JP2862925B2 - Bracket container - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a bracket container for storing a bracket used for orthodontic treatment in the field of dentistry, and more particularly, to a bracket that can be positioned and held by using a template. Related to the bracket container.

<Prior Art> Conventionally, a bracket used for orthodontic treatment in the field of dentistry has a plurality of brackets of the same type collectively housed in a container having a sufficiently large volume as compared to the volume of the bracket. In recent years, for the purpose of accommodating the brackets independently, a main body having a concave portion 16 having a volume slightly larger than the volume of the bracket as shown in an exploded perspective view of FIG.
A bracket container constituted by a bracket 17 and a sealing member 18 for closing the upper part of the bracket 15 after the bracket 15 is housed in the recess 16 is used. These conventional bracket containers have a feature that the types of brackets can be easily distinguished.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> However, since the conventional bracket container cannot hold the position of the bracket in the container, the bracket moves forward, backward, left and right in the container, or is turned over. There is a drawback that the direction of the bracket is not fixed when the bracket is taken out from the container, and the operability is poor in orthodontic treatment.

In recent years, a pre-primed bracket in which a polymethyl methacrylate powder has been previously laminated on the base surface of the bracket has been put to practical use.

When the pre-primed bracket is stored in a conventional bracket container as shown in FIG. 10, the base surface on which the polymethyl methacrylate powder is laminated is moved to move the pre-primed bracket in the bracket container. Had a problem that the polymethyl methacrylate powder fell off the base surface.

That is, the conventional bracket container has a problem in the operation of the orthodontic treatment due to the lack of positioning and holding of the bracket in the bracket container and a problem in quality maintenance when applied to the pre-primed bracket. .

<Means for Solving the Problems> The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and a bracket container for accommodating an orthodontic bracket has a width of a stem portion in a direction in which a wing of the bracket projects. A template having a bracket holding window having a width substantially equal to the length of the bracket and a length greater than the length of the bracket in the slot direction, and a front surface sealing member and a rear surface sealing member joined to the front and rear surfaces of the template, respectively. It is characterized by having.

That is, in the bracket container according to the present invention, the movement of the bracket is restricted by using the template, and the state is held by the front and back seal members.

Examples of the template material used in the present invention include plastic sheets and films such as polypropylene, polyethylene, Teflon, polyacetal, polyester, and cellophane, and metal sheets such as aluminum and stainless steel.

Examples of the material of the sealing member for the front surface and the sealing member for the back surface used in the present invention include plastic films such as polypropylene, polyethylene and polyacetal, aluminum foil, aluminum laminated film and stainless steel foil.

Further, the template used in the present invention, the sealing member for the front surface and the sealing member for the back surface may be made of a light-shielding material. For example, a black pigment, a plastic kneaded with a dye, or a metal sheet or a metal foil may be used. , An aluminum laminated film or the like can be used.

Next, the window for holding the bracket of the template disclosed in the present invention will be described.

The bracket holding window of the template disclosed in the present invention needs to have a width substantially matching the width of the stem in the direction in which the wing of the bracket projects. Here, “the width substantially matching the width of the stem portion in the direction protruding from the wing of the bracket” is larger than the width of the stem portion and is greater than the entire width of the wing (the length between the front and rear ends of the two wings of the bracket). It means a width in a small range. The length of the window must be longer than the length of the bracket in the slot direction.

This bracket holding window can be obtained by subjecting the above-described material to ordinary processing means such as punching.

Next, a method of joining the front surface sealing member and the back surface sealing member to the front and back surfaces of the template in the present invention, respectively, will be described.

In the present invention, as a method of joining the front surface sealing member and the back surface sealing member to the front and back surfaces of the template, a known method such as a method using an adhesive or a pressure-sensitive adhesive, ultrasonic welding, high-frequency welding or heat welding is applied. can do.

Further, at the time of joining, it is preferable to join a portion outside the outer periphery of the bracket, as is usually performed when sealing a capsule-like medicine or the like.

Furthermore, as a joining sequence, a method of inserting a bracket into a bracket holding window of a template, and then joining a sealing member for a front surface and a sealing member for a back surface to the front surface and the back surface of the template respectively to form a bracket container is usually performed. Although they are used, they can be joined in a different order if necessary.

In the bracket container of the present invention, a concave portion for avoiding contact with the base of the bracket can be provided in advance on the back surface sealing member. In this case, the template and the seal member for the back surface can be joined first, and the base surface does not touch the bracket container when the pre-primed bracket is stored, which is preferable.

<Operation> The bracket container according to the present invention constitutes a template having a bracket holding window having a width substantially matching the width of the stem portion in the direction in which the wing of the bracket projects and a length greater than the length of the bracket in the slot direction. Elements. Therefore, by inserting the bracket into the window of the template, the bracket in which the stem portion in the direction in which the wing of the bracket projects is positioned and held by the template does not rotate on a plane parallel to the template.

Subsequently, by joining the surface sealing member according to the present invention to the surface of the template into which the bracket has been inserted, the wing of the bracket is sandwiched between the template and the surface sealing member, and the front and rear, left and right, up and down, and rotation of the bracket are provided. Movement is restricted.

Further, by joining the back surface sealing member according to the present invention to the back surface of the template, a bracket container is completed in which the base surface of the bracket is covered without being exposed to the outside.

The bracket container of the present invention positions and holds the bracket at a fixed position of the bracket container by the above-described operation.

As described above, the bracket container of the present invention solves the problems of the prior art, and the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the following examples.

EXAMPLES <Example 1> Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a first example of a bracket container according to the present invention. In the drawing, reference numeral 1 denotes a surface sealing member made of a polyethylene film having a thickness of 0.1 mm, and has a perforation 3 for taking out a bracket and a surface sealing member opening 2.

The perforation 3 can be formed in an appropriate shape within a size range allowing for the bracket in consideration of the operability when removing the bracket from the container. 4 in the figure
Is a 1 mm thick black polystyrene template having a bracket retaining window 5 somewhat larger than the stem section of the bracket 7. Reference numeral 6 in the figure denotes a back surface sealing member made of a 0.3 mm thick black polyethylene film.

In this embodiment, the bracket 7 is inserted into the bracket holding window 5 of the template 4 and the front surface sealing member 1 and the back surface sealing member 6 are attached to the template 4 along the direction of AA 'in the figure. It is stored by joining. The joining is performed by heat welding.

FIG. 2 shows the first embodiment after the bracket is stored in this embodiment.
FIG. 2 shows a cross section taken along the line II ′. The rotation of the bracket 7 on a plane parallel to the template 4 is restricted by the template 4. Further, since the template 4 and the surface sealing member 1 are joined, movement in a direction perpendicular to the template 4 is also restricted. Further, since the back surface sealing member 6 is joined to the back surface of the template 4, the base surface of the bracket 7 is not exposed to the outside, and is protected from the danger of being damaged or damaged by contact with surrounding objects. .

In this embodiment, when removing the bracket from the bracket container, the surface seal member 1 may be peeled off along the perforation 3 from the surface seal member opening portion 2 provided on the surface seal member 1.

As described above, in the bracket container according to the present embodiment, the bracket can be held at the position where the bracket is stored until the bracket container is opened. It is extremely excellent in properties. Note that the bracket 8 used in this embodiment is an Excella manufactured by Morita Tokyo Works.

FIGS. 3 to 6 show other shapes of the template used for the bracket container according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3, a large number of bracket holding windows provided in the template may be provided as necessary.

In addition, since the bracket holding window has a width substantially equal to the width of the stem in the direction in which the wing of the bracket to be stored projects, and the length only needs to be larger than the length of the bracket in the slot direction, as shown in FIG. The length may be considerably longer than the length of the bracket in the slot direction, or may reach one edge of the template as shown in FIG.

Further, in FIG. 6, six bracket holding windows shown in FIG. 5 are provided in one template.

The bracket holding window shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 allows the bracket to easily have a base or a band ring having an area larger than the cross-sectional area of the stem portion. Can be stored.

<Embodiment 2> Fig. 7 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 2, showing a second embodiment according to the present invention. A recess 10 for preventing contact with the base of the bracket is provided in advance on the back surface sealing member 9 of this embodiment. Further, the surface sealing member 8 of the present embodiment.
And the sealing member 9 for the back surface have a thickness of 0.1 mm and a thickness of 0.3 mm, respectively.
The template 4 is the same as that of the first embodiment.

Further, a light-curing adhesive 12 is applied in advance to the base surface of the bracket 11 housed in this embodiment.

In this embodiment, since the concave portion 10 for preventing the back surface sealing member 9 of the bracket container from contacting the base surface of the bracket is provided in advance, the photocurable adhesive 12 applied to the base surface of the bracket 11 It does not come into contact with the container and can be physically stably held until the bracket container is opened. In the present embodiment, since a light-shielding material is used for the bracket container,
Light curable adhesive applied to the base surface of bracket 11
12 is not exposed to external light and can be kept chemically stable.

Also in the bracket container of the present embodiment, the bracket 11 does not move in the bracket container due to the function of the template 4, so that the bracket 11 is held at the same position as when stored, as in the case of the first embodiment, and the operability is improved. Of course, it is excellent.

<Embodiment 3> FIGS. 8 and 9 are explanatory views similar to FIGS. 1 and 2, showing a third embodiment according to the present invention.

In this embodiment, a template 13 having a bracket holding window 14 as shown in FIG. 6 is used, and a back surface sealing member 9 is formed of a bracket similar to that shown in FIG. Recess for preventing contact with base surface
10 are provided in advance.

In this embodiment, since the bracket holding window 14 of the template 13 has a shape as shown in FIG. 6, the base surface of the bracket 15 has a cross-sectional area of the stem as shown in FIGS. Even larger ones can be stored very easily.

Comparative Example FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view similar to FIGS. 1 and 8 of a bracket container according to the prior art. As shown in FIG. 10, the conventional bracket container has only a concave portion 16 for accommodating the bracket, and has no function of restricting the movement of the bracket, so that the bracket 15 can freely move within the bracket container. Resulting in. Therefore, since the direction of the bracket when the bracket is removed is not constant, it is necessary to perform the operation of aligning the direction of the bracket in orthodontic treatment, which is inferior in operability.

Further, when the pre-primed bracket is stored in the bracket container as shown in this comparative example, the polymethyl methacrylate powder laminated on the base surface of the bracket comes into contact with the inner surface of the bracket container. There is a practical problem such as the adhesive falling off when carrying the camera.

<Effect of the Invention> As described above, in the bracket container of the present invention, since the bracket is held at a fixed position in the bracket container by the action of the template, the direction in which the bracket is removed is constant, and the operability of the orthodontic treatment is achieved. Is significantly improved.

Also, when storing a pre-primed bracket with a polymer powder or adhesive laminated on the base surface,
Since the base surface of the bracket does not repeatedly contact the inner wall of the bracket container, there is no possibility that the polymer powder or the adhesive will fall off or adhere to the container even when the bracket container is carried.

Further, when the bracket container of the present invention is made of a light-shielding material, a light-curable adhesive can be used as the adhesive for the pre-primed bracket.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a first embodiment of the bracket container of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows the first embodiment after the bracket is stored in the first embodiment.
FIG. 2 shows a cross section taken along the line II ′. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... front surface seal member, 2 ... front surface seal member opening part, 3 ... perforation, 4 ... template, 5 ... bracket holding window, 6 ... back surface seal member, 7 ... bracket FIGS. 3 to 6 show various shapes of templates used for the bracket container of the present invention. FIG. 7 shows a sectional view of the bracket container of the second embodiment. 8 ... Seal member for front surface, 9 ... Seal member for back surface, 10
... Recess, 11... Bracket, 12... Adhesive FIG. 8 and FIG.
FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing the embodiment and a cross-sectional view taken along the line II-II ′. 13 …… Template, 14 …… Bracket holding window, 15…
… Bracket FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional bracket container as a comparative example. 16 ... recess, 17 ... body, 18 ... seal member, 19 ... cut.

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A bracket container for accommodating an orthodontic bracket, wherein the bracket has a width substantially coinciding with a width of a stem portion in a direction in which a wing of the bracket projects, and a length greater than a length of the bracket in a slot direction. The bracket container, comprising: a template having a window for holding a bracket; and a sealing member for a front surface and a sealing member for a back surface which are respectively bonded to the front and back surfaces of the template. 2. The bracket container according to claim 1, wherein the back surface sealing member has a recess for avoiding contact with the base of the bracket. 3. The bracket container according to claim 1, wherein the template, the front surface sealing member and the rear surface sealing member are made of a light-shielding material.