Abstract: A human detention appliance or pacifier device or anti-thumb sucking device is made by a method of injection molding whereby a charge of fluoridating material is admixed with the base thermoplatic molding material to form a pre-fluoridated mixture stable within the temperatures necessary to melt the mixture and physically embodies in the molding so that when used, the fluoridating material will leach out of the appliance and become mixed with fluids in the mouth at the buccal, labial, lingual and occlusal surfaces of the teeth which come in contact with the appliance.

Abstract: A muscular expansion oral shield appliance having a buccal shield supported laterally and anteriorly away from the expansion appliance to engage the buccal musculature. The shield may be formed integrally with the appliance or may be mounted thereto in a permanent manner such as by a wire or wires secured to the applicance and the shield or may be mounted thereto in a removable manner such as with a ball and socket type attachment.

Abstract: An orthodontic appliance is provided to prevent overbite or overjet from developing in a child. The appliance is U-shaped in plan view and has tooth receiving troughs for the upper and lower teeth to correctly position the jaws antero-posteriorly. Uses of the appliance preferably should begin when the child is in the age range of 12 to 18 months, before all of the deciduous teeth have erupted so that improper development of the jaw can be avoided. The appliance has a non-working portion being a shield and handle portion to cause the appliance to have the appearance of a pacifier as well as to prevent the child from gagging on the appliance and to assist in the proper positioning of the appliance by the child.

Abstract: An amusement device in the form of an openable box is provided wherein a top half and bottom half of the box are formed separately and a hinge member is also formed separately so that the box halves can be interchanged with other box halves to change the exterior appearance of the device. The hinge member may also include a noise maker which is activated by opening and closing of the two box halves to increase the amusement level of the device.

Abstract: An orthodontic appliance is provided which has upper and lower tooth receiving troughs which include sockets for the canines and posterior teeth, the sockets being laterally spaced at a distance greater than the normal lateral spacing of the patient's posterior teeth, and a mesio-distal dimension of the canine sockets is greater than the normal mesio-distal dimension of the patient's canines to provide expansion in a deciduous or mixed dentition.

Abstract: A removable orthodontic appliance is provided with a means for retaining the appliance within the user's mouth. The appliance has an upper and lower tooth receiving trough and the troughs are separate at an anterior end, but connect at a posterior end by a resilient hinge which biases the appliance into an open position with the two trough anterior ends urged apart. Such an appliance can be manufactured by slitting the appliance after molding, before it has cooled, to thermoset the hinge in an open position; slitting the appliance after it has cooled, reheating the hinge area and then thermosetting it in an open position; or molding the appliance in an open position.

Abstract: A muscular expansion bumper appliance is optionally removable from a patient's mouth and includes a wire form member formed in a U-shape with the free ends which may be removably secured to buccal tubes. The wire form member supports at least one side pad which overlies one or both of the upper or lower posterior teeth to hold the user's cheeks away from those teeth to permit lateral posterior expansion. The side pads are formed by plate members secured to the wire form member covered with a plastic material. The plastic material can be trimmed to custom fit the appliance to the user and the appliance comes in varying sizes.

Abstract: A preformed molar band is provided for use in human dentition correction which includes a wire extension preformed to lie against the lingual surface of the posterior teeth including the canine which has a more easily bendable portion anterior to the canine to permit the wire to be bent in the mouth to wrap around the mesial surface of the canine.

Abstract: A method and an orthodontic positioner for preventing or correcting overbite and/or overjet at a deciduous dentition stage wherein a patient has only deciduous teeth is provided. A positioner having depressions or slots sized for permanent teeth but receiving deciduous teeth will assist in shaping the jaw to provide early correction of detention problem.

Abstract: An orthodontic appliance is provided which has a buccal shield, an occlusal plate, a lingual flange for the incisors and slots for receiving the posterior teeth. The posterior segment of the appliance is preformed wider than the patient's lateral posterior teeth spacing and the slots are open lingually to permit the patient's tongue to press against the lingual surface of the posterior teeth to cause them to expand buccally. The slots are angled posteriorly to cause the posterior teeth to move distally.

Abstract: A muscular expansion bumper appliance is optionally removable from a patient's mouth and includes a wire form member formed in a U-shape with the free ends which may be removably secured to buccal tubes. The wire form member supports at least one side pad which overlies one or both of the upper or lower posterior teeth to hold the user's cheeks away from those teeth to permit lateral posterior expansion. The side pads can be trimmed to custom fit the appliance to the user and the appliance comes in varying sizes.

Abstract: An orthodontic tooth positioning appliance is provided for correcting open-bite which includes a web region engageable by the posterior teeth to prevent further eruption of those teeth and a vertical gap between the occlusal surfaces of the anterior teeth to permit further eruption of those teeth. The appliance may also include a tongue guide profile including at least one pointed protrusion on the lingual side of the lower midline portion of the appliance and a recessed area above the protrusion for receiving a tip of the tongue.

Abstract: An attachment arrangement for an orthodontic appliance is provided in which a stop covering is secured on an arch-wire appliance so that the covering will abut against a mesial end of the buccal tubes to which the wire is attached. The covering includes an elastic tab part which has an opening therethrough to engage over an end of the wire behind the buccal tube so that the tube is clamped between an anterior part of the covering and the tab end. The covering can be trimmed to remove a posterior portion thereof to permit the wire to move distally within the mouth and spacers can be inserted onto the wire to be positioned between the covering and the tube to move the wire mesially. The elastic tab permits quick removal and replacement of the appliance.

Abstract: An orthodontic appliance having a cervical or high pull headgear apparatus attached to a tooth positioner is provided. The positioner, either preformed or custom made and the headgear portion are provided with a secure, yet detachable connection to allow the headgear to be used as a temporary supplement to the tooth positioner and thus provide therapeutic flexibility. Accordingly, the headgear portion may be attached by having wires received in tubes or by hooks, both of which are attached to the outside of the tooth positioner, or by inserting the wires into holes provided in the positioner. The headgear apparatus may thereby be utilized in a number of patients without the requirement for extensive individualized fittings.

Abstract: A method and an orthodontic positioner for preventing or correcting overbite and/or overjet at a mixed dentition stage wherein a patient has permanent incisors and lost, unreplaced canine and deciduous molar teeth. A positioner essentially of a size for a person having incisors the same size as that of the patient but with a full set of permanent teeth (posteriorly to the permanent canine) is trimmed back posteriorly and along the gingival margins to fit in the patient's mouth without abrading the labial-buccal gum surfaces. This will concurrently provide depression of the incisors and guidance of eruption of the permanent canine and bicuspid teeth.

Abstract: An orthodontic appliance closely adapted to a patient's teeth for holding the same securely in place and a method for forming the same. A preform having a trough formed between a labial-buccal flange and a lingual flange is designed preferably for only one of the upper or lower row of teeth. It is formed of a material which is quite hard, i.e. essentially non-resilient, and it has the property of becoming soft for non-elastic reshaping at a temperature above body temperature and below 212.degree. F. The preform is heated and when soft it is placed within the patient's mouth and reshaped to precisely the contour of at least some if not all of the teeth of the row to which it is applied. The appliance is then cooled, preferably while still in the patient's mouth, after which the flanges are preferably trimmed back to the gum line and even beyond that for the portion of the labial-buccal flange against the labial surfaces of the anterior teeth.

Abstract: A retainer comprising a portion located against the lingual tooth and tissue surfaces for holding a wire against the labial surfaces of the anterior teeth, which is known as a Hawley Retainer, is preformed as a molded piece of a shape and of a material permitting fitting to a patient by a method which includes reshaping of the preform directly in the mouth of the patient, thereby eliminating the need to first form a cast of the patient's teeth. Several preforms of different sizes form a set which will fit mouth sizes of substantially the entire dental patient population. The material is designed to soften for non-elastic manipulation against the lingual surfaces at a temperature above body temperature but below that temperature at which the tissues within the patient's mouth would burn.

Abstract: After a patient's teeth have become substantially perfectly aligned by a custom or preformed positioner, one or more selected depressions are filled with a liner material in a soft moldable state and having the property of hardening over a short period of time at body temperature and adhering to the positioner surface. The positioner is then placed in a patient's mouth with the teeth in place within their respective depressions. The filling material in the selected depressions then forms the outer contour of the teeth located therein and hardens, thereby providing in those depressions inner surfaces precisely fitted to the contour of their respective teeth.

Abstract: In an orthodontic tooth positioning appliance of the type wherein all teeth normally engage the isthmus of the tooth receiving troughs substantially concurrently, the thickness of the isthmus is either (a) increased at the anterior teeth, relative to the thickness at the posterior teeth, for correcting or preventing relapse of a correction for overbite or (b) decreased at the anterior teeth, relative to the thickness at the posterior teeth to correct for or prevent relapse of a correction for open bite.