IMPROVEMENTS IN ARTIFICIAL TEETH
Year: 1886

page_text: I, HENRY CARNEY REGISTER, of the City of Philadelphia, in the County of
Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, United States of America, Dentist, do hereby
declare the nature of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ARTIFICIAL TEETH"
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to the art of dentistry, and especially to that branch of
dental practice which is known as prosthetic dentistry and is concerned with the
repairing or replacing of natural teeth by means of artificial teeth.
In Letters Patent of the United States No. 251,460, granted December 27th 1881,
upon my application, there is described, as a new article of manufacture, an artificial
tooth or crown which is transversely grooved or channeled across its upper portion.
My present invention is preferably employed in connection with artificial crowns of
the above construction, and has for its object the formation of an artificial tooth of
a character hereinafter described and claimed, which can be applied either to a plate
or artificial gum, or to a natural root.
Generally stated, my invention consists in an artificial tooth having an internal
cavity or matrix in its body which cavity or matrix opens only at the top of the
tooth or technically speaking the neck, opposite the biting surface, is invisible from
any side thereof, is adapted to contain cement or kindred retaining substance, and
is provided with one or more pins, wires, staples, or kindred devices, fastened into
or otherwise secured to the substance of the tooth itself and projecting as to a
portion of their extent into the cavity proper, the office of which devices is to form
projections retaining contrivances or additional surfaces about which the cementing
material may adhere and firmly set, with the result of securing the tooth itself
more strongly to said cementing material. The cavity may be of any desired shape
or dimensions, but is preferably a dovetailed matrix or mould, that is to say a
matrix larger interiorly than at its throat or top opening, to the end that the
cementing material may more fixedly hold within the tooth, and said cavity is
preferably formed at the time when the tooth itself is formed.
The pins, wires, staples, or retaining devices as I herein term them, are made of
platinum and imbedded in the tooth at the time of the making of the latter, being
burnt into its vitreous substance by a well known method in this art. The inven-
tion is capable of employment in connection with teeth of any shape, made in single
teeth or in sections, and with or without artificial gum attached,

page_text: In the accompanying drawings I have represented in central section forms of
artificial teeth embodying my invention, in which A represents the body of the
tooth, B the cavity, C the fastening devices, and E the plate. It is not necessary
to show any special means of securing the teeth in place, as these means, when
other than as represented in Figure 4, are well understood by those familiar with
this class of prosthetic dentistry. While my invention is, as stated, preferably
practiced in connection with artificial teeth transversely grooved or channeled across
the upper portion, it is not necessarily restricted in application to teeth of such
description, but can be employed in connection with artificial teeth the top portions
of which are of any desired shape.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare what
I claim is
As a new article of manufacture, an artificial tooth crown, the body of which is
formed with a cavity opening at the top of the crown (known as the neck portion
of the tooth) and into the substance of which crown are burnt portions of platinum
pins, hooks, staples, or kindred retaining devices, the remaining portions of which
project into said cavity, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
Dated this fifteenth day of December 1885