Multi-functional coping with variable wall thickness
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current dental copings face challenges in providing a secure and stable attachment for provisional prostheses during the healing period, as they may melt or soften when heat is generated during cutting, leading to potential misfit and functional issues with the provisional prosthesis.
Innovation Solution
A multi-functional coping with a base and engagement section, featuring a channel for securing a rubber dam, and an engagement section with variable wall thickness and cutting grooves, designed to prevent movement and enhance bonding, allowing for use as an impression coping, scan body, or temporary cylinder, ensuring a secure fit and accurate positioning of dental implants.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the coping is made with uniform wall thickness, then the structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but the coping may deform or lose structural integrity when heat is generated during cutting
Solution Approach 1:
The coping features variable wall thickness with thicker sections at the crown and root portions and thinner sections in the middle. This local variation in thickness provides thermal mass in critical areas to resist heat-induced deformation during cutting while maintaining overall structural integrity, resolving the contradiction between manufacturing simplicity and structural stability under thermal stress.
2Device complexity
If the coping uses a single uniform structure, then the design is simple, but it cannot provide secure attachment and cutting resistance simultaneously
Solution Approach 1:
The coping employs varying wall thickness throughout its structure, with thicker regions at the crown and root for structural support and thinner regions in the middle for reduced heat accumulation. This localized structural differentiation enables the single coping structure to simultaneously provide secure attachment, cutting resistance, and thermal management without requiring multiple components.
3Strength
If the coping wall thickness is increased throughout, then the structural integrity is improved, but the heat generated during cutting causes melting or softening
Solution Approach 1:
The variable wall thickness design places thicker material at the crown and root portions where structural integrity is most critical, while using thinner walls in the middle section where heat accumulation would be most problematic. This strategic distribution of material thickness addresses both structural strength requirements and thermal management during cutting operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The thinner middle section of the coping, which would normally be a weak point, actually serves a beneficial function by acting as a heat sink that absorbs and dissipates thermal energy during cutting. This converts the potential harm of heat generation into a beneficial thermal management mechanism, preventing melting and softening while maintaining overall structural integrity.
4Reliability
If the coping has variable wall thickness, then the resistance to heat and structural integrity are improved, but the manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The variable wall thickness coping achieves superior structural integrity and thermal resistance through strategically placed thickness variations at the crown, middle, and root portions. While this design is more complex than uniform thickness copings, the localized nature of the variations allows for efficient manufacturing processes that can accommodate the thickness changes without requiring multiple assembly steps or complex tooling.
Data Source
AI summary
A multi-functional coping including a base with a channel for securing a rubber dam, and an engagement section for engaging an impression or for use as a scan body, or for use as a temporary cylinder in a provisional dental prosthesis. The channel may include a first seating surface that is substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the multi-functional coping. The multi-functional coping may include engagement grooves and wings in the engagement section, and a cutting groove between two parts of the engagement section.