Improvements in the Manufacture of Artificial Teeth.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd Nov., 1896-Accepted, 3rd Jan., 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Artificial Teeth.
I, ANTONIO VILLAR, of Valladolid in the Kingdom of Spain, Dentist, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
This invention relates to the manufacture of Artificial teeth.
Among the many infirmities afflicting the human race those of the teeth occupy
a prominent place, owing to the frequency with which they occur as well as to the
pain the patient suffers therefrom.
Numerous means have been tried in all ages to curs these ills, among which the
most radical has always been the extracting of the affected teeth, a violent measure
and one which, although eradicating pain, also destroys a very necessary adjunct to
the preservation of health and moreover prejudicially affects the appearance.
To remedy such evils Dental Prothesis was established with the object of replacing
the lost teeth by artificial ones, employing first of all human teeth, then teeth of
animals and lastly mineral or incorruptible ones, made of porcelain, which cannot be
improved upon as regards the nature of their composition but as regards their shape
and form they may differ from those hitherto known.
The only substances employed for my crown-tooth are porcelain, which is used for
the manufacture of all sorts of artificial teeth, and platinum which is the only material
capable of being embodied with porcelain.
My improved teeth consist of a front and a back face, side faces and a base.
The front face is merely made of porcelain thus precluding any metallic ring being
seen when setting the tooth, which is not the case with other crown-teeth.
The side faces, also consisting of porcelain, serve, together with the inner edge of
the body of the tooth, to allow of the insertion of a stationary platinum sheet or plate
which constitutes the back face and base of the crown-tooth.
The base is hollow or concave and fluted in the inner portion of its front face
with the view of making the tooth lighter and more adhesive when used in vulcanite
working.
The object of my invention is to provide a tooth which when manufactured shall
be ready for use as a plane tooth as a crown-tooth and for the so called bridge-work,
thus avoiding in all cases counter-plating and such other operations as are indispen-
sable for converting a plane tooth into a crown. Now, inasmuch as this attribute of
my new system enables a great deal of time and work to be saved there having been
heretofore no tooth which could be used either with a base plate on vulcanite or as a
crown, and, as the essential and peculiar characteristic of my tooth apart from its
form, consists in the platinum plate which is flanged at its lower end and is fixed to
the body thereof, its purpose being to allow of one tooth being welded to another
without its being submitted to any other process than the manufacturing one,
the result of all the above will be that not only on account of its form but also
because of its many and ready applications, my crown-tooth will prove a useful
novelty.

page_text: showing the palate face:
Figure 9 is a view of the hereinafter described platinum plate detached:
Figure 10 is a view of my complete tooth with the said platinum plate connected
to the body thereof; and,
Figure 11 is a view of the complete tooth with its base downwards and also shewing
the palate face.
According to the invention the teeth are formed of porcelain with their outside
surfaces convex instead of flat as has heretofore been the case and each tooth is
provided with a plate A of platinum or other suitable material having a flange a, the
said plate being suitably secured to the tooth. The inside concave surface of the
tooth forms with the platinum or other plate A a cavity B as clearly seen in the figures,
whereby the tooth can be fitted in position, the said cavity B or hollow base also
serving for the creation of a vacuum to ensure the closer fitting of the tooth.
As shewn the inner concave surface or base of the tooth is grooved at C to cause
the tooth to engage more securely with the caoutchouc or the like to which it is to
be fitted.
D is the lingual i.e. the porcelain tongue or palate face of the tooth.
This new form of teeth has the following advantages:
1. Owing to their shape every sort of work can be done in Logan crowns, bridge
work, suspension bridge work and removable crowns and they are readily applicable
to plates of all kinds of plastic substances, such as caoutchouc and celluloid because
although my teeth lack the fastener or pins of plane teeth this is compensated for
by the greater safety afforded by the hollow base B and flange a; they are also
applicable to metallic plates without requiring any special preparation on the part of
the patient.
2. They can be used as crowns not only on account of the hollowness of the base
but also because of their shape and since a shank may be added their preparation
proves as easy as that of teeth of the Logan type.
3. The work in caoutchouc will be less bulky and stronger than hitherto as by this
form of teeth the resistance only exists in the socket arch and not in the whole
mechanism, as is the case with other types of teeth.
4. Partial work is so simplified that there is no need for making metal moulds for
joining and as the use of base plates can be dispensed with there is no necessity
for making any die.
5. Owing to their simple application as crowns and to the easy way in which these
crowns can be welded to each other, my teeth prove highly useful in the so-called
bridge-work since by merely adjusting and welding the crowns of the manufactured
teeth by their metallic continuous faces, we obtain a bridge as desired and avoid the
innumerable manipulations which are indispensable in other systems not excluding
the Richmond system now so much in vogue.
6. My system has been specially designed for the construction of teeth without a
palate and by its employment this difficult problem is resolved in the greater number
of cases.
7. Teeth made according to my system have a closer resemblance to natural ones
especially on the side facing the tongue or palate. From the combination of the
advantages it follows that the new type of teeth is capable of as general a use as
ordinary teeth, which it is intended to substitute and if to this is added the

page_text: importance of its application as crowns my system should replace all other types of
teeth hitherto employed owing to their easy adaptation to all cases in general.
My crown-tooth has nothing in common with the Brown system neither in the
porcelain portion nor in the platinum ring which is replaced by the platinum plate
shown in figure 9. As regards its applications or uses these differ also entirely from
the Brown tooth, the latter being only a crown to be set on natural fangs or roots
while my crown-tooth may be employed in vulcanite working or in any other system
as herein before stated.
My tooth differs also from the Matteson and Richmond teeth in that these two
systems are made with plane teeth or special teeth for metal which requires such
manipulations as are inherent to counterplating, and the modelling of the metallic
crown, while the tooth of my invention once it is manufactured is already fit for
setting on a root by merely adjusting it which does away with the work indispensable
in the other systems. Further, the Matteson and Richmond patents do not refer to
the manufacture of teeth but to working systems which for the most part can be
dispensed with by the crown-tooth of my invention. Lastly, as regards the Flower
Hollingworth crowns these also have nothing in common with these of my system as
can be easily seen by referring to the drawings.
In short, the teeth of my invention which may be used in india-rubber, celluloid
or metal-plate working differs from all systems heretofore known and has the
advantage over these of being more resistant and more easy to set apart;
consequently my tooth offers the immense advantage of being able to make with
only one model of the tooth all sorts of dentistry work which is not the case with all
other teeth so far known, as every case or special work requires a special tooth.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The improvements in the manufacture of artificial teeth, substantially as
herein before described.
2. Artificial teeth constructed as hereinbefore described and illustrated in the
accompanying drawing.
Dated this 2nd day of November 1800
G. F. REDFERN & Co.
4, South Street, Finsbury, London. Agents for the Applicant.