MOUTHPIECE AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SAME
The present invention addresses the problem of providing: a mouthpiece having a shape that adequately conforms to the teeth rows, etc., of a user, the mouthpiece having an excellent feel during wearing; and a method for manufacturing the mouthpiece. A mouthpiece for solving the abovementioned problem includes a mouthpiece body part having a hard section, which has a groove for accommodating the teeth rows and/or the gums, and a soft section, which contains a material having a lower bending elasticity than that of the hard section. The proportion of the maximum thickness of the soft section to the minimum thickness of the soft section is 5 or greater.
1 . An oral appliance comprising an oral appliance body section including:
a hard part including a groove for accommodating a dentition and/or gums, and
a soft part disposed on an inner wall of the groove, the soft part comprising a material having a flexural modulus lower than that of the hard part,
wherein a ratio of a maximum thickness of the soft part to a minimum thickness of the soft part is 5 or more.
2 . The oral appliance according to claim 1 , wherein a tensile bond strength between the hard part and the soft part is 5 MPa to 1,000 MPa.
3 . The oral appliance according to claim 1 , wherein the soft part comprises a (meth)acrylic resin.
4 . The oral appliance according to claim 1 , wherein the hard part comprises a (meth)acrylic resin.
5 . The oral appliance according to claim 1 , wherein:
the oral appliance body section is constituted from a pair of an upper jaw oral appliance body section and a lower jaw oral appliance body section, and
the oral appliance body section further includes positioning members for restricting backward displacement of the lower jaw oral appliance body section.
6 . A method for manufacturing an oral appliance comprising:
preparing a hard part including a groove for accommodating a dentition and/or gums;
injecting a curable resin composition into the groove of the hard part;
disposing a model having a shape of a dentition and/or gums in the groove of the hard part; and
forming a soft part comprising a material having a flexural modulus lower than that of the hard part by curing the curable resin composition in a state where the curable resin composition and the model are in contact with each other.
7 . The method for manufacturing an oral appliance according to claim 6 , wherein the curable resin composition comprises a photocurable component.
8 . The method for manufacturing an oral appliance according to claim 7 , wherein the photocurable component comprises a (meth)acrylic monomer.
9 . The method for manufacturing an oral appliance according to claim 6 , wherein the preparing of the hard part comprises:
producing a pre-hard part having an area comprising a prepolymer by stereolithography;
closely adhering a model corresponding to the groove to the prepolymer of the pre-hard part; and
curing the prepolymer.