Abstract:
A removable orthodontic retainer for correction of minor irregularities and to retain the corrected positions of the teeth which includes a labial bow having biasing means that causes the labial bow to be continually active on the anterior teeth.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0001]    The invention relates in general to an orthodontic appliance and, more particularly, to a removable orthodontic retainer or aligner that is employed by a patient after the patient has had orthodontic treatment with fixed appliances. The retainer serves to correct minor incisor irregularities and/or retain the position of orthodontically corrected teeth. More particularly, the invention relates to a preformed appliance that is custom made over a model of the patient&#39;s teeth or a setup. When placed with a patient, it is used to maintain the incisors in an ideal location, so that they can thereafter be permanently set in the jaw of a patient. The appliance will contact some or all of the incisors in order to obtain the position of the incisors that have been obtained through the use of fixed appliances. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    It has been known to provide various types of appliances for correcting minor incisor irregularities and for retaining teeth in corrected position for either the upper or lower anterior teeth subsequent to the treatment of a patient with fixed appliances. Some of those appliances are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,994,068, 4,224,021 and 6,135,767. However, the appliances disclosed in these patents have required considerable repair after use and sometimes readjustment, which reduces the usefulness of the appliances during those times needed to make changes. Moreover, they have not all been esthetically pleasing and, accordingly, there is a need to provide a removable orthodontic retainer or liner that will not be subject to the need for repairs or readjustment and which will be esthetically pleasing to the patient. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    The invention is a new and improved removable orthodontic retainer or aligner that is structurally made to not need adjustments or repairs on the basis that it is continually active on the anterior teeth of a patient to maintain them in proper positions, according to a patient&#39;s mouth, teeth or a setup. The appliance includes a labial bow, which is positioned over the labial surfaces of the anterior teeth and particularly the incisors and anchored at its distal ends to a biasing means which coacts with a guide means and spring to continually apply spring pressure to the labial bow for contacting the labial surfaces of the anterior teeth. 
         [0004]    The biasing means includes a tubular guide means through which the distal ends of the labial bow are received and which guide means are interconnected to a rigid base at the lingual sides of the teeth. The rigid base may be in the form of a palatable plate, or otherwise have suitable sockets engaging the lingual sides of the anterior teeth and at least some of the posterior teeth. The structure for biasing the labial bow includes a spring associated with tubular guides and bottomed at one end against the tubular guides and at the other end against a crimpable stop at the very distal ends of the bow. This structure overcomes the need to provide retightening adjustments of the appliance or other types of adjustments and also inhibits the fracturing of any components. The labial bow is in the form of a multi-stranded wire encased in a suitable plastic material, which may be colored to the color of the teeth and, therefore, be substantially invisible to a person looking at the patient wearing the appliance. Moreover, the crimpable stops at the very distal ends of the labial bow are also colored to blend with the color of the teeth, in order to reduce any noticeable differences in color and, therefore, be esthetically pleasing. The multi-stranded wire in the labial bow may preferably be a braided wire and of a nickel-titanium material. Similarly, the springs at the distal ends of the bow are of a nickel-titanium material, which enhances their life and produces continuous pressure against the labial bow to engage the labial surfaces of the anterior teeth. Cross-sectionally, the bow is substantially square to define a flat surface for employment against the anterior teeth. 
         [0005]    It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide a new and improved orthodontic retainer for not only correcting minor incisor irregularities, but also to maintain the anterior teeth in ideal positions during the use of the appliance. 
         [0006]    A further object of the invention is to provide a removable orthodontic retainer including a labial bow that acts on the labial surfaces of the anterior teeth, and particularly the incisors, and which is anchored at its distal ends and where a spring means is provided to apply tension to the bow so that it is always in engagement with the anterior teeth. 
         [0007]    Another object of the invention is to provide a labial bow that could be used on any other appliance and that would be esthetically pleasing and which does not require reactivation or adjustment during the use of the appliance. 
         [0008]    Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed disclosure taken in conjunction with the accompanying sheets of drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0009]      FIG. 1  is a front elevational view of the appliance mounted on a partially broken away model or setup of a patient&#39;s teeth; 
           [0010]      FIG. 2  is a side elevational view of the appliance shown in  FIG. 1  and illustrating how the appliance is attached to a lingual rigid base; 
           [0011]      FIG. 3  is a bottom plan view of the appliance mounted on a model of the patient&#39;s teeth or a setup to illustrate the parts and their interaction with the teeth; 
           [0012]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the appliance of the invention removed from the model of the patient&#39;s teeth; 
           [0013]      FIG. 5  is a bottom plan view of the appliance shown in  FIGS. 1-4 ; 
           [0014]      FIG. 6  is a side elevational view of the appliance; 
           [0015]      FIG. 7  is a greatly enlarged side elevational view of the distal end of the labial bow and the structure which mounts the distal ends in a guide structure, and showing a double open-ended spring and crimpable stop to apply continuous tension to the labial bow when engaging the anterior teeth; 
           [0016]      FIG. 8  is a greatly enlarged cross-sectional view taken substantially along line  8 - 8  of  FIG. 7 ; 
           [0017]      FIG. 9  is a greatly enlarged cross-sectional view of the crimpable stop and taken substantially along line  9 - 9  of  FIG. 7 ; and 
           [0018]      FIG. 10  is a cross-sectional view of the labial bow and taken substantially along line  10 - 10  of  FIG. 7 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0019]    The removable retainer of the invention is custom formed to fit a particular patient. It is formed over a plastic model of the teeth of a patient or a setup of the teeth, where they are in ideal positions. It is then administered to the patient with instructions as to how it is to be mounted on the teeth and used. While the appliance illustrated in the drawings is for the upper teeth, it can be appreciated that the appliance could be used to work on the lower teeth and have a rigid base at the lingual sides of the teeth to which the labial bow would be mounted. It should also be appreciated that the labial bow of the appliance can be used with other types of appliances and be an effective appliance to be used for orthodontic treatment of a patient. 
         [0020]    The appliance of the invention is generally designated by the numeral  15 , as particularly seen in the drawings and in connection with  FIGS. 4 ,  5  and  6 , where the appliance is removed from the teeth of the model. 
         [0021]    The appliance includes a labial bow  18  received at its distal ends by a guide and spring structure  21  that is in turn connected to a lingual rigid base  25 . 
         [0022]    The labial bow  18  is comprised of a multi-stranded wire  19  encased in a plastic  20 . While the multi-stranded wire  19  may be of any suitable type, it is preferably a braided arch wire that has been previously used as an orthodontic arch wire engaging arch wire slots in brackets mounted on teeth. It will be appreciated that the multi-stranded wire  19 , as illustrated, is not the exact form, but it illustrates multi-stranded wire that is used in connection with the labial bow. The multi-stranded wire  19  is encased in plastic and the cross-sectional shape of the labial bow is essentially square in shape, although it could be appreciated that it could be of other shapes. Preferably, it will have at least one surface that is flat which can bear against the labial surfaces of the incisors. The plastic used to encase the multi-stranded wire will be of a suitable flexible type usable in the mouth of patients. Moreover, the plastic may be suitably colored to match the general color of a patient&#39;s teeth, so that is esthetically pleasing and substantially invisible to someone looking at it. 
         [0023]    The distal ends of the labial bow  18  are slidably received in the tubular guides  22  and  23  of the mounting in tensioning device  21 , as seen in  FIGS. 7 ,  8  and  9 . The labial bow is tensioned by a double open-ended spring  28  bottomed at one end against the distal tubular guide  23  and at the other end against a crimpable stop  30  that is crimped onto the very ends of the labial bow. Accordingly, the labial bow is continually tensioned by a spring system to apply pressure against the labial forces of the anterior teeth. 
         [0024]    The spring  28  preferably includes a closed end  32  bottoming against the distal tubular guide  23  and enclosed end  33  bottoming against the mesial end of the crimpable stop  30  and an open section  34 . It will be appreciated that the spring  28  will be sized and tensioned such as to provide the desired tension to the distal ends of the labial bow  18  when the appliance is mounted onto the teeth of a patient. 
         [0025]    The mounting and tensioning devices at the distal ends of the labial bow are connected to the lingual rigid base  37 . This base is in the form a palate to engage the upper palate of a patient&#39;s mouth and would be custom made to fit against the lingual sides of the anterior and posterior teeth of a patient. If the retainer appliance is made for the lower jaw of a person, it would be appreciated that it would merely have a U-shaped lingual rigid base that would bear up against the lingual sides of the teeth of the patient. The rigid base  25  may be made out of any suitable orthodontic acrylic material and the material may be colored or opaque, such as a clear or transparent or colored polymer, which is castable, and, therefore, shaped to fit in the mouth of a person. 
         [0026]    The rigid base  25  includes a lingual edge  37  that is shaped to bear against the lingual sides of the incisor teeth. It also includes a plurality of depressions or sockets  39  that fit against the cuspids and molars, as seen particularly in  FIGS. 3 and 5 . Thus, the lingual edge of the palatal rigid base is custom formed to fit against the patient&#39;s lingual surfaces of the teeth and provide a base against which particularly the incisors can move to their ideal position. 
         [0027]    When mounting the retainer on the teeth of a patient, the patient would cause the rigid base to be positioned against the lingual of the teeth and the labial bow to be positioned against the labial surfaces of the incisor teeth, as shown in  FIG. 3 . 
         [0028]    The mounting and tensioning devices  21  are also anchored to the rigid base  25  by connecting wires  41 . Here again, these would be placed within the rigid base at the time of making the rigid base and constructing the retainer. 
         [0029]    Further anchoring pins  45  with ball-shaped ends  46  are provided at the opposite sides of the rigid base and which when mounting the appliance on the teeth come over the crowns and lock into the labial embrasure areas of the first and second molars, as shown in  FIG. 3 . Like connecting wires  41 , the pins  45  have ends molded into the rigid base  25 . 
         [0030]    It should be further appreciated that part of the appliance of the invention which constitutes a labial bow, the mountings for the distal ends of the labial bow, and the spring tensioning means at each end could be placed on any sort of a retainer that would serve to correct minor irregularities in the position of incisors as well as maintaining them in the ideal position. 
         [0031]    While the invention has been described with respect to certain preferred embodiments, as will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, it is to be understood that the invention is capable of numerous changes, modifications and rearrangements which are intended to be covered by the following claims.