Orthodontic Appliance with Decorative Ring-Shaped Member
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current orthodontic appliances, such as dental braces, lack customization options beyond changing the color of ligatures or o-ties, limiting users' ability to personalize their appliances with shapes, textures, patterns, letters, numbers, symbols, and other designs.
Innovation Solution
An orthodontic appliance featuring a substantially planar body connected to a ring-shaped member via a connecting portion, allowing for decorative features, various materials, and designs on the surface, enabling users to customize with shapes, textures, and patterns, while maintaining functionality by attaching to brackets and archwires.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If traditional ligatures or o-ties are used for orthodontic appliances, then the appliance can attach to brackets and archwires, but the customization options are limited only to color changes
Solution Approach 1:
The orthodontic appliance is divided into distinct components: a body portion and a ring-shaped member portion. This segmentation allows each component to serve its specific function while enabling independent customization of the ring-shaped member with various designs, shapes, and patterns without affecting the functional integrity of the attachment mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
Different portions of the appliance are assigned different properties: the body portion maintains functional simplicity for attachment, while the ring-shaped member portion is designed to accommodate diverse decorative elements. This local differentiation enables customization in the ring area without complicating the overall appliance structure.
2Adaptability or versatility
If decorative features are added to orthodontic appliances, then users can customize with shapes and patterns, but the appliance structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The functional body portion and the decorative ring-shaped member are merged into a single integrated appliance that performs both attachment and customization functions. The ring-shaped member is configured to fit over the archwire while providing a surface for decorative elements, combining utility and personalization in one component.
Solution Approach 2:
The ring-shaped member serves multiple functions: it acts as an attachment element for the archwire, provides a structural component of the appliance, and simultaneously serves as a canvas for decorative customization. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate decorative add-ons that would increase complexity.
3Area of stationary object
If a ring-shaped member is added to the orthodontic appliance, then customization surface area increases, but the appliance may interfere with bracket attachment
Solution Approach 1:
The ring-shaped member is positioned in a specific spatial dimension that allows it to provide customization surface area without interfering with the bracket attachment mechanism. The ring is configured to fit over the archwire in a manner that separates its decorative function from the attachment function, maintaining reliable connection while enabling surface customization.
Data Source
Figure 1A~1B
Figure 2A~2B
Figure 2C~3
AI summary
Various embodiments of an orthodontic appliance are provided. In one embodiment, an orthodontic appliance is provided, the appliance comprising: a body; at least one ring-shaped member connected to the body via at least one connecting portion; wherein the body and the at least one ring-shaped member are oriented adjacent to one another; and wherein the body and the at least one ring-shaped member are not coplanar when in an unloaded state.