CN113440284A - Demoulding method of shell-shaped dental appliance hot-pressing film forming manufacturing process and tooth model - Google Patents

Abstract

An aspect of the application provides a tooth model for make shell form dental appliance with hot pressing membrane forming process, be formed with weak area on the tooth model, it forms the through-hole after being destroyed for the push rod can pass from this through-hole, in order will the fashioned negative model of pressure membrane pushes away on the tooth model.

Description

Demoulding method of shell-shaped dental appliance hot-pressing film forming manufacturing process and tooth model

Technical Field

The application generally relates to a demolding method and a tooth model of a shell-shaped dental appliance hot-pressing film forming manufacturing process.

Background

Shell-like dental appliances based on polymeric materials (e.g., shell orthodontic appliances and shell retainers) are becoming increasingly popular because of their aesthetic, convenient, and cleaning benefits.

The most common manufacturing process of shell-shaped dental appliances in the industry is a hot-pressing film forming process, and the basic operation is to press a film on a tooth model by applying positive pressure or negative pressure to form a heated high polymer material film, remove the formed negative model from the tooth model after cooling, cut the negative model to remove redundant parts, and obtain the finished shell-shaped dental appliance.

At present, the most common demolding method is still that the worker peels the negative model off the tooth model with the fingers, however, this demolding method is time-consuming and labor-consuming, and often damages to the negative model due to excessive force or unreasonable force manner occur.

A new demolding method is disclosed in Chinese patent invention No. CN105686888B entitled demolding method for bracket-free invisible orthodontic appliance, which is issued on 11, month and 2 in 2018. The method comprises the steps of arranging demoulding holes in pairs on a tooth model, respectively inserting two clamp mouths of a special demoulding hook clamp into the pair of demoulding holes, hooking an appliance diaphragm, and pulling the appliance diaphragm in a direction far away from the tooth model to separate the appliance diaphragm from the tooth model. However, the inventor of the present application finds that, on one hand, the method may cause the corresponding position of the membrane and the small hole to be recessed into the hole during hot press molding, which may affect the correction effect; on the other hand, when demoulding, the clamp mouth is required to be accurately inserted into the demoulding hole, the operation requirement of workers is high, and the efficiency is not high.

In view of the above, there is a need to provide a new demolding solution.

Disclosure of Invention

An aspect of the application provides a tooth model for make shell form dental appliance with hot pressing membrane forming process, be formed with weak area on the tooth model, it forms the through-hole after being destroyed for the push rod can pass from this through-hole, in order will the fashioned negative model of pressure membrane pushes away on the tooth model.

In some embodiments, the weakened area may be formed as a weak link.

In some embodiments, the weakened area may be a detachable portion that detaches from the tooth model after being damaged.

In some embodiments, the disengageable portion can extend inwardly to form the pushrod.

In some embodiments, the tooth model may include two weakened areas on the occlusal surfaces of the posterior tooth areas.

In some embodiments, the weakened area is higher than the peripheral area to compensate for deformation of the weakened area due to lamination pressure.

In some embodiments, the tooth model may be hollow.

In another aspect of the present application, a method for demolding a hot-pressing film forming process of a shell-shaped dental apparatus is provided, which includes: breaking the weak area on the tooth model to form a through hole for allowing the push rod to pass through; and pushing the negative model formed by pressing the film on the tooth model away from the tooth model by using the push rod from the through hole.

In some embodiments, the weakened area may be formed as a weak link.

In some embodiments, the weakened area may be a detachable portion that detaches from the tooth model after being damaged.

In some embodiments, the disengageable portion can extend inwardly to form the pushrod.

In some embodiments, the tooth model may include two regions of weakness, one on each side of the occlusal surface of the posterior tooth zone.

In some embodiments, the weakened area may be higher than the peripheral area to compensate for deformation of the weakened area due to lamination pressure.

In some embodiments, the tooth model may be hollow.

Drawings

The above and other features of the present application will be further explained with reference to the accompanying drawings and detailed description thereof. It is appreciated that these drawings depict only several exemplary embodiments in accordance with the disclosure and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope. The drawings are not necessarily to scale and wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts, unless otherwise specified.

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a tooth model in one embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 1A is a cross-section A-A of the tooth model shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a tooth model in a further embodiment of the present application; and

FIG. 3 is a schematic flow chart of a method for manufacturing a shell-shaped dental appliance by hot-die lamination in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification. The exemplary embodiments mentioned in the description and the drawings are only for illustrative purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of the present application. Those skilled in the art, having benefit of this disclosure, will appreciate that many other embodiments can be devised which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present application. It should be understood that the aspects of the present application, as described and illustrated herein, may be arranged, substituted, combined, separated, and designed in a wide variety of different configurations, all of which are within the scope of the present application.

In order to solve the foregoing problems of the prior art, an aspect of the present application provides a tooth model for fabricating a shell-shaped dental appliance based on a hot-press film forming process and a shell-shaped dental appliance fabricating method using the same.

Referring to fig. 1, a dental model 100 for use in a shell-like dental appliance thermoforming process is schematically illustrated in one embodiment of the present application.

In the hot-pressing film forming process for manufacturing the shell-shaped dental appliance, a positive pressure or a negative pressure is applied to press and form a heated high polymer material film on the tooth model 100 to obtain a negative model, the negative model is taken down from the tooth model 100 after being cooled, and the shell-shaped dental appliance finished product is obtained after operations such as cutting, polishing and the like.

The dental model 100 includes detachable portions 101 and 103, which are respectively positioned on the occlusal surfaces of the posterior dental regions on both sides, and the detachable portions 101 and 103 are detached from the dental model 100 by applying an upward pushing force thereto, and the negative model is pushed away from the dental model 100 by continuing to apply a force thereto, thereby achieving demolding.

Referring to FIG. 1A, a cross-sectional view of the dental model 100 of FIG. 1 at A-A is shown.

In one embodiment, the tooth model 100 may be hollow to save material.

In one embodiment, the detachable portions 101 and 103 are secured to the body of the dental model 100 in a weak connection. In one embodiment, the weak links may be spaced links, i.e., links and gaps alternate with each other, forming a dashed-line like link. In yet another embodiment, the weak link may be a thin link, i.e. the thickness at the link is less than the thickness on both sides.

Since the diaphragm is subjected to a certain pressure during film-molding, the weak link may be deformed under the pressure, thereby causing the detachable portions 101 and 103 to move downward. Without compensation, this would result in the corresponding portion of the shell-like dental instrument being recessed, creating a deviation from the design. In one embodiment, the detachable portions 101 and 103 can be made a predetermined amount above the perimeter so that when the laminate is formed, it will remain flush with the perimeter under pressure, thereby ensuring the accuracy of the formation. In one embodiment, the predetermined amount may be calculated based on the strength of the weak bond and the lamination pressure, for example, 0.05 to 0.3 mm.

In yet another embodiment, the strength of the weak link is sufficiently great that the detachable portions 101 and 103 do not substantially displace or deform during lamination, in which case there is no need to compensate for this.

In one embodiment, the detachable portion 101 extends downwardly (in a direction opposite the occlusal surface) to form a rod 1011, such that the device can apply a force through the rod 1011 to detach the detachable portion 101 from the dental model 100, thereby pushing away the negative model on the dental model 100 and completing demolding.

In another embodiment, the detachable portion 101 may not be provided with a rod, the detachable portion 101 is ejected out of the dental model 100 by a push rod of the apparatus, after the detachable portion 101 is detached from the dental model 100, a through hole for allowing the push rod of the apparatus to pass through is formed on the dental model 100, and the push rod of the apparatus continues to move upwards to push away the negative model on the dental model 100, so as to complete the demolding.

While FIG. 1A only shows the detachable portion 101, it is understood that the detachable portion 103 can be arranged the same as or different from the detachable portion 101.

It will be appreciated that many variations are possible in addition to the embodiment shown in fig. 1 in the light of the present application. For example, the number of detachable portions may be one or more than two. For another example, the detachable portion may be provided in the anterior tooth region in addition to the posterior tooth region. For another example, in addition to the occlusal surface, at least a portion of the boundary of the detachable portion may be located on a side wall (i.e., a tooth surface) of the tooth model. As another example, a single detachable portion may span two or more teeth.

Referring to fig. 2, a tooth model 200 for use in a shell-shaped dental appliance thermoforming process is schematically illustrated in yet another embodiment of the present application.

The dental model 200 is provided with weakened areas 201 and 203 at the posterior dental regions on both sides, respectively, each of which is substantially circular and forms a cross in the middle, wherein the circular border and the cross are both weakly connected and easily broken. After the film pressing molding, the weak areas 201 and 203 can be poked through a push rod to form a through hole allowing the push rod to pass through, and the negative model on the tooth model 200 can be ejected out by the continuous upward movement of the push rod, so that the demolding is completed. In this embodiment, it is not required that the weakened areas 201 and 203 break away from the dental model 200 after being broken, as long as they form holes that allow the push rod to pass through after being broken.

In one embodiment, the top of the push rod used to break through the weakened areas 201 and 203 may be rounded to avoid damage to the negative model.

It will be appreciated in light of the present application that the weakened area may be of any shape and configuration, for example, it may be rectangular, triangular, oval, polygonal, etc., and there may be one or more weakened connections across the weakened area.

It will be appreciated that the detachable portions 101 and 103 are also one type of area of weakness in the light of this application.

In one embodiment, the tooth models 100 and 200 may be 3D printed, for example, photo-cured 3D printed.

Fig. 3 is a schematic flow chart of a method 300 for manufacturing a shell-shaped dental instrument based on a thermoforming process according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

The shell-like dental instrument fabrication method 300 based on the hot-pressing film forming process may be a fully-automated or semi-automated method controlled by a computer.

In 301, the apparatus is controlled to compress the heated polymeric film material over the dental model.

Wherein, the tooth model is provided with a weak area, and after the weak area is damaged, a through hole allowing the push rod to pass through is formed.

In one embodiment, the tooth model may be hollow to save material.

In 303, a control device breaks a weakened area of the tooth model, forms a through hole allowing a push rod to pass through, and pushes the negative model away from the tooth model with the push rod from the through hole.

The computer may acquire position information of a weak area of the tooth model in advance, and control a device (e.g., a robot driven by a motor) to apply pressure to the weak area to break it, thereby pushing the negative model away from the tooth model to complete demolding.

In 305, the device is controlled to cut the negative model to obtain a shell-like dental appliance.

Usually, after obtaining the negative model, it needs to be clipped to remove the redundant parts.

In one embodiment, the demolding method can be implemented manually, since the weak area is easy to identify by human eyes, and demolding can be implemented as long as the weak area is poked through a tool (for example, a push rod) and the negative model is pushed away from the tooth model continuously, the requirement on an operator is low, the demolding efficiency is high, and the negative model is not easy to damage. Furthermore, the demolding method is easy to realize automatic operation, so that the demolding efficiency can be further improved.

While various aspects and embodiments of the disclosure are disclosed herein, other aspects and embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification. The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to be limiting. The scope and spirit of the application are to be determined only by the claims appended hereto.

Likewise, the various diagrams may illustrate an exemplary architecture or other configuration of the disclosed methods and systems that is useful for understanding the features and functionality that may be included in the disclosed methods and systems. The claimed subject matter is not limited to the exemplary architectures or configurations shown, but rather, the desired features can be implemented using a variety of alternative architectures and configurations. In addition, to the extent that flow diagrams, functional descriptions, and method claims do not follow, the order in which the blocks are presented should not be limited to the various embodiments which perform the recited functions in the same order, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

Unless otherwise expressly stated, the terms and phrases used herein, and variations thereof, are to be construed as open-ended as opposed to limiting. In some instances, the presence of an extensible term or phrases such as "one or more," "at least," "but not limited to," or other similar terms should not be construed as intended or required to imply a narrowing in instances where such extensible terms may not be present.

Claims (14)

1. A tooth model for use in making shell-like dental appliances by a hot-press film forming process, wherein a weakened area is formed in the tooth model and is broken to form a through-hole through which a push rod can be passed to push a negative model formed by pressing a film on the tooth model away from the tooth model.

2. The dental model of claim 1, wherein the weakened areas are formed by weak links.

3. The dental model of claim 1, wherein the weakened area is a detachable portion that detaches from the dental model upon failure.

4. The dental model of claim 3, wherein the detachable portion extends inwardly to form the push rod.

5. A dental model as claimed in claim 1, which includes two regions of weakness, one on each side of the occlusal surface of the posterior dental zone.

6. A dental model as in claim 1, wherein the weakened area is higher than the peripheral area to compensate for deformation of the weakened area due to lamination pressure.

7. The dental model of claim 1 which is hollow.

8. A demoulding method of a hot-pressing film forming manufacturing process of a shell-shaped dental instrument comprises the following steps:

breaking the weak area on the tooth model to form a through hole for allowing the push rod to pass through; and

and pushing the negative model formed by pressing the film on the tooth model away from the tooth model by using the push rod from the through hole.

9. The method of demolding, according to claim 8, wherein the weakened area is formed as a weak link.

10. The method of demolding according to claim 8, wherein the weakened area is a detachable portion that is broken away from the dental model.

11. The method of demolding, according to claim 10, wherein said detachable portion extends inwardly to form said pusher.

12. The method of demolding, according to claim 8, wherein the tooth model includes two weakened areas located at occlusal surfaces of the posterior tooth areas on both sides.

13. The demolding method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the weak area is higher than the peripheral area to compensate for deformation of the weak area due to the squeeze film pressure.

14. The method of demolding according to claim 8, wherein said tooth model is hollow.

Images