Method of manufacturing a prosthetic element

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9700391-B2
Application number	US-201314372605-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 21, 2013
Priority date	Jan 20, 2012
Publication date	Jul 11, 2017
Grant date	Jul 11, 2017

Abstract

A process for preparing a prosthetic element comprising a glass-ceramic body. including the steps of
a) providing a basic body comprising an amorphous glass phase and containing the components of the glass-ceramic body to be prepared, and b) transferring energy to the basic body to induce conversion of a starting phase of the material of the basic body into at least one crystalline phase in a confined region. According to the invention, energy is transferred to the confined region of the basic body by laser irradiating said region with a laser beam having a wavelength of at least 500 nm.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A process for preparing a prosthetic element comprising a glass-ceramic body, said process comprising
a) providing a basic body comprising an amorphous glass phase and containing the components of the glass-ceramic body to be prepared, and
b) transferring energy to the basic body to induce conversion of a starting material of the basic body into at least one crystalline phase in a confined region,
wherein
energy is transferred to the confined region of the basic body by laser irradiating said region with a laser beam having a wavelength of at least 500 nm; and
a first region of the basic body is subjected to a first conversion step to induce formation of a crystalline phase A in the first region, and a second region of the basic body different from the first region is subjected to a second conversion step to induce formation of a crystalline phase B in the second region, wherein the crystalline phase A formed in the first region is different from the crystalline phase B formed in the second region.

2. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the laser beam has a wavelength of at least 600 nm.

3. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the basic body is heated in the region through laser irradiation.

4. The process according to claim 1 , wherein laser irradiation is performed using at least one continuous wave laser.

5. The process according to claim 1 , wherein laser irradiation is performed by superposed application of two or more laser beams.

6. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the starting phase is amorphous.

7. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the basic body is made of an amorphous glass material.

8. The process according to claim 1 , further comprising heating the basic body.

9. The process according to claim 8 , wherein the basic body is heated to a first temperature before laser irradiation.

10. The process according to claim 9 , wherein the first temperature lies in a range of from about 300° C. to about 750° C.

11. The process according to claim 9 , wherein the first temperature lies in a range of from about 400° C. to about 750° C.

12. The process according to claim 9 , wherein the first temperature lies in a range of from about 600° C. to about 750° C.

13. The process according to claim 9 , wherein the first temperature is about 660° C.

14. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the glass-ceramic body comprises 65 to 72 wt-% SiO 2 , at least 8 wt-% of Li 2 O, and at least 8 wt-% of Al 2 O 3 based on a total weight of the composition.

15. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the glass-ceramic body comprises at least one absorption-increasing ion selected from the group consisting of Nd 3+ , Fe 2+ , Fe 3+ , V 2+ , V 3+ , V 4+ , V 5+ , Co 2+ , Cr 4+ , Cr 6+ and Mn 2+ , and mixtures thereof.

16. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the proportion of the crystalline phase A is higher in the first region than in the second region and the proportion of the crystalline phase B is higher in the second region than in the first region.

17. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one crystalline phase comprises at least one component selected from the group consisting of lithium metasilicate (Li 2 SiO 3 ), lithium disilicate (Li 2 Si 2 O 5 ), lithium aluminosilicate (LiAlSi 2 O 6 , LiAlSiO 4 , LiAlSi 3 O 8 and/or LiAlSi 4 O 10 ), and Li 3 PO 4 .

18. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the crystalline phase A comprises lithium disilicate as main crystalline phase, and the crystalline phase B comprises lithium aluminosilicate as main crystalline phase.

19. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the proportion of the crystalline phase A in the first region changes to the crystalline phase B in the second region in a gradual manner.

20. The process according to claim 1 , wherein
the prosthetic element is a dental prosthetic element comprising a glass-ceramic body with an enamel area and a dentin area corresponding to the respective areas of a natural tooth, and
the first region comprising the crystalline phase A is formed in the enamel area, and the second region comprising the crystalline phase B is formed in the dentin area.

21. The process according to claim 1 , further comprising melting an outermost surface of the basic body or the glass-ceramic body by means of laser irradiation followed by solidification of the melted material, thereby providing a gloss to the prosthetic element.

22. The process according to claim 1 , further comprising cutting the basic body or the glass-ceramic body into the desired shape for the final prosthetic element, the cutting being performed by means of laser irradiation.

23. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the laser beam has a wavelength of at least 700 nm.

24. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the laser beam has a wavelength of at least 800 nm.

25. The process according to claim 1 , wherein laser irradiation is performed using at least one continuous wave high power diode laser.

Assignees

• Straumann Holding Ag

Inventors

• Kounga Alain
• Appert Christoph
• Dziadowiec Iwona

Classifications

• A61K6/833

  Glass-ceramic composites · CPC title

• C03B32/02

  Thermal crystallisation, e.g. for crystallising glass bodies into glass-ceramic articles {(C03B27/012 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• A61C13/00

  Dental prostheses; Making same (tooth crowns for capping teeth A61C5/70; dental implants A61C8/00) · CPC title

• A61C13/0022

  Blanks or green, unfinished dental restoration parts · CPC title

• C03C10/0027 Primary

  containing SiO2, Al2O3, Li2O as main constituents · CPC title