BR102023014026A2 - ADJUSTABLE THERMOPLASTIC DENTAL APPLIANCE SYSTEM AND METHOD - Google Patents

Abstract

Methods and systems herein relate to forming an upper dental appliance chassis including at least two upper dental appliance button projections; forming a lower dental appliance chassis including at least two lower appliance button projections and at least two vertically offset bite pads; injection molding a first thermoplastic into the upper dental appliance chassis to provide a first reformable thermoplastic layer integrated with the upper dental appliance chassis that exposes at least two upper appliance button projections to form an upper dental tray; and injection molding a second thermoplastic into the upper brace chassis to provide a second reformable thermoplastic layer integrated with the lower brace chassis that exposes at least two lower brace button protrusions and at least two vertically offset bite pads for form a lower dental tray.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED ORDERS

[001] The present application is a continuation in part of pending US Patent Application Serial No. 17/892,118 entitled “Thermoplastic Dental Appliance System and Method”, filed on August 21, 2022, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, which is a continuation of US Patent No. 11,419,751, which was a non-provisional filing of US Provisional Patent Application Serial No. US 62/797,889, entitled “System and Method of Thermoplastic Dental Appliance”. , filed on January 28, 2019, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

HISTORIC

[002] Sleep apnea and obstructive sleep apnea treatments include surgery, positive airflow machinery such as CPAP machines, and dental braces. A well-known dental appliance is the “Elastic Mandiblular Advancement” (EMA®) and related appliances. The EMA® device operates by increasing air flow by forward mandibular advancement. One problem with the EMA® brace is that each brace requires a patient's specific set of teeth to create the brace. What is needed is a solution that obviates the need for a patient's specific dentition before forming an appliance.

SUMMARY

[003] Some embodiments of a method may include forming an upper dental appliance chassis including at least two upper appliance button projections and an elongated member projecting from the upper dental appliance chassis, forming a lower dental appliance chassis including at least two lower appliance button projections, at least two vertically offset bite pads, and a second elongate member projecting from the lower appliance chassis, injection overmolding of a first thermoplastic into the upper appliance chassis to provide a first reformable layer integrated with the upper brace chassis that exposes at least two upper brace button projections to form an upper dental tray and injection overmolding of a second thermoplastic into the lower brace chassis to provide an integrated second reformable layer with the lower dental appliance chassis exposing at least two lower appliance button projections and at least two vertically offset bite pads to form a lower dental tray, wherein the at least two vertically offset bite pads include a sloped gradient from the back to the front.

[004] The method further includes forming a dental appliance including the upper dental appliance chassis and the lower dental appliance chassis, wherein at least two lower appliance button projections and at least two upper appliance button projections provide a position front mandibular when two or more bands are attached to connect the upper dental tray and the lower dental tray.

[005] In one or more embodiments, the upper dental appliance chassis and the lower dental appliance chassis are injection molded from one or more of an Ethylene Propylene Copolymer and a Polyoxymethylene Copolymer.

[006] In one or more embodiments, the upper dental appliance chassis and the lower dental appliance chassis are injection molded using a thermoplastic olefin, thermoplastic polyolefin or thermoplastic olefin elastomer.

[007] In one or more embodiments, the upper dental appliance chassis and the lower dental appliance chassis are injection molded using a polyethylene terephthalate.

[008] In one or more embodiments, the upper dental appliance chassis and the lower dental appliance chassis are formed by three-dimensional (3D) printing of one or more of a lightweight polymerizable liquid thermosetting cross-linked polymer, a polyurethane, a methacrylate and a copolymer.

[009] In one or more embodiments, the upper dental appliance chassis and the lower dental appliance chassis are formed by three-dimensional (3D) printing of a polymerizable resin composition of a urethane dimethacrylate (UDMA) urethane monomer, a acidic monomer and one or more hydrophobic monomers.

[010] In one or more embodiments, the first thermoplastic and the second thermoplastic are constituted by one or more of one ε-caprolactone, caprolactam and one or more polycaprolactone polymers.

[011] In one or more embodiments, the first thermoplastic and the second thermoplastic are constituted by one or more of a caprolactone or polycaprolactone polymeric material overmolded into the chassis of the upper dental appliance and the chassis of the lower dental appliance.

[012] In one or more embodiments, at least two vertically displaced bite pads are configured to be replaced by alternative vertically displaced bite pads of one or more heights.

[013] Another embodiment is directed to a mandibular advancement dental appliance including a two-layer upper tray including an upper dental appliance chassis layer including at least two upper appliance button projections and a first elongate member protruding from the appliance chassis upper dental; and a first injection of reformable thermoplastic layer overmolded onto a portion of the upper dental appliance chassis layer formed by one or more of one ε-caprolactone, caprolactam and one or more polycaprolactone polymers integrated with the upper dental appliance chassis through a or more cavities in the surface of the upper appliance chassis, the first reformable thermoplastic layer configured to expose at least two upper appliance button projections; a two-layer lower tray including a lower brace chassis layer including at least two lower braces button projections and at least two vertically offset bite pads, and a second elongate member projecting from the lower braces chassis ; and a second injection of reformable thermoplastic layer overmolded onto the lower dental appliance chassis layer formed by one or more of one ε-caprolactone, caprolactam and one or more polycaprolactone polymers integrated with the lower dental appliance chassis through one or more cavities in the surface of the lower appliance chassis, the second reformable thermoplastic layer configured to expose at least two lower appliance button protrusions and at least two vertically offset bite pads, wherein the at least two vertically offset bite pads include a sloping gradient from back to front.

[014] In one or more embodiments, the dental mandibular advancement apparatus includes a pair of bands adapted to couple the lower two-layer tray with the upper two-layer tray to provide mandibular advancement. In other embodiments, the first elongated member and the second elongated member include marks for measuring forward mandibular adjustment when used by a patient. Furthermore, in one or more embodiments, the first elongated member and/or the second elongated member includes a standard 21 millimeter marking and at least one of the first elongated member and the second elongated member includes markings identifying a displacement corresponding to a length for the pair of bands.

[015] In one or more embodiments, the dental mandibular advancement apparatus according to the claim includes a pair of bands adapted to couple the lower two-layer tray with the upper two-layer tray to provide mandibular advancement.

[016] Some embodiments include a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores operative instructions when executed on the processor to execute the methods described herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[017] FIG. 1 illustrates a thermoplastic dental appliance including straps, button projections and a vertically offset teether by overmolding manufacturing in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[018] FIG. 2 illustrates a top exploded view of a thermoplastic dental appliance including strips, button projections and bite pads illustrating the overmolded dentition layer in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[019] FIG. 3 illustrates a bottom exploded view of a thermoplastic dental appliance including strips, button projections and bite pads illustrating the overmolded dentition layer in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[020] FIG. 4 illustrates a method in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[021] FIG. 5 illustrates another method in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[022] FIG. 6 illustrates a system and network environment including a computing device in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[023] FIG. 7 illustrates a processor and a computing device in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[024] FIG. 8 illustrates a network environment in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[025] In the detailed description below, reference is made to the attached drawings, which form part of this document. On drawings, like symbols generally identify like components unless the context dictates otherwise. The illustrative embodiments described in the detailed description, drawings and in the claims are not intended to be limiting. Other realizations may be used and other changes may be made, without departing from the spirit or scope of the subject matter presented here.

[026] Referring now to FIG. 1, a dental appliance according to one or more embodiments is illustrated. Unlike other dental appliances, the illustrated dental appliance provides a “boil and bite” type of appliance that produces elasto-mandibular advancement appropriate for the treatment of snoring and sleep apnea. The dental appliance 100 is formed by having a lower dental chassis 110 and an upper dental chassis 120 overmolded with reformable thermoplastic layers 130 and 140. The lower dental chassis 110 and the upper dental chassis 120 may be injection molded or 3D printed from a material not reformable. The reformable thermoplastic overmolded material in layers 130 and 140 couples to the non-reformable material layer by virtue of a plurality of cavities within the upper and lower chassis 110, 120.

[027] In one or more embodiments, the lower tooth chassis 110 and the upper tooth chassis 120 include button projections, two on each of the tooth chassis 110, 120. The button projections shown in FIG. 1 include upper button projections 150 and lower button projections 160. FIG. 1 further includes elongated members 112 and 132, with elongated member 112 attached to the upper dental chassis 120 and elongated member 132 attached to the lower dental chassis 110. In one or more embodiments, the elongated members 112 and 132 include measurements such as marks to allow the appropriate titration and choice of 190 band for a patient.

[028] More particularly, as shown in FIG. 1, the lower dental chassis 110 includes the elongated member 132 with measurement markings 134 which may be millimeter markings that function to identify a band length that is appropriate for preventing a patient's sleep apnea and snoring. In one embodiment, when the upper dental chassis 120 and the lower dental chassis 110 are aligned on top of each other, the end of the elongated member 112, shown as end 114, aligns with the measurement marking 132. In one embodiment, This mark may be a “21” to indicate that a 21 millimeter length band is appropriate for a patient to achieve forward mandibular advancement that aligns the teeth enough to prevent sleep apnea.

[029] Since not all patients have jaws that achieve adequate advancement with a 21 millimeter long band or loop, markings on the elongated limbs allow for fitting of the dental appliance to determine an appropriate band length. For example, if a patient inserts dental braces after the braces fit their dentition, the patient can then determine a proper alignment and horizontal advancement that is comfortable and achieves a forward mandibular advancement appropriate for the patient's mouth. Then, markings on the elongated limbs help determine the size band that is associated with that alignment. For example, where the end of the upper elongated member 112 lies in relation to the lower elongated member 132 indicates the type of band required. Thus, if a patient requires greater advancement than where the mark 114 of the upper elongated limb 112 aligns with “21”, then the offset is shown at the measurement marks 132 in terms of millimeters. A displacement of one millimeter of additional mandibular advancement would indicate that a 20 millimeter band would be appropriate for the patient in question. On the other hand, if a patient has an overbite, a longer band would be more appropriate, as indicated by the amount by which the mark 114 of the upper elongated limb 112 is in relation to the "21" mark and would indicate how many millimeters beyond a band of 21 millimeters would be appropriate for comfortable advancement.

[030] Referring now to FIG. 2 and 3, exploded views of the dental appliance illustrate how different components fit together to create a dental appliance suitable for treating sleep apnea.

[031] As shown, FIGS. 2 and 3 show the lower dental chassis 110 and the upper dental chassis 120 and illustrate cavities to allow secure coupling to the reformable thermoplastic layers 130 and 140 through injection overmolding. The lower dental chassis 110 further includes button projections 160, bite pads 170, and elongated member 130 with measurement markings 132 and “21” marking 136. In one embodiment, the bite pads 170 include alternative socket-type bite pads for allow for different heights of vertical travel as appropriate for a patient. In another embodiment, the bite pads 170 include an increasing gradient from back to front to provide more comfort for a patient. More particularly, in one embodiment, the injection molded bite pads or snap-type bite pads include a gradient of one to two millimeters from back to front to allow movement.

[032] FIGS. 2 and 3 further show elastic bands 190 configured to couple the lower dental chassis 110 to the upper dental chassis 120. As shown, the upper dental chassis 120 includes button projections 150 for receiving elastic bands 190. FIGs. 2 and 3 further illustrate that the upper dental chassis 120 includes cavities for receiving reformable thermoplastic layer 140 through injection overmolding.

[033] Referring now to FIG. 4, a flowchart illustrates a method for forming a dental appliance. As shown, the block 410 provides the formation of an upper dental appliance chassis including at least two upper appliance button projections 150 and an elongated member 112. For example, the lower dental chassis 110 and the upper dental chassis 120 are formed by through one or more of injection molding and 3D printing.

[034] Block 420 provides for the formation of a lower appliance chassis 110 including at least two lower appliance button projections 160, at least two lower appliance bite pads 170, and an elongated member 132 with measurement marks 134 and 136. For example, both the lower dental appliance chassis 110 and the upper dental appliance chassis 120 may be formed by injection molding or 3D printing of a non-reformable thermoplastic, nylon, or other non-reformable material.

[035] Block 430 provides injection overmolding of a first thermoplastic into the upper chassis of the dental appliance to provide a first reformable layer integrated with the upper chassis of the dental appliance that exposes at least two upper protrusions of the appliance button. For example, both the lower dental appliance chassis 110 and the upper dental appliance chassis 120 may be formed by injection molding or 3D printing of a non-reformable thermoplastic, nylon, or other non-reformable material. In one or more embodiments, the upper dental appliance chassis and the lower dental appliance chassis are injection molded from one or more of an Ethylene Propylene Copolymer and a Polyoxymethylene Copolymer. In one or more embodiments, the upper dental appliance chassis and the lower dental appliance chassis may be injection molded using a thermoplastic olefin, thermoplastic polyolefin, or a thermoplastic olefin elastomer. In one or more embodiments, the upper dental appliance chassis and the lower dental appliance chassis are injection molded using a polyethylene terephthalate.

[036] In other embodiments, the upper dental appliance chassis and the lower dental appliance chassis are formed by three-dimensional (3D) printing of one or more of a lightweight polymerizable liquid thermosetting cross-linked polymer, a polyurethane, a methacrylate and a copolymer. In one or more embodiments, the upper dental appliance chassis and the lower dental appliance chassis may be formed by three-dimensional (3D) printing of a polymerizable resin composition of a urethane dimethacrylate (UDMA) urethane monomer, an acidic monomer. and one or more hydrophobic monomers.

[037] Referring again to FIG. 4, block 440 provides injection overmolding of a second thermoplastic into the lower dental appliance chassis to provide a second reformable layer integrated with the lower dental appliance chassis that exposes at least two lower appliance button protrusions and at least two lower dental appliance button projections. braces bite. For example, referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, injection overmolding of a reformable thermoplastic 130 onto the lower dental appliance chassis 110 allows integration of the lower dental appliance chassis 110 with the reformable thermoplastic 130. In one or more embodiments, the lower dental appliance chassis 110 includes cavities or deformations that provide a surface for better adhesion of the reformable thermoplastic 130 to the chassis of the lower dental appliance 110.

[038] Suitable materials for a three-dimensional printer may be resin-type materials and materials described in U.S. Patent No. 9,682,018 to Sadowsky et al., June 20, 2017, “Tooth and Denture Material”, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, materials suitable for dental appliances must be FDA approved. Suitable materials for resins are further described in Tanaka J, Hashimoto T., Stansbury JW, Antonucci JM, Suzuki K., “Polymer Properties of UDMA Composite Resins as Methacrylates with the Carboxyl Group” Dental Material Journal 2001; 10:206-215, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[039] Three-dimensional printing, as referred to herein, includes, but is not limited to, stereolithography (SLA), microstereolithography (pSLA), DLP projection, 2PP (two-photon polymerization), continuous liquid interface production, and material jetting . In embodiments, three-dimensional printing includes layer-by-layer printing with successive layers formed into discrete layers. For example, a surface with a build plate immersed in a reservoir of a one-component polymer/resin formulation can be exposed to light at wavelengths and intensity to activate a photoinitiator to cause photopolymerization. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, there are other methods of three-dimensional printing, such as continuous liquid interphase printing, in which dental trays are constructed from a reservoir of light-cured resin. Continuous liquid interphase printing is described in US Patent Publication Nos. 2015/0097315, 2015/0097316 and 2015/0102532, the disclosures of each of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

[040] Thus, as shown above, the upper and lower dental appliance chassis portion of a dental appliance can be directly manufactured using 3D technology. Material suitable for 3D printing technology includes thermosetting polymers such as lightweight liquid polymerizable materials. In one or more embodiments, the material suitable for 3D printing includes a cross-linked polymer, such as a polyurethane, a methacrylate or a copolymer. In some embodiments, the 3D printing materials may include nylon materials.

[041] In one or more embodiments, materials used for grinding and/or injection molding may be supplied by Myerson Tooth, Inc., including VisiClear™ and DuraFlex™, which are Ethylene-Propylene Copolymers with the following properties, as per shown in Table 1:

[042] In another embodiment, the injection molding material for the chassis components can be provided by DuraCetal™, also available from Myerson Tooth, Inc., which is a Polyoxymethylene Copolymer with the following properties shown in Table 2:

[043] Referring now to FIG. 5, a flowchart illustrates that another embodiment is directed to a method for a dental appliance. In particular, block 510 provides heating of the dental appliance by using elongated members to submerge the dental appliance. For example, in the dental appliance 100, without elastic straps 190, it may be heated by boiling or other thermal process so that the reformable thermoplastic is heated to allow reformation. In one or more embodiments, the dental appliance includes an upper dental tray, such as the upper dental appliance chassis 120 and the lower appliance chassis 110, each with a reformable thermoplastic layer.

[044] Block 520 provides molding of the first reformable thermoplastic layer and the second reformable thermoplastic layer according to a patient's dentition. For example, the first reformable thermoplastic layer, such as the reformable thermoplastic layer 130 and the reformable thermoplastic layer 140 may include a connection between the rigid lower and upper dental chassis coupled to the reformable thermoplastic material. In some embodiments, the connection between the formable and reformable layers may be a combination of mechanics and chemistry.

[045] Block 530 provides identification of a distance using marks on the elongated members for mandibular advancement. For example, the marks 134 on the elongated member 132 identify the distance, if any, from the “21” mark 136 where the upper mark 114 on the elongated member 112 comfortably advances a patient's jaw. This identifies the length of a band to couple the upper and lower chassis of the dental appliance.

[046] Block 540 provides attachment of at least two bands identified by marks to couple the upper portion of the dental appliance to a lower portion of the dental appliance, wherein the upper portion includes the first reformable thermoplastic layer and the lower portion of the appliance dental insert includes the second reformable thermoplastic layer, wherein at least two bands secure a first pair of button projections with a second pair of button projections to provide a forward mandibular position when the two bands are attached to connect the upper dental tray and the lower dental tray.

[047] Block 550 provides that, if the patient's dentition changes, the method provides for reheating the dental appliance to remodel the first reformable thermoplastic layer and the second reformable thermoplastic layer.

[048] In one or more embodiments, the thermal process is a thermal boil and bite process in which a patient inserts a heated dental appliance to form the first and second thermoplastic layers reformable according to the patient's dentition.

[049] In one or more embodiments, the upper dental tray includes a first non-reformable layer coupled to the first thermoplastic layer reformable by means of injection overmolding and the lower dental tray includes a second non-reformable layer coupled to the second thermoplastic layer reformable by means of injection overmolding.

[050] In one or more embodiments, the first reformable thermoplastic layer and the second reformable thermoplastic layer are composed of one or more ε-caprolactone, caprolactam and one or more polycaprolactone polymers. For example, in some embodiments, the reformable thermoplastic layers may be formed from CAPA™ 6800 and/or CAPA™ 6500 thermoplastics.

[051] In one or more embodiments, the lower dental tray includes a pair of vertically displacing teethers. For example, the pair of vertical displacement jaws may be part of the non-refurbishable components of the chassis. In one or more embodiments, the vertically offset bite pads may be snap-type bite pads. For example, non-reformable chassis components may include a base allowing plug-in jaws to be switched.

[052] Referring now to FIG. 6, the figure illustrates an exemplary environment 600 including a computing device 610 connected to a scanner/camera 616, which in turn is connected to a first user 620 connected to a cloud computer server/servers 630 via a network interface. As will be further described herein, the illustrated computing device 610 and computer server 630 may employ the computationally implemented methods, systems, and articles of manufacture in accordance with various embodiments. The computing device 610 and the computer server 630, in various embodiments, enable functions of the computing device 610.

[053] The computing device 610 illustrated in FIG. 6 may be a tablet computer, in alternative embodiments, the computationally implemented methods, systems, and articles of manufacture in accordance with various embodiments may be incorporated into other types of computer systems with other form factors, including other types of portable computing devices , such as cell phones, laptops, smartphones, e-readers, etc. Computing devices may include smartphones, client computers and the like as possible computing devices. As illustrated, the computing device 610 may include a display, such as a touch screen as input/output to the computing device 610. The computing device 610 may further include a keyboard, either as an input/output keyboard. touch or as an attached keyboard. As further depicted, the computing device 610 may also be connected to a scanner 616. In one embodiment, the scanner 616 may be a scanner camera capable of creating a 3D image of a patient's dentition and oral features.

[054] Referring now to FIG. 7, computing device 610 is further illustrated with logic modules 702, network interface 704, user interface 710, processor 716, which may include memory and computer-readable instructions 752. Logic modules 702 may be implemented using circuit components , like an ASIC. The logic modules 702 and other modules shown may be implemented using a combination of specifically designed circuits, such as an ASIC, and one or more processors 716 (or other types of circuits, such as field-programmable gate arrays or FPGAs) executing computer-readable instructions 752 For example, in some embodiments, at least one of the logic modules may be implemented using specially designed circuitry (e.g., ASIC), while a second logic module may be implemented using a 716 processor (or other types of programmable circuitry, such as a FPGA) executing computer-readable instructions 752 (e.g., software and/or firmware). System requirements may dictate a combination of software and firmware and circuitry to meet the realizations in this document, for example, logic modules may be designed to use the most efficient combination of software/hardware/firmware in order to quickly deploy methods and systems within the scope of the present disclosure.

[055] In various embodiments, memory 714 of computing device 610 may comprise one or more of mass storage device, read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM) , cache memory, such as random access memory (RAM), flash memory, synchronous random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), and/or other types of memory devices. In various embodiments, one or more applications 764, 766 stored in memory may include, for example, an operating system 762, a browser(s) 763, and one or more productivity applications 764, such as a word processing application. or an imaging application, scanner application, and one or more communication applications 766 .

[056] The computing device 610 may also include the access restriction module 706. The access restriction module 706 of the computing device 610 may be configured to restrict access through the computing device 610 or prevent one or more actions by the computing device 610. The computing device 610 may also include the device generation module 708 coupled to the access restriction module 706 via a bus.

[057] With reference to FIG. 8, the device generation module 708 may be configured to determine that a first user 620 is an authorized user who attempts to operate the computing device 610. The device generation module 708 may also be configured to determine an authorized user established with based on data received from the network while the computing device 610 is connected to a network connection 650. In the case of the device generation module 708 existing in a cloud computing configuration or computer server 630, the data generation module 630 Apparatus 708 may be configured to determine a network-based authorization for the first user when first entering the network 650 or entering the cloud computing for the computer server 630.

[058] The device generation module 708 can be configured to receive inputs from a scanner 616.

[059] The computer server 630 that connects via network 650 to the computing device 610 of FIG. 6 and 7 can establish and/or determine a vertical displacement and a forward mandibular position to treat sleep apnea. For example, the scanner 616 and/or molds of a patient's teeth may be examined and used to determine the adjustment needed to treat sleep apnea. The upper and lower chassis, including button bosses, can be created from molds and the reformable thermoplastic layers are injection molded as an overmolding. For example, a patient with malocclusion and sleep apnea will require a determination via 616 scanner or another method. Each patient, depending on the results of scanned teeth and soft tissue and patient feedback, may require different horizontal and vertical shift placement for sleep apnea treatment. Vertical displacement can be through lower bite pads or through the thickness of a lower dental tray. In embodiments, the vertical displacement is part of the mold, ground appliance, or 3D printed dental appliance.

[060] In some embodiments, the elastic straps may be of different lengths and strengths to allow gradual and incremental titration to advance the jaw forward, for example, some are 21 mm long, but may be softer or stronger elastics. . In some embodiments, 9 different lengths can be offered and four different strengths can be offered for patient comfort and effectiveness.

[061] In one or more embodiments, the bite pads 170 may be snap-type bite pads according to a certain amount of vertical component needed for a patient with sleep apnea or height of the bite pads for the dental appliance in function of the shape of the soft palate. In other embodiments, vertical displacement is determined by the patient's soft tissue, such as the shape of the hyoid. In one or more embodiments, a scanner and/or camera, such as scanner/camera 616, detects the shape of the soft palate. The data is collected as oral feature data and provided to a processor that operates to classify the oral features for manufacturing the upper and lower dental appliance chassis.

[062] In one or more embodiments, there are three classifications for a soft palate: short, normal or long. Thus, in one or more embodiments, a method includes determining whether the posterior edge of the soft palate is short. For example, if there is 5 to 7 mm of space between the posterior edge of the soft palate and the posterior wall of the oral pharynx, the soft palate is determined to be short and a dental appliance will need 5 to 7 mm of vertical displacement. In some embodiments, to determine vertical displacement, a scanner can measure the distance from the maxillary central gingival tooth crown junction to the mandibular central gingival tooth crown junction. If this distance is, for example, 20mm and thus 7mm of vertical is desired, in some embodiments, a vertical displacement may be determined so that the bite has 7mm of vertical displacement.

[063] In some embodiments, a method includes determining whether the posterior edge of the soft palate is longer than a normal soft palate. If the soft palate is longer, so that the posterior edge of the soft palate has 3 to 4 mm of space between it and the posterior wall of the oral pharynx, in some embodiments, a dental appliance can be made to provide 8 to 10 mm of vertical displacement to prevent the soft palate from closing the airway when the patient is in the supine position.

[064] If the soft palate is very long and insole-shaped with only 2 mm or less of space between the soft palate and the posterior wall of the oral pharynx, the appliance will likely require 11 to 14 mm of vertical displacement.

[065] In one or more embodiments, a scanner determines whether a soft palate is short, long or normal and determines the placement of the uvula in relation to the palate.

[066] Determining the placement and size of the lower dental tray bite pads is a function of the length of a patient's palate. Furthermore, in some embodiments, maxillary button protrusions on an upper dental tray are placed on each incisal edge, brazing between the right and left canines and the first bicuspids.

[067] The placement of the mandibular button protrusions (lower dental tray button protrusions) can be determined by determining a patient's range of motion. In some embodiments, a scanner detects the maximum range of motion by measuring before and after extension of the lower jaw. For example, if the patient only has 5-7 mm of potential advancement, the buttons are placed 23 mm apart with the patient's teeth in the center. If the patient has 7-10 mm of potential advancement, the buttons are placed 25 mm apart, and if the patient has 10-17 mm of potential advancement, the buttons are placed 27 mm apart.

[068] In one or more embodiments, a method includes determining the location of the buttons in the mandibular arch by occluding the patient models in the center and placing the center of the mandibular button 23, 25 or 27 mm from the center of the maxillary button.

[069] As described above, a scanner/camera 616 takes images/scans of a patient's mouth to determine dentition data and/or soft palate data and a computer system coupled to the scanner or processor incorporated in a scanner/camera determines the placement of the button bosses and bite pads on the chassis of the upper and lower dental appliance.

[070] In one or more embodiments, receiving data on the patient's oral characteristics includes scanning a mold of the teeth by a scanner or camera; and transmitting the oral characteristics data to a server.

[071] In one or more embodiments, receiving oral characteristic data from a patient includes scanning by a scanner an oral cavity of the patient; imaging the oral cavity to determine dentition data, wherein the oral characteristic data includes dentition data such as one or more images of teeth and a gum line of the patient and one or more images of a soft palate of the patient; and transmit the oral characteristic to a server.

[072] In one or more embodiments, determining oral characteristic data and vertical displacement is a function of a shape of the patient's soft palate.

[073] In one or more embodiments, determining through the oral characteristic of the vertical displacement depending on the shape of the patient's soft palate includes determining a vertical displacement between 5 and 7 millimeters if the soft palate has between 5 and 7 millimeters of space between a posterior edge of the soft palate and a posterior wall of a patient's oral pharynx.

[074] In one or more embodiments, determining from oral characteristic data the vertical displacement as a function of the shape of the patient's soft palate includes processing the oral characteristic data to measure a distance from a gingival tooth crown junction of a maxillary central to a gingival tooth crown junction of a mandibular central.

[075] In one or more embodiments, determining through oral characteristic data the vertical displacement as a function of the shape of the patient's soft palate includes determining whether a posterior edge of the soft palate is longer than a normal soft palate with between 3 and 5 millimeters of space between a posterior edge of the soft palate to a posterior wall of an oral pharynx of the patient; and provide vertical displacement between 8 and 10 millimeters.

[076] In one or more embodiments, determining through oral characteristic data the vertical displacement as a function of the shape of the patient's soft palate includes determining whether a posterior edge of the soft palate is longer than a normal soft palate and in which there are two millimeters or less of space between the soft palate and a posterior wall of an oral pharynx, providing at least 11 to 14 millimeters for vertical displacement.

[077] In one or more embodiments, determining through oral characteristic data the vertical displacement as a function of the shape of the patient's soft palate includes determining whether the soft palate is short, normal and long.

[078] In one or more embodiments, the lower dental tray includes a first vertically offset bite pad on a left side of the lower dental tray and a second vertically offset bite pad on a right side of the lower dental tray, wherein a height of each of the first and second vertically offset bite pads is determined in accordance with the oral characteristic data, the oral characteristic data providing the patient's soft tissue data indicative of airway function.

[079] In one or more embodiments, the lower dental tray couples to the upper dental tray by means of two elastic bands coupled to both sides of the dental apparatus by means of the button projections. The elastic bands may include a plurality of pairs of elastic bands, each pair being of different length and/or elasticity.

[080] Some embodiments of a method may include, a method including forming an upper dental appliance chassis including at least two upper dental appliance button projections; forming a lower dental appliance chassis including at least two lower appliance button projections and at least two vertically offset bite pads; injection molding a first thermoplastic into the upper dental appliance chassis to provide a first reformable thermoplastic layer integrated with the upper dental appliance chassis that exposes at least two upper appliance button projections to form an upper dental tray; and injection molding a second thermoplastic into the upper brace chassis to provide a second reformable thermoplastic layer integrated with the lower brace chassis that exposes at least two lower brace button protrusions and at least two vertically offset bite pads for form a lower dental tray.

[081] In one or more embodiments, the method includes forming a dental appliance including the lower dental tray and an upper dental tray, each of the lower dental tray and the upper dental tray, the lower dental tray including at least two bite pads of vertical displacement and at least two lower appliance button projections, the upper dental tray including at least two upper appliance button projections, at least two lower appliance button projections and at least two upper appliance button projections providing a front mandibular position when two elastic bands are fixed to connect the upper dental tray and the lower dental tray.

[082] In one or more embodiments, the upper dental appliance chassis and the lower dental appliance chassis are injection molded from one or more of an Ethylene Propylene Copolymer and a Polyoxymethylene Copolymer.

[083] In one or more embodiments, the upper dental appliance chassis and the lower dental appliance chassis are injection molded using a thermoplastic olefin, thermoplastic polyolefin or olefin thermoplastic elastomer.

[084] In one or more embodiments, the chassis of the upper dental appliance and the chassis of the lower dental appliance are injection molded using a polyethylene terephthalate.

[085] In one or more embodiments, the upper dental appliance chassis and the lower dental appliance chassis are formed by three-dimensional (3D) printing of one or more of a lightweight polymerizable liquid thermosetting cross-linked polymer, a polyurethane, a methacrylate and a copolymer.

[086] In one or more embodiments, the upper dental appliance chassis and the lower dental appliance chassis are formed by three-dimensional (3D) printing of a polymerizable resin composition of a urethane dimethacrylate (UDMA) urethane monomer, a acidic monomer and one or more hydrophobic monomers.

[087] In one or more embodiments, the first thermoplastic and the second thermoplastic are constituted by one or more of one ε-caprolactone, caprolactam and one or more polycaprolactone polymers.

[088] In one or more embodiments, the first thermoplastic and the second thermoplastic are constituted by one or more of a caprolactone or polycaprolactone polymeric material overmolded into the chassis of the upper dental appliance and the chassis of the lower dental appliance.

[089] In one or more embodiments, the first thermoplastic and the second thermoplastic provide bonded raised dentition layers that are formable to a patient's dentition through a thermal process.

[090] In one or more embodiments, the first thermoplastic and the second thermoplastic provide bonded protrusion dentition layers that are reformable to alter the patient's dentition through one or more subsequent heat processes.

[091] In one or more embodiments, the thermal process includes a boiling and biting process.

[092] In one or more embodiments, at least two vertically displaced bite pads are configured to be replaced by alternative vertically displaced bite pads of one or more heights.

[093] Another embodiment is directed to a system comprising a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores operative instructions when executed on the processor to form a dental appliance including forming an upper dental appliance chassis including at least two protrusions upper dental appliance button; forming a lower dental appliance chassis including at least two lower appliance button projections and at least two vertically offset bite pads; injection overmolding a first thermoplastic onto the upper dental appliance chassis to provide a first reformable thermoplastic layer integrated with the upper dental appliance chassis that exposes at least two upper appliance button projections to form an upper dental tray; and injection overmolding a second thermoplastic onto the upper brace chassis to provide a second reformable thermoplastic layer integrated with the lower brace chassis that exposes at least two upper brace button protrusions and at least two vertically offset protrusions to form a bottom tray.

[094] Another embodiment is directed to a method that includes heating a dental appliance by a thermal process, the dental appliance including an upper dental tray with a first reformable thermoplastic layer and a lower dental tray with a second reformable thermoplastic layer; shaping the first reformable thermoplastic layer and the second reformable thermoplastic layer according to a patient's dentition; and attaching at least two elastic straps to the dental appliance for coupling an upper portion of the dental appliance to a lower portion of the dental appliance, wherein the upper portion includes the first reformable thermoplastic layer, and the lower portion of the dental appliance includes the second layer reformable thermoplastic, at least two elastic straps, at least two elastic straps securing a first pair of button projections with a second pair of button projections to provide a forward mandibular position when the two elastic bands are attached to connect the upper dental tray and the lower dental tray.

[095] One or more embodiments further include, if the patient's dentition changes, reheating the dental appliance to remodel the first reformable thermoplastic layer and the second reformable thermoplastic layer.

[096] In one or more embodiments, the thermal process is a thermal boil and bite process in which a patient inserts a heated dental appliance in the form of the first and second thermoplastic layers reformable according to the patient's dentition.

[097] In one or more embodiments, the upper dental tray includes a first non-reformable layer coupled to the first thermoplastic layer reformable by means of injection overmolding and the lower dental tray includes a second non-reformable layer coupled to the second thermoplastic layer reformable by means of injection overmolding.

[098] In one or more embodiments, the first reformable thermoplastic layer and the second reformable thermoplastic layer are composed of one or more ε-caprolactone, caprolactam and one or more polycaprolactone polymers.

[099] In one or more embodiments, the lower dental tray includes a pair of vertically offset bite pads with a back-to-front gradient of at least 1 millimeter.

[100] Another embodiment is directed to a mandibular advancement dental appliance including a two-layer lower tray including: a lower dental appliance chassis layer including at least two lower appliance button projections and at least two offset bite pads vertical; and a first injection of reformable thermoplastic layer overmolded onto the lower dental appliance chassis layer formed by one or more of one ε-caprolactone, caprolactam and one or more polycaprolactone polymers integrated with the lower dental appliance chassis via one or more cavities on the surface of the lower appliance chassis, the first reformable thermoplastic layer configured to expose at least two lower appliance button protrusions and at least two vertically offset bite pads; and a two-layer upper tray including: an upper appliance chassis layer including at least two upper appliance button projections; and a second injection of reformable thermoplastic layer overmolded onto the upper dental appliance chassis layer formed by one or more of one ε-caprolactone, caprolactam and one or more polycaprolactone polymers integrated with the dental appliance chassis through one or more cavities on the surface of the upper appliance chassis, the first reformable thermoplastic layer configured to expose at least two lower appliance button projections.

[101] In one or more embodiments, the dental mandibular advancement apparatus includes a pair of elastic straps adapted to couple the lower two-layer tray with the upper two-layer tray to provide mandibular advancement.

[102] Some embodiments include a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores operative instructions when executed on the processor to perform the methods described herein.

[103] Those skilled in the art will recognize that the prior art has progressed to the point where there is little distinction between hardware and software implementations of aspects of systems; The use of hardware or software is usually (but not always, where in certain contexts the choice between hardware and software can become significant) a design choice that represents tradeoffs of cost versus efficiency. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that there are various vehicles by which processes and/or systems and/or other technologies described herein can be effected (e.g., hardware, software and/or firmware in one or more machines or articles of manufacture), and that the preferred vehicle will vary with the context in which the processes and/or systems and/or other technologies are deployed. For example, if a deployer determines that speed and accuracy are paramount, the deployer may opt for a primarily hardware and/or firmware vehicle; Alternatively, if flexibility is paramount, the deployer may opt for a primarily software deployment that is deployed on one or more machines or articles of manufacture; or, again alternatively, the deployer may opt for some combination of hardware, software and/or firmware on one or more machines or articles of manufacture. Thus, there are several possible vehicles by which the processes and/or devices and/or other technologies described herein can be effected, none of which is inherently superior to the other in which which vehicle to use is a choice dependent on the context in which the vehicle is used. will be deployed and the specific concerns (e.g., speed, flexibility, or predictability) of the deployer, any of which may vary. Those skilled in the art will recognize that optical aspects of implementations will typically employ optically oriented hardware, software and/or firmware in one or more machines or articles of manufacture.

[104] The foregoing detailed description has established various embodiments of the devices and/or processes through the use of block diagrams, flowcharts and/or examples. To the extent that such block diagrams, flowcharts and/or examples contain one or more functions and/or operations, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that each function and/or operation within such block diagrams, flowcharts or examples may be deployed, individually and/or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software, firmware, or virtually any combination thereof. In one embodiment, various portions of the subject matter described herein may be implemented via Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), digital signal processors (DSPs), or other integrated formats. However, those skilled in the art will recognize that some aspects of the embodiments disclosed herein, in whole or in part, may be equivalently implemented in integrated circuits, such as one or more computer programs executing on one or more computers (e.g. , as one or more programs running on one or more computer systems), as one or more programs running on one or more processors (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more microprocessors), such as firmware or as practically any combination thereof, and that designing the circuit and/or writing the code for the software and/or firmware would be well within the skill of one skilled in the art in light of this disclosure. Furthermore, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the mechanisms of the subject matter described herein are capable of being distributed as a program product in a variety of forms, and that an illustrative embodiment of the subject matter described herein applies regardless of the particular type of support medium. of signal used to actually perform the distribution. Examples of a signal-bearing medium include, but are not limited to, the following: a recordable-type medium, such as a floppy disk, a hard disk drive, a Compact Disc (CD), a Digital Video Disc (DVD), a digital tape, computer memory, etc.; and a transmission type medium, such as a digital and/or analog communications medium (e.g., a fiber optic cable, a waveguide, a wired communications link, a wireless communications link, etc.).

[105] In a general sense, those skilled in the art will recognize that the various aspects described herein that can be implemented, individually and/or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software, firmware or any combination thereof can be viewed as being composed of various types of “electrical circuits”. Accordingly, as used herein, “electrical circuits” include, but are not limited to, electrical circuits with at least one discrete electrical circuit, electrical circuits with at least one integrated circuit, electrical circuits with at least one application-specific integrated circuit, electrical circuits forming a general-purpose computing device configured by a computer program (e.g., a general-purpose computer configured by a computer program that at least partially realizes processes and/or devices described in this document, or a microprocessor configured by a computer program that at least partially realizes processes and/or devices described herein), electrical circuits forming a memory device (e.g., forms of random access memory), and/or electrical circuits forming a communications device (e.g. , a modem, communication switch or optical-electrical equipment). Those skilled in the art will recognize that the subject matter described herein can be implemented in an analog or digital form or some combination thereof.

[106] Those skilled in the art will recognize that it is common in the art to describe devices and/or processes in the form set forth herein and subsequently to use engineering practices to integrate such described devices and/or processes into data processing systems. That is, at least a portion of the devices and/or processes described herein can be integrated into a data processing system through a reasonable amount of experimentation. Those skilled in the art will recognize that a typical data processing system generally includes one or more of a system unit housing, a video display device, a memory, such as volatile and non-volatile memory, processors, such as microprocessors and computer processors. digital signal, computational entities such as operating systems, drivers, graphical user interfaces and application programs, one or more interaction devices such as a touchpad or display, and/or control systems including feedback loops and control motors ( e.g. feedback for position and/or speed detection; control motors for moving and/or adjusting components and/or quantities). A typical data processing system can be implemented using any suitable commercially available components, such as those typically found in computing/data communications and/or computing/network communications systems.

[107] Although particular aspects of the present subject matter described herein have been shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that, based on the teachings contained herein, changes and modifications may be made without departing from the subject matter described herein and its most broad, and therefore the appended claims shall encompass within their scope all changes and modifications which are within the true spirit and scope of the subject matter herein described. Furthermore, it is to be understood that the invention is defined by the appended claims.

Claims (15)

1) “METHOD”, characterized by comprising: - forming an upper dental appliance chassis (120) including at least two upper appliance button projections (150) and an elongated member (132) projecting from the upper dental appliance chassis; - forming a lower appliance chassis (110) including at least two lower appliance button projections (160), at least two vertically offset bite pads, and a second elongated member (112) projecting from the dental appliance chassis lower (110); - injection molding a first thermoplastic into the upper dental appliance chassis (120) to provide a first reformable layer (140) integrated with the upper dental appliance chassis (120) that exposes at least two upper appliance button projections (150) to form an upper dental tray; and - injection molding a second thermoplastic into the lower dental appliance chassis (110) to provide a second reformable layer (130) integrated with the lower dental appliance chassis (110) that exposes at least two button projections (160) of lower appliance and at least two vertically offset bite pads (170) to form a lower dental tray, wherein the at least two vertically offset bite pads (170) include a sloped gradient from the back to the front. 2) “METHOD”, according to claim 1, characterized by further comprising: - forming a dental appliance (100) including the upper dental appliance chassis (120) and the lower dental appliance chassis (110), wherein at least two lower appliance button projections (160) and at least two upper appliance button projections (150) provide a forward mandibular position when two or more bands are attached to connect the upper dental tray and the lower dental tray. 3) “METHOD”, according to claim 1, characterized in that the chassis of the upper dental appliance (120) and the chassis of the lower dental appliance (110) are injection molded from one or more of an Ethylene Propylene Copolymer and a Polyoxymethylene Copolymer. 4) “METHOD”, according to claim 1, characterized in that the upper dental appliance chassis (120) and the lower dental appliance chassis (110) are injection molded using a thermoplastic olefin, thermoplastic polyolefin or olefin thermoplastic elastomer. 5) “METHOD”, according to claim 1, characterized in that the chassis of the upper dental appliance (120) and the chassis of the lower dental appliance (110) are injection molded using polyethylene terephthalate. 6) “METHOD”, according to claim 1, characterized in that the chassis of the upper dental appliance (120) and the chassis of the lower dental appliance (110) are formed by three-dimensional (3D) printing of one or more of a thermosetting cross-linked polymer lightweight polymerizable liquid, a polyurethane, a methacrylate and a copolymer. 7) “METHOD”, according to claim 1, characterized in that the upper dental appliance chassis (120) and the lower dental appliance chassis (110) are formed by three-dimensional (3D) printing of a polymerizable resin composition of a monomer of urethane dimethacrylate (UDMA), an acidic monomer and one or more hydrophobic monomers. 8) “METHOD”, according to claim 1, characterized in that the first thermoplastic (140) and the second thermoplastic are composed of one or more of one ε-caprolactone, caprolactam and one or more polycaprolactone polymers. 9) “METHOD”, according to claim 1, characterized in that the first thermoplastic and the second thermoplastic are constituted by one or more of a caprolactone or polycaprolactone polymeric material overmolded on the chassis of the upper dental appliance and on the chassis of the lower dental appliance. 10) “METHOD” according to claim 1, characterized in that at least two vertically displaced bite pads (170) are configured to be replaced by alternative vertically displaced bite pads of one or more heights. 11) “MANDIBULAR ADVANCEMENT DENTAL APPLIANCE”, characterized by comprising: - a two-layer upper tray including; - an upper dental appliance chassis layer (120) including at least two upper dental appliance button projections (150) (120) and a first elongated member (112) protruding from the upper dental appliance chassis (120); and a first injection of reformable thermoplastic layer (140) overmolded onto a portion of the upper dental appliance chassis layer (120) formed by one or more of one ε-caprolactone, caprolactam and one or more polycaprolactone polymers integrated with the chassis of upper dental appliance (120) through one or more cavities in the surface of the upper dental appliance chassis, the first reformable thermoplastic layer configured to expose at least two upper appliance button projections; - a two-tier bottom tray including; - a lower appliance chassis layer (110) including at least two lower appliance button projections (160) and at least two vertically offset jaws and a second elongated member (132) projecting from the lower appliance chassis. lower dental appliance (110); and - a second injection of reformable thermoplastic layer (130) overmolded onto the lower dental appliance chassis layer (110) formed by one or more of one ε-caprolactone, caprolactam and one or more polycaprolactone polymers integrated with the appliance chassis lower dental appliance through one or more cavities in the surface of the lower dental appliance chassis (110), the second reformable thermoplastic layer (130) configured to expose at least two lower appliance button projections (160) and at least two bite pads (170) of vertical displacement. 12) “MANDIBULAR ADVANCEMENT DENTAL APPLIANCE”, according to claim 11, characterized by further comprising: - a pair of bands (190) adapted to couple the lower two-layer tray with the upper two-layer tray to provide mandibular advancement. 13) “MANDIBULAR ADVANCEMENT DENTAL APPLIANCE” according to claim 11, characterized in that the first elongated member (112) and the second elongated member (132) include marks (134) for measuring forward mandibular adjustment when used by a patient. 14) “MANDIBULAR ADVANCEMENT DENTAL APPLIANCE” according to claim 11, characterized in that the first elongated member (112) and/or the second elongated member (132) include a standard marking of 21 millimeters and at least one of the first elongated member ( 112) and the second elongated member (132) include markings (134) that identify an offset corresponding to a length for the pair of bands (190). 15) “MANDIBULAR ADVANCEMENT DENTAL APPLIANCE”, according to claim 11, characterized in that two vertically displacing bite pads (170) are formed with an inclined gradient from the back to the front.