Patent Publication Number: US-2023137552-A1

Title: Dental bonded veneer identification device

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of 63/028,603 filed on May 22, 2020. Which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present disclosure relates generally to dental veneers and more particularly to a dental veneer providing identification information. 
     BACKGROUND 
     In the US in 2019, there were over 600,000 missing persons. On average there are between 80,000 and 90,000 missing people in the US at any given time, with many of these people never found. This silent disaster disproportionally affects individuals under 21 and people with Alzheimer&#39;s or dementia. 
     An improved method of identifying individuals and recovery measures is needed to help combat this problem. 
     SUMMARY 
     A dental veneer is provided herein for supplying identification information and medical alerts. The dental veneer is affixed to a tooth surface and provides identification information wirelessly. 
     While a number of features are described herein with respect to embodiments of the invention; features described with respect to a given embodiment also may be employed in connection with other embodiments. The following description and the annexed drawings set forth certain illustrative embodiments of the invention. These embodiments are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed. Other objects, advantages, and novel features according to aspects of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The annexed drawings, which are not necessarily to scale, show various aspects of the invention in which similar reference numerals are used to indicate the same or similar parts in the various views. 
         FIG.  1    is a schematic diagram of an exemplary dental veneer. 
         FIG.  2    is a schematic diagram of an exemplary dental veneer system including the dental veneer of  FIG.  1   . 
         FIG.  3    is a schematic diagram of an exemplary dental veneer including a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag. 
         FIG.  4    is a schematic diagram of an exemplary dental veneer including a power source. 
         FIG.  5    shows a schematic diagram of a dental veneer adhered to a side of a tooth. 
         FIG.  6    shows a schematic diagram of a dental veneer embodied as an artificial tooth. 
         FIG.  7    shows a schematic diagram of a dental veneer embodied as a fixture. 
         FIG.  8    depicts an embodiment of a security system including the dental veneer and an entrance observation device. 
         FIG.  9    depicts an embodiment of the security system including a monitoring device. 
         FIG.  10    depicts an embodiment of a monitoring system including the dental veneer and an electronic device. 
         FIG.  11    depicts an embodiment of a dental veneer including a charger. 
     
    
    
     The present invention is described below in detail with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, each element with a reference number is similar to other elements with the same reference number independent of any letter designation following the reference number. In the text, a reference number with a specific letter designation following the reference number refers to the specific element with the number and letter designation and a reference number without a specific letter designation refers to all elements with the same reference number independent of any letter designation following the reference number in the drawings. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     According to a general embodiment, a dental veneer is provided for wirelessly providing identification information. 
     Turning to  FIG.  1   , a dental veneer  10  for placing in the oral cavity and for supplying identifying information is shown. The dental veneer  10  includes circuitry  12 , a non-transitory computer readable medium (memory)  14 , and a fastener  16 . The circuitry  12  includes an antenna  17  for receiving and/or transmitting wireless signals. The memory  14  is configured to store the identifying information and is communicatively coupled to the circuitry  12 , such that information  18  received by the circuitry  12  may be stored in the memory  14  and such that information  18  stored in the memory  14  may be wirelessly transmitted by the circuitry  12 . The fastener  16  is configured to maintain a position of the circuitry  12  and the memory  14  within the oral cavity. 
     Turning to  FIG.  2   , a dental veneer system  20  is shown. The dental veneer system  20  includes the dental veneer  10  and an electronic device  22 . The electronic device  22  includes a communication interface  24  for communicating wirelessly with the circuitry  12  of the dental veneer  10 . 
     The circuitry  12  may take the form of any hardware capable of processing and providing digital information. In one embodiment, the memory  14  stores the identification information  18  and the antenna  17  receives both a request for the identification information  35  and electrical energy  36 . The circuitry  12  may cause the antenna  17  to use the received electrical energy to transmit the identification information  18  stored in the memory  14 . For example, in the embodiment depicted in  FIG.  3   , the circuitry  12  includes a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag. In this embodiment, the circuitry  12  includes a radio transponder  30 , a radio receiver  32 , and a transmitter  34 . The circuitry  12  may receive the energy for writing the identification information  18  into the memory  14  and/or wirelessly communicating with the electronic device  22  from interrogation waves generated by the electronic device  22 . 
     The antenna  17  may receive both a request for the identification information  35  and electrical energy  36 . In this embodiment, the circuitry  12  causes the identification information  18  to be stored in the memory  14  by using the received electrical energy  36  to write the identification information to the memory  14 . 
     The antenna  17  may be any suitable structure for at least one of receiving identification information  18 , requests for identification information  35 , or electrical energy  36 . 
     In one embodiment, the electronic device  22  is used to store identification information  18  in the memory  14  of the dental veneer  10 . For example, the dental veneer  10  may be received by a user before veneration with no identification information  18  stored in the memory  14 . In this state, when the circuitry  12  communicates with the electronic device  22 , the circuitry  12  may request the identification information  18 . Upon receiving the identification information  18 , the circuitry  12  may store the identification information  18  in the memory  14  in a permanent form. As described above, the circuitry  12  may cause the identification information  18  to be stored in the memory  14  by using the received electrical energy  36  to write the identification information  18  to the memory  14 . For example, the identification information  18  may be stored in the memory  14  in a read only form. In this example, the identification information  18  may be prevented from being changed by one or more of the circuitry  12  and/or the memory  14 . 
     The identification information  18  may include any desired information. For example, the identification information  18  may include a name, social security number, student identification (ID) number, medical conditions, allergies, security clearance, etc. The identification information  18  may be encrypted when transmitted and/or when stored in the memory  14 . 
     After identification information  18  has been stored in the memory  14 , the circuitry  12  may be interrogated to wirelessly provide the identification information  18 . For example, upon receiving an electromagnetic interrogation pulse  40  from the electronic device  22 , the circuitry  12  may transmit the identification information  18  back to the electronic device  22 . 
     In an embodiment where the circuitry  12  includes an RFID tag, the circuitry  12  may take the form a passive RFID tag as described above or alternatively as an active RFID tag as shown in  FIG.  4   . For example, the dental veneer  10  may additionally include a power source  50  (such as a battery) configured to store electrical energy. The power source  50  may provide the stored electrical energy to at least one of the circuitry  12 , antenna  17 , or memory  14 . 
     The electrical energy  52  may be wirelessly provided by the electronic device  22  or another wireless power source  54 . For example, the wireless power source  54  may generate an inductive or magnetic field for passing the electrical energy  52  to the power source  50 . The dental veneer  10  may include a receiving coil  57  for receiving the electrical energy  52  from the inductive or magnetic field. 
     The wireless power source  54  may be a wireless charger located within a pillow or within a pillowcase. When a user sleeps on the pillow, the pillow may provide electrical energy  52  to the dental veneer  10 . In another embodiment, the wireless power source  54  may be a mouth guard including a battery. The mouth guard may be configured to provide wireless power to the dental veneer or via contacts located within the mouth guard and the dental veneer  10 . In another embodiment, the dental veneer  10  may be removable (e.g., dentures) and the dental veneer  10  may be removed from the mouth for charging (e.g., plugging the data item  10  into an electrical outlet via a charging cable). 
     In another embodiment, the dental veneer  10  may include a charger  56  configured to provide the electrical energy  52  to the power source  50 . The charger  56  may be any suitable device for generating electrical energy  52 . For example, charger  56  may be a piezoelectric charging device. The piezoelectric charging device may use chewing and similar movements to generate the electrical energy for recharging the power source  50 . 
     In the embodiment shown in  FIG.  5   , the dental veneer  10  additionally includes a housing  52 . The housing  52  may take the form of a tooth or have a contour configured to conform to a portion of a tooth. The housing  52  may receive the circuitry  12 , the antenna  17 , and the memory  14 . The fastener  16  may maintain the position of the circuitry  12  in the oral cavity by binding the housing to at least one of the tooth or an alveolar bone. In the depicted embodiment, the housing  52  is a flat flexible material configured to conform to a surface that the housing  52  is adhered to. In this embodiment, the housing  52  is molded to a surface  60  of a tooth  62  by the housing  52  being pressed against the surface  60  and the position relative to the tooth surface  60  is maintained using the fastener  16 . Alternatively, in another embodiment, the housing  52  may be made from a rigid material that has a contour matching the surface  60  of the tooth  62 . 
     In the embodiment shown in  FIG.  6   , the housing  52  has the same size and shape as an artificial tooth. In the embodiment shown in  FIG.  7   , the housing  52  has the same size and shape a as dental filling (e.g., a filling used to treat a cavity). In both of these embodiments, the circuitry  12 , memory  14 , and power source  50  may be stored within the housing  52 . The fastener  16  may be used to maintain a position of the housing  52  within the mouth. The fastener  16  may be any device or object capable of attaching the housing to an object, such that the dental veneer  10  is located within the oral cavity. For example, the fastener  16  may be an adhesive. In one embodiment, the fastener  16  is a dental cement used to attach the housing to a tooth or a bone (such as the alveolar bone). 
     The dental veneer  10  may be installed by a dentist or may be installed at home. For example, a customer may receive a dental veneer  10  without any identification information  18  stored in the memory  14  or the dental veneer  18  may be received with the customer&#39;s identification information  18  already stored in the memory  14 . When the dental veneer  18  is received without any stored identification information  18 , the customer may use an electronic device (e.g., a smartphone) to provide the identification information  18  to the circuitry  12  for storing in memory  14  as described above. The customer may fix the dental veneer  10  in place using a supplied fastener  16 . For example, the customer may use a swab to apply adhesive  16  to a surface of a molar (e.g., a surface adjacent the buccal tissues) and may then stick the housing  52  (including the circuitry  12  and memory  14 ) to the fastener  16 . 
     The housing  52  may be made of any suitable material for encapsulating the circuitry  12  and memory  14  from the oral cavity. For example, the housing  52  may be made from one or more of gold, amalgam, dental composites, glass ionomer cement, porcelain, ceramic or composite acrylic, etc. 
     As described above, the fastener  16  may comprise any suitable material for adhering the dental veneer  10  to a tooth  62 . For example, the fastener  16  may be a cyanoacrylate adhesive, dental cement, etc. 
     In the embodiment shown in  FIG.  9   , a security system  100  for monitoring a patient&#39;s location is shown. The security system  100  includes the dental veneer  100  and a monitoring device  102 . In a periodic broadcast mode, the circuitry  12  may periodically broadcast at a broadcast frequency at least one of the identification information or the location information. The monitoring device  102  may include a wireless receiver  104  and a controller  106 . The wireless receiver  104  detects the periodic broadcast of the identification information. When the periodic broadcast has not been detected by the wireless receiver for an alarm time threshold, the controller  106  issues a notification. The circuitry  12  of the dental veneer  10  may have a periodic broadcast mode. 
     For example, when the dental veneer  10  is used with an Alzheimer&#39;s patient, the circuitry  12  may be configured to transmit identification information at a given frequency (e.g., every five minutes, every fifteen minutes, etc.). Using receiving antennas located within a structure (e.g., a nursing home, residential house, etc.) it may be determined whether the patient having the dental veneer  10  is within the structure. For example, if the receiving antennas do not receive identification information from the dental veneer  10  within a time threshold (e.g., 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 1 hour, etc.), then a signal warning may be sent indicating that the patient is no longer located within the structure. Similarly, an estimated location of the patient within the structure may be determined based on which receiving antenna received the identification information from the dental veneer  10 . For example, if the dental veneer has a range of 10 feet and identification information is received by two antennas, then it can be determined that the patient is located within an overlap between two circles having a radius of 10 feet and centered around both antennas. 
     The monitoring device  102  may be any suitable device for receiving the identification information and sending a notification. For example, the notification may be a warning sent via the internet that the identification information has not been detected within the alarm time threshold (e.g., 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, etc.). 
     In one embodiment including a power source  50 , the circuitry  12  may be configured to listen for an interrogation signal. Upon receiving the interrogation signal, the circuitry  12  may transmit the identification information. For example, a security system may include an antenna near each secured doorway for transmitting the interrogation signal and for receiving the identification information. When a user having the dental veneer  10  approaches a secured doorway, the interrogation signal will be received by the dental veneer  10  and the dental veneer  10  will transmit the identification information  18 . Upon receiving the identification information  18 , the security system may determine whether the user identified by the identification information  18  has access to the secured doorway. If the user has access, then the doorway may be unlocked. 
     In another embodiment including the power source  50 , the dental veneer  10  may also include a geolocating device  55 . The geolocating device  55  may be used to determine a geolocation of the dental veneer. The circuitry  12  may then transmit this determined location (e.g., via the antenna  17 ). Due to power requirements of geolocating devices  55 , the circuitry  12  may be configured to only request a physical location from the geolocating device  55  when the circuitry  12  has not received an externally derived location signal (also referred to as a home signal). For example, a patient&#39;s residence may include antennas for generating the externally derived location signal (indicating that the patient is at home) that is received by the circuitry  12 . If the circuitry  12  does not receive a home signal fora period of time (e.g., 1 hour), then the circuitry  12  may request a geolocation from the geolocating device  55 . Upon receiving the geolocation from the geolocating device  55 , the circuitry  12  may broadcast the determined location (e.g., via an internet modem located within the dental veneer). 
     The geolocating device  55  may be any suitable device for determining a location. For example, the geolocating device  55  may be a Global Positioning System (GPS) chip. 
     In one embodiment, the dental veneer  10  includes a network interface  70  configured to communicate wirelessly with the electronic device  22 . For example, the network interface  24  may communicate via Bluetooth or WIFI with the electronic device  22 . The electronic device  22  may receive location information and/or identification information from the dental veneer  10  (e.g., via a GPS chip of the dental veneer  10 ) or the electronic device  22  may use location information from a source external from the dental veneer  10  (e.g., via a GPS chip of the electronic device). The electronic device  22  may then communicate a location of the dental veneer  10  to a server (e.g., via the internet). In one embodiment, the electronic device  22  may execute an application that controls sending of the location information to the server. 
     In one embodiment, the dental veneer  10  may receive a signal (e.g., from the electronic device  22 ) for activating or deactivating operating modes of the dental veneer  10 . For example, in embodiments including a GPS chip, the dental veneer  10  may deactivate use of the GPS chip (e.g., to reduce electrical power use). 
     In the embodiment shown in  FIG.  8   , a security system  80  for monitoring a patient&#39;s location is shown. The security system includes the dental veneer  10  and an entrance observation device  82 . The entrance observation device  82  includes a wireless interrogator  84  and a receiver  86 . The wireless interrogator  84  outputs a request for the identification information  35  and the receiver  86  receives the transmitted identification information  18 . For example, the entrance observation device  82  may be positioned at an entrance or exit from an area (e.g., a door). The wireless interrogator  84  and receiver  86  may be embodied as any wireless communication device capable of sending a request for the identification information  35  and for receiving the identification information  18 . 
     The entrance observation device  82  may also include a processor  88  and a lock  90 . The processor  88  may disengage the lock  90  when the received identification information  18  matches an approved identity. For example, the processor  88  may receive from a memory (not shown) a list of approved identities. The processor  88  may then compare the received identification information to the list of approved identities. 
     In the embodiment shown in  FIG.  10   , a monitoring system  110  is shown. The monitoring system  110  includes the dental veneer  10  and the electronic device  22 . The electronic device  22  receives from the dental veneer  10  at least one of the identification information  18  or the location information  112 . The electronic device  22  may transmit a notification  114  to a server  116  based on the received at least one identification information  18  or location information  112 . 
     In the embodiment shown in  FIG.  11   , the dental veneer  10  includes a charger  124 . The charger  124  both generates electrical energy and supplies the generated electrical energy to the power source  50 . The charger  124  may be any device capable of generating electrical energy. For example, the charger  124  may include a piezoelectric material  126  configured to generate the electrical energy. 
     The circuitry  12 , processor  88 , and controller  106  may each have various implementations. For example, the circuitry  12 , processor  88 , and controller  106  may each include any suitable device, such as a processor (e.g., CPU), programmable circuit, integrated circuit, memory and I/O circuits, an application specific integrated circuit, microcontroller, complex programmable logic device, other programmable circuits, or the like. The circuitry  12 , processor  88 , and controller  106  may each also include a non-transitory computer readable medium, such as random-access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), or any other suitable medium. Instructions for performing the method described below may be stored in the non-transitory computer readable medium and executed by the circuitry  12 , processor  88 , and controller  106 . The circuitry  12 , processor  88 , and controller  106  may each be communicatively coupled to the computer readable medium and network interface through a system bus, mother board, or using any other suitable structure known in the art. 
     As will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, the computer readable medium (memory)  14  may be, for example, one or more of a buffer, a flash memory, a hard drive, a removable media, a volatile memory, a non-volatile memory, a random-access memory (RAM), or other suitable device. In a typical arrangement, the computer readable medium  14  may include a non-volatile memory for long term data storage and a volatile memory that functions as system memory for the processor  14 . The computer readable medium  14  may exchange data with the circuitry over a data bus. Accompanying control lines and an address bus between the computer readable medium  14  and the circuitry also may be present. The computer readable medium  14  is considered a non-transitory computer readable medium. 
     All ranges and ratio limits disclosed in the specification and claims may be combined in any manner. Unless specifically stated otherwise, references to “a,” “an,” and/or “the” may include one or more than one, and that reference to an item in the singular may also include the item in the plural. 
     Although the invention has been shown and described with respect to a certain embodiment or embodiments, equivalent alterations and modifications will occur to others skilled in the art upon the reading and understanding of this specification and the annexed drawings. In particular regard to the various functions performed by the above described elements (components, assemblies, devices, compositions, etc.), the terms (including a reference to a “means”) used to describe such elements are intended to correspond, unless otherwise indicated, to any element which performs the specified function of the described element (i.e., that is functionally equivalent), even though not structurally equivalent to the disclosed structure which performs the function in the herein illustrated exemplary embodiment or embodiments of the invention. In addition, while a particular feature of the invention may have been described above with respect to only one or more of several illustrated embodiments, such feature may be combined with one or more other features of the other embodiments, as may be desired and advantageous for any given or particular application.