Oral appliance for delivery of medicaments and/or other substances
Inventors
Assignees
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Publication Number
US-10507093-B2
Publication Date
2019-12-17
Expiration Date
Abstract
An oral appliance is provided for delivering a medicament to at least a portion of teeth and/or soft tissue areas inside a mouth. The oral appliance contains an interior surface having a medicament disposed in or on at least a portion of and/or the entire interior surface of the oral appliance. The interior surface of the oral cavity is formed to fit contours of at least the portion of the teeth and/or soft tissue areas inside the oral cavity and is configured for holding the medicament in contact with at least the portion of the teeth and/or soft tissue areas inside the oral cavity to deliver the medicament to strategic areas in need of treatment. In some embodiments, computer, network and computer readable storage media are provided.
Core Innovation
The invention relates to an oral appliance configured for delivering a medicament to at least a portion of teeth and/or soft tissue areas inside an oral cavity. The oral appliance includes an interior surface formed to fit contours of the teeth and/or soft tissue areas and having a medicament disposed in or on at least a portion and/or all of the interior surface. The interior surface is configured for holding the medicament in contact with the teeth and/or soft tissue areas inside the oral cavity to deliver the medicament thereto, while the appliance is produced in a layered and monolithic form infused with the medicament.
The invention further includes a computer implemented method that creates a digital image workflow using an imaging device. A baseline digital image of at least the portion of the teeth and/or soft tissue areas is obtained, and a first digital image of the oral appliance is obtained corresponding to the baseline image. A second digital image is created based on the baseline image corresponding to the portion in need of treatment with the medicament, and the first and second digital images are combined to form a third digital image comprising a treatment area.
The third digital image is stored in the computer and a 3D printer is instructed to produce the oral appliance from at least the stored third digital image. The production is layered and monolithic with the medicament disposed in or on at least a portion and/or all of the interior surface, and the layered and monolithic oral appliance is infused with the medicament. Additional embodiments include forming an oral appliance with an absorptive interior surface for collecting a sample from teeth and/or soft tissue areas, and producing an oral appliance having an exterior surface configured to hold medicament in contact with mucosal surfaces of the tongue, lips, cheeks, palate and/or floor of a mouth.
Claims Coverage
The document includes three independent claims. Across these independent claims, the inventive coverage includes three inventive features: a computer-implemented medicament-delivery oral appliance workflow, an absorptive interior-surface sample-collection variant, and an exterior-surface medicament-delivery appliance for mucosal surfaces using virtual-layer digital data that directs a 3D printer.
Computer-implemented production of a layered and monolithic medicament-delivery oral appliance from baseline and treatment-area digital images
The oral appliance is made by a computer implemented method comprising creating a digital image of the oral cavity by obtaining a baseline digital image; obtaining a first digital image of the oral appliance; creating a second digital image based on the baseline image corresponding to at least the portion of the teeth and/or soft tissue areas in need of treatment with the medicament; combining the first digital image and the second digital image to form a third digital image comprising a treatment area; storing the third digital image in the computer and instructing a 3D printer to produce the oral appliance from at least the stored third digital image; producing the oral appliance in a layered and monolithic form having a medicament disposed in or on at least a portion and/or all of the interior surface; and wherein the layered and monolithic oral appliance is infused with the medicament.
Absorptive interior surface oral appliance for sample collection produced from baseline and absorptive-material digital placement images
The oral appliance is configured for collecting a sample from at least a portion of teeth and/or soft tissue areas and includes an interior surface formed to fit contours of at least the portion of the teeth and/or soft tissue areas and configured for holding absorptive material in contact therefrom; the oral appliance is made by a computer implemented method comprising creating a digital image of the oral cavity by obtaining a baseline digital image; obtaining a first digital image of the oral appliance based on the baseline image; creating a second digital image corresponding to at least the portion of the teeth and/or soft tissue areas having the absorptive material; combining the first digital image and the second digital image to form a third digital image comprising the absorptive material to collect the sample; storing the third digital image and instructing a 3D printer to produce the oral appliance; and producing the oral appliance in a layered and monolithic form having a medicament disposed in or on at least a portion and/or all of the interior surface wherein the layered and monolithic oral appliance is infused with the medicament.
Exterior-surface medicament delivery appliance produced from virtual layer and digitally segmented treatment-surface digital data
An oral appliance configured for delivering a medicament to at least a portion of the mucosal surfaces of a tongue, lips, cheeks, palate and/or floor of a mouth; the oral appliance includes an exterior surface having a medicament disposed in or on at least a portion and/or all of the exterior surface and configured for holding the medicament in contact with the mucosal surfaces to deliver the medicament thereto; and wherein the oral appliance is produced by a computer implemented method comprising generating first digital data representing a first virtual layer overlying and conforming to a baseline image; generating second digital data from the baseline image by performing digital segmentation defining at least one treatment surface area including discrete regions of the oral cavity in need of treatment, producing the second virtual layer circumscribed by the treatment surface area and including a volume extending into the topography; combining the first digital data and second digital data to form third digital data representing the first virtual layer with the second virtual layer added onto the surface and configured to direct a 3D printer; and directing the 3D printer to produce the oral appliance containing the at least one medicament, producing the oral appliance in a layered and monolithic form having a medicament disposed in or on at least a portion and/or all of the exterior surface; wherein the layered and monolithic oral appliance is infused with the medicament.
Taken together, the independent claims cover computer-implemented digital workflows that use oral cavity imaging to generate 3D-print-ready digital images/data for producing layered and monolithic oral appliances that are infused with medicament. The claims also cover an absorptive interior-surface variant for collecting a sample from oral cavity teeth and/or soft tissue areas.
Stated Advantages
Not explicitly described in patent.
Documented Applications
Not explicitly described in patent.
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