Method of making a dental restoration

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10820971-B2
Application number	US-201515528617-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 30, 2015
Priority date	Dec 2, 2014
Publication date	Nov 3, 2020
Grant date	Nov 3, 2020

Abstract

A method of making a dental restoration has the step of providing a precursor of the dental restoration. The dental restoration has at least a first and a second surface portion which are delimited by a physical boundary structure. The method further has the steps of applying a first coloring solution associated with the first surface portion onto the first surface portion, sintering the dental restoration precursor, and removing the physical boundary structure.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of making a dental restoration, comprising:
providing a precursor of the dental restoration which has an outer surface, the outer surface having at least a first and a second surface portion which are delimited by a physical boundary structure;
applying a first coloring solution associated with the first surface portion onto the first surface portion;
sintering the precursor of the dental restoration to form a preliminary dental restoration; and
removing the physical boundary structure to form the dental restoration;
wherein at least the first surface portion comprises first physical indicia indicative of a first dental restoration color associated with the first surface portion and wherein the first physical indicia are formed by a surface structure which comprises first surface structure elements of a repetitive geometrically defined shape.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising applying a second coloring solution associated with the second surface portion onto the second surface portion.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first surface structure elements comprise a plurality of uniformly spaced elongated bulges, or a plurality of projections of a repetitive shape.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the bulges extend parallel relative to each other, and wherein the shape of the projections is selected from the group consisting of a circular area, a hexagonal area or a rectangular area.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second surface portion comprises second physical indicia indicative of a second dental restoration color associated with the second surface portion.

6. A method of making a dental restoration, comprising:
providing a precursor of the dental restoration which has an outer surface, the outer surface having at least a first and a second surface portion which are delimited by a physical boundary structure;
applying a first coloring solution associated with the first surface portion onto the first surface portion;
sintering the precursor of the dental restoration to form a preliminary dental restoration; and

removing the physical boundary structure to form the dental restoration
wherein at least the first surface portion comprises first physical indicia indicative of a first dental restoration color associated with the first surface portion, wherein the second surface portion comprises second physical indicia indicative of a second dental restoration color associated with the second surface portion, and wherein the second physical indicia are formed by a surface structure which comprises second surface structure elements of a repetitive geometrically defined shape.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the second surface structure elements comprise a plurality of uniformly spaced elongated bulges, or a plurality of projections of a repetitive shape.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the bulges extend parallel relative to each other, and wherein the shape of the projections is selected from the group consisting of a circular area, a hexagonal area or a rectangular area.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the physical boundary structure is formed by a change-over between the first and the second surface structure elements.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least the first physical indicia is selected from the group consisting of a code, a digit, a character, alphanumerical information or symbols.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the physical boundary structure is formed by a continuous bulge protruding from the dental restoration precursor.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing a virtual three-dimensional model of the dental restoration;
defining a first boundary of the first surface portion associated with a desired first dental restoration color;
defining a second boundary of the second surface portion associated with a desired second dental restoration color;
along at least a portion of the first boundary and the second boundary in which the first boundary and the second boundary coincide, building up a virtual boundary structure; and
creating a three-dimensional model of the dental restoration precursor based on the virtual three-dimensional model of the dental restoration and the virtual boundary structure.

Assignees

• 3M Innovative Properties Co

Inventors

• Kirchner Bastian P
• Meurer Till
• Zimmermann Dajana

Classifications

• A61C2201/002

  using colour effect, e.g. for identification purposes · CPC title

• A61C13/082 Primary

  Cosmetic aspects, e.g. inlays; Determination of the colour (A61C19/10 takes precedence) · CPC title

• A61C5/77

  Methods or devices for making crowns · CPC title

• A61C13/0006

  Production methods · CPC title

• A61C13/0022

  Blanks or green, unfinished dental restoration parts · CPC title