and applying anterior-posterior forces within predetermined thresholds, incorporating features like magnetic and mechanical couplings to enhance control and patient-specific treatment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If mandibular advancement devices are used to treat sleep apnea by advancing the lower jaw, then airway obstruction is reduced, but tooth repositioning and jaw discomfort occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating tooth-receiving cavities with varying depths and orientations in different regions of the appliance shell. Anterior teeth receive cavities with specific depth and orientation to control forces, while posterior teeth have different cavity configurations. This localized differentiation allows the appliance to advance the mandible effectively while protecting specific tooth regions from harmful repositioning forces.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs parameter changes by systematically varying cavity depth, cavity orientation angle, and shell thickness across different regions of the appliance. By adjusting these parameters spatially, the device optimizes force distribution to achieve mandibular advancement while minimizing tooth repositioning. The cavity orientation angle parameter specifically controls the direction of forces applied to different teeth.
2Reliability
If existing mandibular advancement devices are used, then sleep apnea is treated, but control over forces applied to teeth is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the tooth-receiving cavities into multiple regions with distinct characteristics - anterior cavities, posterior cavities, and varying depth cavities. Each segment applies different force characteristics to specific tooth groups. This segmentation enables precise control over force distribution without requiring complex mechanical adjustment mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The tooth-receiving cavities act as intermediaries between the mandibular advancement mechanism and the teeth. The cavities mediate force transmission by their geometric properties (depth, orientation, position), converting the overall advancement force into controlled, distributed forces on individual teeth while preventing harmful repositioning.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If cavity geometries are designed to reduce tooth repositioning, then force distribution is improved, but device manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses parameter changes (cavity depth, orientation angle, position) that can be systematically varied during manufacturing processes like CNC machining or 3D printing. These parameter variations are implemented through programmable toolpaths or digital modeling, maintaining ease of manufacture while achieving complex force distribution patterns. The geometric parameters are optimized for both clinical effectiveness and manufacturability.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for mandibular advancement may include determining a threshold force value for an amount of anterior-posterior force to be applied to the patient's teeth to displace the patient's lower jaw anteriorly relative to the patient's upper jaw, determining a force distribution on the teeth of the patient's lower jaw that distributes the anterior-posterior force on the teeth of the patient's lower jaw by preferentially loading the posterior teeth and determining a geometry for an intraoral appliance configured to displace the lower jaw anteriorly relative to the upper jaw when worn by the patient in order to treat the sleep apnea. The intraoral appliance may be configured to provide an amount of anterior-posterior force to the patient's teeth that is no greater than the threshold force value with the force distribution.