| abstract |
Dental appliances formed using this method provide projections of the appliance itself which provide the necessary gripping forces rather than extraneous wires or other parts. The projections are formed by cutting grooves in casts of the teeth arches which will result in a projection, which will bear against the teeth, when the cast surface is duplicated in plastic. A first embodiment forms upper and lower plastic components, each having projections from the casts using the lost wax technique. These components are joined together in a predetermined relationship using a wax bite registration taken while the patient held his jaw in the predetermined relationship, and a dental articulator. A second method forms the plastic components directly over the casts. In this method the components are joined together, while mounted over the patient's arches, with the patient holding his jaw in the predetermined relationship. Both methods can be used to produce a single component with no joining of components then being required. |