MOUTHPIECE THAT ADJUSTS TO USER ARCH SIZES AND SEALS FROM OXYGEN EXPOSURE AND METHODS FOR EFFECTING AN ORAL TREATMENT

• US 20110104633A1
• Filed: 11/11/2010
• Published: 05/05/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Jbl Radical Innovations, LLC
• Original Assignee: Jbl Radical Innovations, LLC
• Inventors: LEVINE, Jonathan B.
• Granted Patent: US 8,371,853 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 433/29
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 19/063 Medicament applicators for teeth or gums, e.g. treatment with fluorides
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 19/066 Bleaching devices; Whitening agent applicators for teeth, e.g. trays or strips
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 2005/0606 Mouth
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 2005/0647 the applicator adapted to be worn on the head
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 2005/0652 Arrays of diodes

Abstract

A mouthpiece that adjusts manually to accommodate a broad range of different size sets of upper and lower teeth in the mouth and yet seals the treatment area from oxygen exposure. The mouthpiece includes one or more light emitters and one or more heat generators. A series of parallel texture bands are provided to guide and direct the light from the light emitters to diffuse generally evenly onto teeth to be treated. The seal arises from an inner surface of the mouthpiece tilting inwardly so that a seal bead seals in the vicinity of the gum above the teeth to be treated. Method for effecting an oral treatment such as whitening or desensitizing teeth or treating gum disease. For whitening, a whitening gel is applied to the user'"'"'s teeth, the mouthpiece is then positioned in the user'"'"'s mouth such that a bite surface is between upper and lower arches, a main body is between a front surface of the teeth and an inner surface of the user'"'"'s lips, and a seal bead is against the user'"'"'s gums. Then, the light emitter(s) and heat generator(s) are activated to effect the whitening while causing an increase in the temperature of the main body thereby enabling the user to mold the main body and conform its shape to their mouth.

Claims

1. A mouthpiece, comprising:

a main body; and

a bite surface that extends outward from the main body, the main body containing;

a deformable frame configured to bend under manual force to adjust an orientation of the main body to define an arch configuration; and

at least one light emitter that emits light and at least one heat generator that generates heat.

2. The mouthpiece of claim 1, wherein the deformable frame holds a flexible circuit board, the at least one light emitter and the at least one heat generator being arranged on the flexible circuit board.

3. The mouthpiece of claim 2, wherein the main body encases the flexible circuit board, the at least one light emitter and the at least one heat generator being on a lingual side of the flexible circuit board.

4. The mouthpiece of claim 2, further comprising a power cord attached to a central region of an outside facing surface of the flexible circuit board.

5. The mouthpiece of claim 1, wherein the at least one light emitter comprises at least one light emitting diode.

6. The mouthpiece of claim 1, wherein the deformable frame holds a flexible circuit board, the at least one light emitter comprising a plurality of light emitting diodes and the at least one heat generator comprising a plurality of heat generating resistors arranged in an array on the flexible circuit board.

7. The mouthpiece of claim 1, further comprising a parallel series of textured bands on a lingual side of the main body to diffuse light from the light emitter toward areas to be treated.

8. The mouthpiece of claim 7, wherein the mouthpiece includes a polished surface, the textured bands are arranged to guide a direct the light from the at least one light emitter so as to more evenly illuminate surfaces of the teeth than would otherwise be the case without the textured bands being present, the textured bands having a surface texture that is closer to being perpendicular to a path of the light and less reflective than the polished surface of the mouthpiece.

9. The mouthpiece of claim 1, wherein the bite surface is segmented into a plurality of spaced apart segments that allow room for the deformable frame to flex to selectively re-orient a configuration of the main body between open and closed positions.

10. The mouthpiece of claim 1, wherein the mouthpiece has an inner surface that inwardly tilts within an angular range of 5 to 15 degrees to seal a seal bead, which borders an edge of the mouthpiece.

11. The mouthpiece of claim 10, wherein the inner surface inwardly tilts to allow the seal bead to contact a gum above a tooth, the contact providing a barrier seal to both retain a whitening gel and to prevent oxygen from entering an area of the tooth to be treated by the whitening gel.

12. A method for effecting an oral treatment, comprising:

providing a mouthpiece including at least one light emitter and at least one heat generator, the mouthpiece having a main body and a bite surface that extends outward from the main body, the main body containing a deformable frame;

positioning the mouthpiece in a user'"'"'s mouth such that the bite surface is between an upper arch and a lower arch and the main body is between a front surface of the teeth and an inner surface of the user'"'"'s lips; and

activating the at least one light emitter and at least one heat generator to effect the oral treatment.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the oral treatment is tooth whitening, further comprising applying a whitening gel to the user'"'"'s teeth prior to positioning the mouthpiece in the user'"'"'s mouth.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the mouthpiece has an inner surface, further comprising configuring the inner surface to inwardly tilt within an angular range of 5 to 15 degrees to seal a seal bead that borders an outer edge of the mouthpiece and thereby provide a barrier seal to retain the whitening gel.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the whitening gel contains hydrogen peroxide and a barrier seal prevents oxygen from escaping from an area of the teeth being treated by the hydrogen peroxide-containing whitening gel.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

forming a seal bead around an outer edge of the mouthpiece; and

positioning the seal bead against gums of the user,

the at least one light emitter and the at least one heat generator being electrically activated only after the seal bead is positioned against the user'"'"'s gums.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising anatomically shaping the mouthpiece to conform to the user'"'"'s gums by adjusting the deformable frame.

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising providing the mouthpiece with a rolled and beaded outer edge, the rolled and beaded outer edge providing, when the mouthpiece is positioned in the user'"'"'s mouth against the user'"'"'s gums, a seal around the mouthpiece.

19. The method of claim 12, further comprising configuring the main body to warm up when the at least one heat generator is electrically activated to thereby enable the main body to be molded by the user during the oral treatment.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein the main body and bite surface contain a thermoplastic material, further comprising configuring the thermoplastic material-containing main body and bite surface to warm up when the at least one heat generator is electrically activated to thereby enable the main body and bite surface to be molded by the user during the oral treatment.

21. The method of claim 12, further comprising forming the bite surface to be perpendicular to the main body and extending outward from a central portion of the main body.

22. The method of claim 12, further comprising forming the bite surface from a plurality of separated portions to thereby enable the main body to bend to conform to the user'"'"'s mouth and provide the separated bite surface portions with different configurations without overlap of any adjacent bite surface portions.

23. The method of claim 12, wherein the oral treatment is tooth desensitizing, further comprising applying a desensitizing gel containing at least one of fluoride and potassium nitrate to at least one of the user'"'"'s teeth prior to positioning the mouthpiece in the user'"'"'s mouth, activation of the at least one light emitter and the at least one heat generator when the mouthpiece is positioned in the user'"'"'s mouth causing increased uptake of fluoride ions and/or potassium nitrate to seal at least one dentinal tubule.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the fluoride or potassium nitrate is in thixotropic condition.

25. The method of claim 12, wherein the oral treatment is treatment for gum disease, further comprising applying a gel to the user'"'"'s gum prior to positioning the mouthpiece in the user'"'"'s mouth that treats gum disease, the at least one light emitter and the at least one heat generator being activated to cause bacteria that cause gum disease to die.

26. The method of claim 12, wherein the oral treatment is breath freshening, further comprising applying a breath freshening gel to the user'"'"'s teeth prior to positioning the mouthpiece in the user'"'"'s mouth, the at least one light emitter and the at least one heat generator being activated to cause bacteria that cause bad breath to die.

27. The method of claim 12, wherein the oral treatment is accelerated healing of oral sores or ulcers, further comprising applying a gel to the sores or ulcers prior to positioning the mouthpiece in the user'"'"'s mouth.

28. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one light emitter comprises a plurality of light emitters.

29. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one heat generator comprises a plurality of heat generators.

30. A method for treating teeth of a user, comprising:

providing a mouthpiece including at least one electrically activated light emitter and at least one heat generator, the mouthpiece having a main body having a seal bead around an outer edge and a bite surface that extends outward from the main body, the main body containing a deformable frame;

applying a gel to the user'"'"'s teeth that contains at least one of light reactive compounds and heat reactive compounds;

then

positioning the mouthpiece in a user'"'"'s mouth such that the bite surface is between an upper arch and a lower arch, the main body is between a front surface of the teeth and an inner surface of the user'"'"'s lips, and the seal bead is against gums of the user; and

electrically activating the at least one light emitter and the at least one heat generator to effect oral treatment while causing an increase in the temperature of the main body thereby enabling the user to mold the main body and conform a shape of the main body to their mouth.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the mouthpiece has an inner surface, further comprising configuring the inner surface to inwardly tilt within an angular range of 5 to 15 degrees to seal the seal bead and thereby provide a barrier seal to retain the whitening gel.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein the gel is a whitening gel that contains hydrogen peroxide and a barrier seal prevents oxygen from escaping from an area of the teeth being treated by the hydrogen peroxide-containing whitening gel.

33. The method of claim 30, further comprising anatomically shaping the mouthpiece to conform to the user'"'"'s gums when positioning the mouthpiece in the user'"'"'s mouth by adjusting the deformable frame.

34. The method of claim 30, further comprising configuring the main body to warm up when the at least one heat generator is electrically activated to thereby enable the main body to be molded by the user during the oral treatment.

35. The method of claim 30, wherein the main body and bite surface contain thermoplastic material, further comprising configuring the thermoplastic material-containing main body and bite surface to warm up when the at least one heat generator is electrically activated to thereby enable the main body and bite surface to be molded by the user during the oral treatment.

36. The method of claim 30, further comprising forming the bite surface from a plurality of separated portions to thereby enable the main body to bend to conform to the user'"'"'s mouth and provide the separated bite surface portions with different configurations without overlap of any adjacent bite surface portions.

37. The method of claim 30, wherein the oral treatment is tooth desensitizing and the gel is a desensitizing gel containing at least one of fluoride and potassium nitrate, activation of the at least one light emitter and the at least one heat generator when the mouthpiece is positioned in the user'"'"'s mouth causing increased uptake of fluoride ions and/or potassium nitrate to seal at least one dentinal tubule.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the fluoride or potassium nitrate is in thixotropic condition.

39. The method of claim 30, wherein the oral treatment is treatment for gum disease, the at least one light emitter and the at least one heat generator being activated to cause bacteria that cause gum disease to die.

40. The method of claim 30, wherein the oral treatment is breath freshening, the at least one light emitter and the at least one heat generator being activated to cause bacteria that cause bad breath to die.

41. The method of claim 30, wherein the oral treatment is accelerated healing of oral sores or ulcers.

42. The method of claim 30, wherein the at least one light emitter comprises a plurality of light emitters.

43. The method of claim 30, wherein the at least one heat generator comprises a plurality of heat generators.

44. A method for creating a closed oral treatment system with a customized fit, comprising:

providing a deformable mouthpiece having at least one electrically activated light emitter and at least one electrically activated heat generator;

positioning the mouthpiece in a user'"'"'s mouth; and

electrically activating the at least one light emitter and the at least one heat generator to cause the mouthpiece to be deformable by the user such that the mouthpiece conforms to the user'"'"'s mouth to enable the user to form a seal proximate to the user'"'"'s teeth such that free radical oxygen remains in close proximity to the user'"'"'s teeth.

45. The method of claim 44, wherein at least a portion of the mouthpiece is made of thermoplastic material.

46. The method of claim 44, wherein the mouthpiece has a main body having a seal bead around an outer edge and a bite surface that extends outward from the main body, the mouthpiece being positioned in the user'"'"'s mouth such that the bite surface is between an upper arch and a lower arch, the main body is between a front surface of the teeth and an inner surface of the user'"'"'s lips, and the seal bead is against gums of the user.

47. The method of claim 46, further comprising arranging the at least one heat generator in the main body to thereby cause the main body to warm up when the at least one heat generator is activated.