RETAINER

Abstract

A retainer for straightening and/or for maintaining the front teeth positioning achieved during orthodontic therapy, having at least two connection pieces for fastening the retainer on one tooth in each case and having a connection wire for establishing a connection among the teeth and/or for forming a constraint to restrict the movement capabilities of the connected teeth. In order to be able to prevent compensation reactions by the body, the connection wire is movably mounted in at least one of the connection pieces.

Claims

1. A retainer for maintaining the front teeth positioning achieved during orthodontic therapy, having at least two connection pieces for fastening the retainer on one tooth in each case and having a connection wire for establishing a connection among the teeth and/or for forming a constraint to restrict the movement capabilities of the connected teeth, wherein the connection wire is movably mounted in at least one of the connection pieces, the connection wire being at least partly made of plastic and at least one of the connection pieces being at least partly made of composite.

2. The retainer according to claim 1, wherein the connection wire is rigid in the longitudinal direction and/or has an elasticity modulus of at least 1000 MPa.

3. The retainer according toClaim 1, wherein at least one of the connection pieces at least partially surrounds the connection wire perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the connection wire and/or lies completely on the connection wire along its circumference, by an eyelet provided for mounting the connection wire, such that a relative movement between connection wire and a particular connection piece in the longitudinal direction is allowed and a relative movement perpendicular to the longitudinal direction is permitted only within a specific area.

4. The retainer according to claim 1, wherein a stop is provided at least at one of two ends of the connection wire for the one-sided limitation of the relative movement between the connection piece and the connection wire in the longitudinal direction of the wire.

5. The retainer according to claim 4, wherein at least one of the two ends of the connection wire, the connection piece and the connection wire are permanently connected.

6. The retainer according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the connection pieces is connectable to the tooth surface in an adhesive manner.

7. The retainer according to claim 1, wherein the connection wire is designed to be non-rigid perpendicular to the longitudinal direction.

8. The retainer according to claim 1, wherein the connection wire is entirely made of plastic.

9. The retainer according to claim 1, wherein the connection wire is at least partially made of polyether ether ketone.

10. The retainer according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the connection pieces is entirely made of composite.

11. The retainer of claim 2, wherein the connection wire has an elasticity modulus of at least 3000 MPa.

12. The retainer of claim 3, wherein at least one of the connection pieces completely surrounds the connection wire perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the connection wire.

13. The retainer of claim 3, wherein the relative movement perpendicular to the longitudinal direction is completely blocked.

14. The retainer of claim 4, wherein the stop is made of composite.

15. The retainer of claim 6, wherein the adhesive manner is achieved by an acid etching technique by etching with an acid and subsequent application of an adhesive.

16. The retainer of claim 9, wherein the connection wire is entirely made of polyether ether ketone.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0035] An exemplary embodiment of the present invention is depicted in the drawings and will be more particularly elucidated below with further details and advantages being specified.

[0036] FIG. 1 shows a schematic representation of a retainer according to the present invention that has been attached to a group of teeth; and

[0037] FIG. 2 shows a schematic representation of a tooth with attached connection piece in the palatal region.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0038] FIG. 1 shows a retainer 1 having connection pieces 2, 3, 4, 5. A connection wire 6 is passed through the connection pieces 2 to 5 and movably mounted. At the two ends of the connection wire 6, there are end stops 7, 8 in each case. The connection pieces themselves are attached in the palatal region to teeth a, b, c, d. The wire 6 is a PEEK wire. End stops in the form of beads or swellings 7, 8 are attached at the ends of the wire 6. There are fundamentally two options, specifically allowing the stops 7, 8 to interact with the particular composite material of the corresponding connection piece 2, 5 to form a permanent connection, or else maintaining a mobility of the wire 6, meaning that the tooth can only move up to the stop. Tooth A could, in FIG. 1, for example, move further to the left unless tooth D, in particular, can exert no movement whatsoever to the left.

[0039] When tooth B lies on stop 8 via the connection piece 5, the free movement of tooth A to the left is absolutely restricted. At most, a restricted movement is still possible owing to possible play of the wire 6 as a result of the curvature across the length of the entire retainer system. Teeth B and C can, to a certain extent, move laterally to the left or to the right via the movable mounting of the wire 6 in the connection pieces 3, 4, at least if the adjacent teeth still allow this. Nevertheless, the movement capabilities of teeth A to D are restricted to the extent that the orthodontic measure taken is maintained and the teeth misalignment remains successfully corrected.

[0040] FIG. 2 shows a side view of a tooth, for example, tooth B with a connection piece 3 attached to the palatal side P thereof. The connection piece in turn has an eyelet 9, the cross section of which is designed to be oval. Whether as wire, it is possible to use an oval wire 6 which is mounted in the eyelet 9. The wire can be mounted such that it is mounted in the eyelet 9 with play, for example, has still a movement capability of about 0.2 mm, the movement capability corresponding to the natural movement capabilities of the tooth in the tooth socket, making it still posible for the tooth to achieve its natural movement, despite the attached retainer. Nevertheless, the wire 6 cannot rotate in the eyelet 9, but is instead blocked by its oval shape.

[0041] Depending on whether the connection pieces are arranged in the region of the upper jaw or of the lower jaw, the sizes thereof can be from approximately 2 mm to 5 mm, more particularly from 2.5 mm to 5 mm. In the embodiments according to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the width in the horizontal direction is approximately 2.5 mm in the case of a lower-jaw use and approximately 3.5 mm in the case of an upper-jaw use. The length is about 3.5 mm in the region of the lower jaw and 4 mm in the region of the upper jaw. A possible wire diameter is a diameter of, in particular, 0.5 mm to 1 mm, for example, of 0.54 mm at the shortest cross section and 0.75 mm at the longest cross-sectional side in the case of an oval shape. The stop beads 7, 8 have a diameter of approximately 1 mm.

[0042] Particularly advantageously, a retainer according to the present invention can be used in the region of the front teeth as follows:

[0043] The retainer is used from canine tooth to canine tooth (generally with 6 connection pieces on 6 teeth).

[0044] By introducing a nickel-titanium wire in one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the retainer can also be used in a malocclusion situation, when even smaller misalignments are present. Owing to the restoring force of the nickel-titanium wire, i.e., a kind of memory effect, this achieves a correction of the teeth misalignment.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

[0045] 1 Retainer [0046] 2 Connection piece [0047] 3 Connection piece [0048] 4 Connection piece [0049] 5 Connection piece [0050] 6 PEEK wire [0051] 7 Stop [0052] 8 Stop [0053] 9 Eyelet [0054] A Tooth [0055] B Tooth [0056] C Tooth [0057] D Tooth [0058] P Palatal side