GB2465605A - Tooth eruption chart - Google Patents

Abstract

A diagrammatic dental educational aid shows an image of all of the teeth present in relation to an average age selected. The diagrammatic representation of eruption of teeth is presented in chronological order and is labelled in relation to average age at which each tooth eruption is expected to occur. The representations of erupting teeth are printed onto two flexible sheets Y and moved in relation to a viewing windows F representing upper and lower jaws. The age of the person is framed at any one time through two cut out windows G. The printed sheets Y representing the eruption of upper and lower teeth are separate but are moved simultaneously by scrolling them onto a spindle J by hand. Rotating a second spindle D to which the other ends of both sheets are attached reverses this movement. The whole of the deciduous and permanent tooth eruption sequence can be also be viewed as a continuous moving image or each stage of eruption of teeth can be viewed as a static image labelled with the age at which this is likely to occur and showing all of the other teeth likely to be present at the time.

Description

Dental educational visual aid model.

This invention relates a simple educational model of a mouth, which shows the eruption sequence of teeth in a visual format with reference to the average age at which each tooth eruption is likely to occur.

Dentists and orthodontists are often given the difficult task of explaining the tooth eruption sequence to children and their parents, which can be awkward, time consuming and also difficult for the recipient of the information to remember.

Children are fascinated by their first teeth growing, falling out and new adult teeth erupting and growing. They could enjoy watching the complete sequence of all of the teeth erupting, by carrying out a simple manual movement themselves. The model shows development of the teeth from no teeth at birth, through eruption, growth and exfoliation of all of the deciduous teeth and then eruption and growth of all of the permanent teeth into a broad Cheshire cat smile. Children would enjoy selecting their age from box in which ages are displayed and comparing their own mouth with the mouth which is presented on the visual aid model, perhaps with a plastic mirror attached to the fascia of the model to make comparison easier.

The dental visual aid model could also be used in education establishments, where large versions could be used by teachers, and small versionsAstudents.

A visual and numerical dental educational aid for adults and children with a diagrammatic representation of eruption of teeth presented in chronological order labelled in relation to average age at which this is expected to occur, which is printed onto flexible material and moved in relation to a viewing window like a film in a movie camera. The films'of upper and lower teeth are separate but are mOved simultaneously by scrolling them onto a spindle by hand. Rotating a second spindle to which the other end of both films is attached reverses this movement. The dental educational aid could be visually attractive, clear, easy to use, simple and cheap to make, light weight, robust, educational and fun for both adults and children.

Figure 1 shows printed pattern of upper teeth erupting in sequence on a film, to be viewed as snapshot images1each film is scrolled past a rectangular cut out viewing window on the outer fascia representing upper or lower jaw, creating an evolving Cheshire cat grin as a manual spindle is rotated.

Figure 2 shows a cross section of a box type embodiment.

Figure 3 shows a cross section of a box type embodiment plus a 3-dimensional view of the box with cutout viewing rectangles.

Figure 4 shows a front view of the box type embodiment with cut out rectangles representing upper and lower jaws, showing teeth present at age 6 and half years.

Figure 5 shows the same view as figure 3 except age II and a half is represented.

Figure 6 shows slim profile embodiment where two rotating spindles and the two fixed ovoid struts are in the same plane.

Figure 7 shows the same embodiment as figure 6 with a view of the printed film with white stripes denoting teeth at various stages of growth and eruption.

Figure 8 shows front fascia view of slim profile embodiment as in figure 7 at age 7 and a half years showing teeth present, on average, at this age.

Figure 9 shows box type embodiment in cross section and showing diagrammatic representation of 3-d appearance, showing two cut out viewing rectangles. Also films are depicted in different shading to make the diagram clearer.

Key to figures 1 to 9 A: outer casing.

C: smooth sided lozenge shaped supporting struts for flexible film.

D: cylindrical spindle onto which film is un-wound as teeth are depicted as erupting and wound up as movement is reversed..

X: flexible film with patterns of erupting upper teeth printed on it, flowing smoothly over strut C and wound off spindle D onto spindle J. Y: depicted in thicker profile in some figures, for clarity only. Flexible film with patterns of erupting lower teeth printed on it, flowing smoothly over strut C and J: by turning spindle J clockwise, films are wound up onto J, and un-wound from spindle D. Lower teeth printed on film Y move upwards as they erupt and upper teeth printed on film X move downwards as they do in the human mouth giving a realistic impression of natural teeth growth.

F: cut out windows in fascia A, framing snap shot images of erupting and exfoliating teeth.

H: fascia separating upper and lower teeth, coloured black, to blend in with the black background on the film, and with a horizontal profile of small peaks and troughs forming the biting surface profile of the teeth.

Figure 1: shows the film depicting upper teeth X, and lower teeth Y, printed onto thin flexible plastic or paper. The idea is that these films are both fixed at either end to a spindle. To start, the films are scrolled onto one of the spindles D, as in figure 2, and are unravelled to slide past viewing windows F, and scrolled up simultaneously on to the other spindle J, by turning this spindle by hand clockwise. Film X, is viewed through a long narrow cut out rectangle representing the upper jaw and the teeth are seen growing downwards as they naturally do. Simultaneously the lower teeth are viewed through another cut out rectangle representing the lower jaw and here the teeth are seen moving on the film and growing upwards as they naturally do. This diagram represents the patterned part of the strip only, there would need to be a little more length of strip at each end to attach to each spindle and allow for film to reach to the display windows F. The patterns show the average dates of eruption of milk teeth and adult teeth, average date that milk teeth fall out in a pictorial representation.

Upper and lower teeth erupt at different times and in different sequence. Within the upper jaw teeth are arranged in pairs with a member of each pair represented on left and right sides of the jaw; within the lower jaw teeth are also arranged in pairs with a representative of each pair on left and right sides. These pairs of teeth within each of the upper and lower jaws usually erupt and exfoliate at roughly the same time but upper and lower pairs erupt at differing times. L represents the teeth on the left side and R the teeth on the right side. There are usually 20 milk teeth in the upper and 20 milk teeth in the lower jaw. There are usually 16 adult teeth in each jaw. In the vertical dimension the strip is divided into 18 equidistant sections each section represents the average age at which a pair of teeth erupt. The first teeth to erupt are the pair of lower first incisor milk teeth which erupt at 8 months. The teeth are represented as a narrow white stripe in the first section of the film depicting teeth in the lower jaw. (This is designed to be viewed through the long cut out rectangle representing lower jaw on the front fascia F.)As this section is viewed, one can see just two little rectangles representing these first incisor milk teeth and the rest of the film is printed in black as no other teeth have erupted yet. Also the date at which this occurs is shown in the adjacent window G, as 8 months. Progressing to the next of the 18 equidistant sections, labelled 10 months in the adjacent window, here there is no change.The lower milk teeth first incisors are marked as a white line on the film and thus show as a white rectangle in the rectangular window, but no other teeth are shown as erupting. This is however the age at which upper second milk teeth erupt and as both films are viewed together we need to show teeth present in upper and lower jaws simultaneously. This is where the fun begins because the patterns are different for upper and lower jaws. So the milk teeth are printed onto the film as a continuous narrow stripe until you reach the age at which they are exfoliated, when the line abruptly stops. Then within this same section a wider line begins ind this of course represents the adult tooth erupting. The result being a'Cheshire cat smile evolving continuously as spindle J is rotated clockwise winding each of these films off a second spindle D.When the spindle J, is rotated without stopping a moving image is created of milk teeth erupting, falling out and permanent teeth erupting.At any point in the sequence the age at which this pattern of teeth eruption/exfoliation is likely to occur can be read in a separate box G, adjacent to the captured image. This column should have a figure for boys and a figure for girls, or alternatively a separate chart is made for each sex. Z represents a milk tooth stripe. W represents an adult tooth stripe. A more detailed version of these films could be made for dentists and dental students with teeth representations at smaller age intervals. Versions could be made specific for males and females, for each different ethnic group, and also specific for nationalities as genetic variation affects eruption patterns.

Figure 2 represents a cross section through a box type embodiment. As films slide past the windows F, in the outer box A, they display snap shot images of erupting and exfoliating teeth along with average dates at which this occurs.

Figure 3 represents cross-section through box type embodiment as in figure 2 but with 3-D image extension shown. The background of the film is black and profile of the teeth picked out by fascia H is also black and thus would only be visible when superimposed over a white tooth stripe. Here the age is 8 months as marked in window G, and lower first deciduous incisors are erupting Z. Figure 4, Shows the front fascia, with upper and lower jaw cut out window displays showing Cheshire cat smile developing as teeth erupt, on rotation, by hand, of spindle J. Display shows teeth at age 6 and a half years as shown in box G. Z, is a deciduous tooth and W, is a permanent tooth.

Figure 5 this figure displays teeth at age 11 and a half years as shown in display boxes G. Figure 6 shows an alternative embodiment with a slimmer profile.

Figure 7 shows A 3 -D impression with outer fascia removed,X is striped along its edge to differentiate it from Y. Figure 8 shows the profile of the slimmer embodiment; here a mirror could be placed at P. so that the user could compare his or her teeth with the image shown in the windows F. Figure 9 shows another 3-D cut out image with film X, striped for differentiation from film Y, spotted.