Process for making a dental restoration and resultant apparatus
View Patent ↗A process for making a dental restoration includes forming a dental restoration base, selecting a decal representing a natural oral cavity characteristic, and attaching the selected decal to the base. Thereafter, the decal and the dental restoration base are conditioned to create a finished dental restoration having desired oral cavity color and characteristics such as teeth, enamel, dentin, crazing lines, stains, veins, blood vessels, bony coloration, hyper-calcification, mucosal tissue or gum tissue. In an alternative embodiment, the process may include placing a sealant over the decal and at least a portion of the dental restoration base. Additionally, a secondary decal may be attached over the sealant, followed by glazing the secondary decal.
1. A dental restoration, comprising:
A dental restoration base attachable to a tooth of a patient or insertable in a mouth of a patient;
A decal attached to the dental restoration base and having printed thereon an image of a selected natural oral cavity characteristics of the patient including tooth structure, enamel, dentin, crazing lines, stains, veins, blood vessels, bony coloration, hyper-calcification, mucosal tissue or gum tissue so as to be similar in appearance to a least a portion of the natural tooth or oral cavity tissue;
A sealant disposed over the decal and at least a portion of the dental restoration base; and
A secondary decal attached to said restoration base which is subsequently glazed over.
2. The dental restoration of claim 1 , wherein the decal is printed from an image selected from a plurality of pre-made images similar in appearance to natural teeth or oral cavity tissue.
3. The dental restoration of claim 2 , wherein the image comprises a photograph, a computer-generated model image, or a drawing.
4. The dental restoration of claim 2 , wherein the decal is created from a distributable image.
5. The dental restoration of claim 1 , wherein the dental restoration base comprises a composite resin, a ceramic or an acrylic resin.
6. The dental restoration of claim 1 , wherein the sealant comprises a composite resin, a semi-transparent acrylic resin, a protective layer, or a glaze.
7. A dental restoration, comprising:
A dental restoration base attachable to a tooth of a patient or insertable in a mouth of a patient;
A decal attached to the dental restoration base and having printed thereon an image of a selected natural oral cavity characteristics of the patient including tooth structure, enamel, dentin, crazing lines, stains, veins, blood vessels, bony coloration, hyper-calcification, mucosal tissue or gum tissue so as to be similar in appearance to a least a portion of the natural tooth or oral cavity tissue;
A sealant disposed over the decal and at least a portion of the dental restoration base; and
A secondary decal attached to said restoration base which is subsequently glazed over;
Wherein the decal(s) are printed from an image selected from a plurality of pre-made images similar in appearance to natural teeth or oral cavity tissue: and wherein the image comprises a photograph, a computer-generated model image, or a drawing.
8. The dental restoration of claim 7 , wherein the decal is created from a distributable image.
9. The dental restoration of claim 7 , wherein the dental restoration base comprises a composite resin, a ceramic or an acrylic resin.
10. The dental restoration of claim 7 , wherein the sealant comprises a composite resin, a semi-transparent acrylic resin, a protective layer, or a glaze.