Orthodontic Bracket Library for Custom Force Moments
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional orthodontic appliances are often designed based on average anatomy, requiring manual modifications and adjustments during treatment, leading to increased treatment time and cost, as they do not account for individual patient anatomy effectively.
Innovation Solution
A bracket system with a combinatorial library of brackets that can be interchangeably fixed to teeth, providing incremental variations in tipping, in-out, and torqueing force moments, allowing for customized configurations to match individual tooth needs, using a combination of bracket base rotations, archwire slot angles, and lengths to generate precise force distributions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional brackets designed based on average anatomy are used, then manufacturing cost and device complexity are reduced, but treatment time increases and manufacturing precision deteriorates due to required manual modifications
Solution Approach 1:
The bracket system is divided into multiple discrete components with varying parameters (bracket body lengths, archwire slot angles, bracket base rotations) that can be independently selected and combined. This segmentation allows precise customization for each tooth while maintaining manageable manufacturing complexity through modular design.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention utilizes discrete variations in key parameters including bracket body length (affecting in-out force moments), archwire slot angle (affecting torqueing force moments), and bracket base rotation (affecting tipping force moments). By providing incremental variations in these parameters across a combinatorial library, the system achieves precise force moment customization without requiring completely custom-designed brackets for each patient.
2Adaptability or versatility
If manual modifications and adjustments are performed during treatment, then adaptability to individual patient anatomy is improved, but treatment time increases and productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The combinatorial library of brackets is pre-manufactured with discrete parameter variations before patient treatment begins. Each bracket in the library is designed with specific combinations of bracket body length, archwire slot angle, and bracket base rotation to provide predetermined force moment characteristics. This preliminary preparation eliminates the need for manual modifications during treatment, allowing practitioners to simply select and install the appropriate bracket from the library for each tooth.
3Ease of manufacture
If standard pre-manufactured brackets are used, then ease of manufacture and cost are improved, but treatment duration increases due to required adjustments
Solution Approach 1:
The combinatorial library approach creates a universal bracket system where a finite set of pre-manufactured bracket types can address the diverse anatomical and mechanical requirements of different patients and different teeth within a patient's mouth. Each bracket type in the library serves multiple potential applications across different patients, and the same library can treat multiple teeth simultaneously. This universality maintains manufacturing efficiency while eliminating treatment delays associated with custom bracket fabrication for each case.
Data Source
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AI summary
A bracket system for orthodontic appliances including a bracket combinatorial library having a plurality of brackets each interchangeably fixedly mountable to each of a plurality of teeth within a dentition group in a dental arch, whereby the plurality of brackets can be configured to provide incremental variation in tipping force moments, in-out force moments, and torqueing force moments over the entire useful range of orthodontic mechanics, allowing an orthodontic practitioner to prescribe a combination of tipping force moments, in-out force moments, and torqueing force moments unique for each tooth in relation to the plurality of teeth of a patient.