Palatal Expander Breach Region for Predictable Removal
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional palatal expanders are difficult to remove due to the significant force they exert on the palate, making it challenging for both adult and pediatric patients, especially those who are less coordinated or require assistance, and traditional attachment methods are limited in geometry and ease of removal.
Innovation Solution
The development of palatal expander apparatuses with strategically designed breach regions that absorb removal forces, allowing for predictable bending or breaking, facilitating easy removal by incorporating materials with different properties and geometries to absorb and redirect forces, and the use of detachment regions for tool or finger engagement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Force
If conventional palatal expanders are used to exert significant force on the palate for expansion, then palatal expansion is achieved, but the expander becomes difficult to remove
Solution Approach 1:
The expander body is segmented into a first portion and a second portion connected by a hinge region. This segmentation allows the expander to function as a unified structure during expansion while enabling separation during removal, resolving the contradiction between maintaining expansion force and facilitating removal.
Solution Approach 2:
The hinge region is extracted as a distinct functional element with different material properties (softer, more brittle) than the main expander body. This extracted region serves as a predetermined failure point that absorbs removal forces, allowing the expander to be removed without requiring excessive force on the entire device.
2Reliability
If traditional attachment templates are used to form attachments on patient crowns, then attachments can be secured, but geometry formation is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The attachment template utilizes phase change of material (from固态 to 熔融态) during thermal processing to enable formation of complex geometries. By changing the physical state of the template material, it becomes adaptable to various geometric requirements while maintaining reliable attachment formation when cooled and solidified.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods for designing a palatal expander. Methods may include forming a digital model of a palatal region and tooth engagement regions. Methods may include forming attachment regions on buccal sides of the tooth engagement regions, the attachment regions shaped and sized to engage with attachments bonded to a patient's teeth. Methods may also include forming at least one breach region corresponding to a thinned region of the palatal expander that extends anteriorly to posteriorly in the palatal region or an occlusal portion of one or both of the tooth engagement regions. The breach region may be configured to breach or bend when a pulling force is applied to one or both of the tooth engagement regions such that the attachment regions are detached from respective attachments.