US3082531A - Dental matrix strip - Google Patents

Description

March 26, 1963 R. J. JACOBSON 3,082,531

DENTAL MATRIX STRIP Filed Oct. 23, 1961 Q INVENTOR.

l1 Ro en 27. Jacosazz United States Patent 3,082,531 DENTAL MATRIX STRIP Robert J. Jacobson, 1039A Elm St., Fayetteville, N.C. Filed Oct. 23, 1961, Scr. No. 146,805 1 Claim. (CL 32-63) My invention relates to dental matrix strips generally, and specifically to a dental matrix strip including a means for securing it in place.

It is an object of my invention to provide a dental matrix strip for retaining porcelain filling material and the like in a cavity in a tooth into which it is packed.

it is another object of my invention to provide a dental matrix strip which is easy to handle, use, apply, and fix in place.

It is yet another object of my invention to provide a dental matrix strip which conforms to the configuration of the tooth and confines the filling packed into the cavity.

Yet another object of my invention is to provide a dental matrix strip which incorporates self adhering properties by which it secures itself to teeth adjacent to the tooth being filled.

Yet another object of my invention is to provide a dental matrix strip which requires no external aid, either mechanical or manual to maintain it in position during the period in which the filling material is to set. These objects and advantages as well as other objects and advantages may be attained by the device shown in the drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a view in perspective of the inside of a dental matrix strip.

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view thereof.

FIGURE 3 is a top plan view thereof showing the strip applied to teeth; and

FIGURE 4 is a view in perspective showing the dental matrix strip in operative position, retaining a filling packed in a cavity, with the strip secured to an adjacent tooth.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, my dental matrix strip consists of a band or strip 11, generally rectangular in shape. It may be approximately two inches long and three-eighths of an inch wide. The strip may be formed of a transparent film such as cellophane, although there are numerous other relatively unresilient, water resistant, ilexible materials which will serve just as well. It is preferred that the strip or band 11 should be transparent in order that the efiicacy of its performance and positioning may be determined by visual examination. Thus, when the porcelain filling material is packed into the cavity, the strip should be applied so as to engage the filling material from discharge from the cavity, and the determination of its efiicient functioning in this manner can best be arrived at by visual examination through a transparent strip 11.

The means by which the dental matrix strip 11 is held in place is a pair of pads 12 having adhesive qualities. These pads 12 may be approximately one-half inch square and one thirty-second to one-sixteenth of an inch thick. The pads are self-sustaining at ordinary temperatures, yet soft and flexible and capable of being molded upon the application of pressure to conform to the surface configuration of a tooth to which they are applied with pressure. Material suitable for such rectangular pads 12 "ice which material is workable at room temperature is paraflin wax, beeswax, or spermaceti. These waxes display adhesive properties, and when applied to the strip 11 in the form of a pad 12, will adhere thereto. Likewise, the pads 12 will adhere to the teeth to which they are applied under pressure. A pad 12 is therefore pressed onto the strip 11 at opposite ends of the same side of the strip 11, but near the ends thereof. The middle portion 13 of the strip 11 is then wrapped around a tooth 14 so that the mid-portion 13 covers a cavity 15 into which a filling 16 has been packed. The cooperative wax pads 12 are disposed on the side of the strip 11 adjacent to a second tooth 17. Upon application of pressure to the strip 11 at the point of the pads 12, the pads are molded to conform to the external surface of the tooth 17 as shown in FIGURE 3 and adhere thereto. The pads 12 may be rendered more adhesive with respect to a tooth by mixing the wax with gum damar or any of the similar resinous exudates or synthetic resins which display adhesive properties. Gum tragacanth will also enhance the adhesive properties of the Wax. In addition, a quantity of gum karaya may be sprinkled on the surface of the pads 12, 12 or kneaded into the wax. Either of these materials may also be added in powder form to the melted wax, and then allowing it to harden. A desiccant is useful to encourage adhesion of the wax to moist tooth surfaces. Gum karaya has been found to display moisture absorbent properties so that the moist surface of the tooth (which might have a tendency to resist adherence of the pads 12, 12) will be dried and the pads 12, 12 will adhere thereto without any difficulty. By exerting manual pressure upon the strip 11 it may be brought into tight engagement with the surface of the tooth 14 adjacent the cavity 15 so that the filling material 16 is tightly contained until it sets. There is no necessity for mechanical appliances to retain the strip in operative position, and a minimum of discomfort is thereby imposed upon the dental patient.

The dental matrix strip is intended primarily for use on interproximal restorations of anterior teeth i.e. upper and lower centrals, laterals, and cuspids; the teeth shown in the figures are merely intended as illustrative. The dental matrix strip is intended for use with a wide variety of fillings, for example, plastic or silicate fillings and its use is not intended to be limited to those mentioned. The thickness of the strip should :be of such an order that it may be readily inserted between adjacent teeth in the mouth and will yet have the requisite strength to perform its function of containing a filling. Cellophane and similar transparent strip materials have slick surfaces, which are incompatible with the filling materials commonly used in dentistry. Thus, the problem of adherence of the strip to the filling is not acute.

The foregoing description is merely intended to illustrate an embodiment of the invention. The component parts have been shown and described. They each may have substitutes which may perform a substantially similar function; such substitutes may be known as proper substitutes for the said components and may have actually been known or invented before the present invention; these substitutes are contemplated as being within the scope of the appended claim, although they are specifically catalogued herein.

3 4 What is claimed: (e) the band longitudinally dimensioned to wrap A dental matrix strip comprising around a tooth with the pads disposed on opposite (a) a generally rectangular, flexible, relatively thin, id f an dj t t th,

non-resilient, moisture resistant transparent band of material non-adhesive to dental filling material; 5 References Cited in the file of this patent (b) a pair of generally rectangular, soft, flexible, self- NITED PA E sustaining, moldable pads of material adherent to U STATES T NTS teeth, the pads adhered to one side of the band; 1,417,091 Miner 23, 1922 (c) an adhesive incorporated with the material of the 1,550,425 BHIIBW Aug. 18, 1925 d 10 2,196,896 Dvorak Apr. 9, 1940 (d) a desiccant incorporated with the material of the 2,646,622 Christie July 28, 1953 pads;

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