Modular Orthodontic Bracket Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
The production of fully customized orthodontic brackets is complex and time-consuming, while standard brackets lack individualization for specific patients, posing challenges in achieving a balance between simplicity and customization in bracket manufacturing.
Innovation Solution
A method for producing patient-specific, modular brackets involves creating a patient-specific model of the dentition, selecting and adapting raw overlays and bracket bodies with specific parameters to form a precise adhesive surface and bracket body, using biocompatible materials, and connecting them using gluing or welding, allowing for a form-fit with the patient's teeth.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If fully customized brackets are manufactured for each patient, then individualization and precise fit are improved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The bracket is divided into two main segments: a standardized bracket body (available in different sizes and configurations) and a patient-specific bonding pad. This segmentation allows the complex customization to be limited only to the bonding pad while the bracket body remains standardized, reducing overall manufacturing complexity while maintaining individualization where needed.
Solution Approach 2:
Patient-specific bonding pads are pre-fabricated using 3D scanning and digital modeling before the actual bracket assembly. The bonding pads are customized in advance based on digital impressions of the patient's teeth, allowing for precise fit without requiring complex real-time customization during bracket assembly.
2Manufacturing precision
If fully customized brackets are manufactured for each patient, then precise fit to patient's teeth is improved, but production time and resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the bracket into standardized bodies and customized pads, the production process can be parallelized. Multiple standardized bracket bodies can be prepared simultaneously while patient-specific pads are being fabricated digitally, significantly improving production efficiency without compromising precise fit.
Solution Approach 2:
Traditional mechanical methods for creating patient-specific brackets (such as manual modeling or complex CNC machining) are replaced with 3D scanning and digital modeling techniques. This substitution dramatically reduces production time and resource requirements while maintaining or improving manufacturing precision through digital accuracy.
3Ease of manufacture
If standardized brackets are used, then manufacturing simplicity is maintained, but customization for specific patients is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The bracket system is segmented into standardized components (bracket bodies) that maintain manufacturing simplicity, and customizable components (bonding pads) that provide patient-specific adaptation. This allows the majority of the bracket to be manufactured using simple, standardized processes while only the bonding interface requires customization.
Solution Approach 2:
The standardized bracket bodies are designed with universal features that can accommodate different bonding pads and work with various archwire configurations. This universality allows a single standardized bracket body design to serve multiple patients with different requirements, maintaining manufacturing simplicity while enabling customization through the bonding pad interface.
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 method simplifies the production of patient-specific brackets, ensuring a precise fit and individualization while reducing the complexity of fully customized bracket production, thereby improving the efficiency and effectiveness of orthodontic treatment.
Implementation Method 1
filling the gap extending over the distance with filler material and hardening the filler material
Implementation Method 2
Each support is advantageously connected to its associated bracket body by means of gluing or welding.
Data Source
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AI summary
Method for producing at least one patient-specific modular bracket (1) with a support (3) and with a bracket body (7), which method comprises the steps of: a) making available a raw-support library (19) of raw supports (5), b) making available at least one bracket-body library (23) of a raw bracket body (9), c) establishing a patient-specific set-up, in particular of plaster, of teeth to be treated from an upper jaw and/or a lower jaw of a patient, d) selecting a raw support (5) from the raw-support library (19) for each of the patient's teeth that is to be treated, e) forming a patient-specific adhesion surface (3K) on each raw support (5), as a result of which a support (3) is formed, f) selecting a bracket body (7) from the bracket-body library (23) for each support (3) for the respective connection to the support (3), g) connecting each support (3) to the associated bracket body (7), as a result of which a bracket (1) is formed for each of the patient's teeth that is to be treated.