Patent ID: 8444413
Filing Date: 2013-05-21
Classification: A61C,A63B

Abstract:
1. A pre-shaped, non-customized dental tray device suitable for placement over at least a portion of a person's dental arch, the dental tray device comprising: a generally horseshoe-shaped moisture resistant barrier layer configured to substantially correspond to the curvature of a person's dental arch and having sufficient flexibility without heating in boiling water so as to readily conform to a plurality of differently sized dental arches corresponding to different people without customization, the barrier layer having a labial-buccal wall, a lingual wall, and a bottom wall interposed between the labial-buccal wall and the lingual wall, the barrier layer having an anterior region that at least partially covers anterior teeth surfaces when worn and a posterior region that at least partially covers posterior teeth surfaces when worn, the barrier layer being substantially devoid of structures corresponding to the size and shape of a person's unique dentition so that the barrier layer is designed to comfortably fit over a plurality of differently-sized and/or shaped teeth corresponding to different people; the moisture resistant barrier layer comprising one or more structural features that facilitate the ability of the barrier layer to conform to a plurality of differently-sized and/or shaped teeth when worn, the one or more structural features comprising an abrupt reduction in width of the bottom wall at a location corresponding to a transition between the posterior region and the anterior region of the barrier layer to account for a significant difference between the occlusal surface width of posterior teeth as compared to anterior teeth.