CONSTRUCTION (PUCC).

The described construction is a dental product. In the following text it will be named as

"puce".

A puce is made of hardened dental composite, which has been reinforced whith woven glassfibre. The construction is cylindrical, with a round hole in the center. The hole makes it possible to place the puce around a dental post, also to pick the construction with a suitable dental instrument, when placed in the cavity of the tooth. The size of the puce varies within a diameter from two to seven millimeters, the hight from 0,5 to 4,5 mm.

The idea is to incorporate the construction (one or more) together with light curable composite in restorations of teeth to achive the following three approvemens:

1. The total shrinkage of the filling is reduced when a smaller amount of light-curable restorative is used.

2. The filling is reinforced by the glassfibre, and the formation of cracks can be avoided.

3. A simplifying method for core-buildup. The puce is flexible in size and the central hole also varies. This makes it easy to fit together whit any common rootcanal-post.

In the dental market today, the product most similar to the construction above, is "Cerana". Cerana is a conical, ceramic construction. To each ceramic cone there is a dental drill with the same size and shape. The cones are ment to be incorporated with dental composite. The concept is a type of ceramic inlays, made in a direct technique. The conical dental drills makes excessive preparation of the tooth possible. A mix of materials is of no advantage because they don't fully integrate. Cerana is also a concept with much higher costs than common composite fillings. Porcelain is a hard material, increasing the abrasion of antagonist teeth. Removal of filling is made more difficult, when needed.

The puce solves the described problems in an easy way without excessive preparation of the tooth, and bring another advantage; the possibility of core build-up.

TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFABRICATED UNIVERSAL COMPOSITE- CONSTRUCTION

The puce is a quite simple construction. It is made of normal, dental composite, equal to the composite used in modern dentistry. The construction is reinforced with glassfibres. The use of glassfibre is common in today's dentistry, both in fillings and frameworks. The shape of the puce can be described as a cylinder with a round, centric hole. The diameter varies from two till seven millimeters, the hole from 0,2 to 2,2 mm. The side of the cylinder will be from 0,5 till 4,5 mm. All sizes within, is possible.

The glassfibre will be like a net with crossing fibres, totally or partially embedded in the bottom of the cylinder. The quality and dimension of the fibres will be similar to what is used today in restorative dentistry (ex. Targis-Vectris). The surface of the construction will be rough, made by blasting or grinding. The purpose of a rough surface is the integration to the light curable composite.

The manufacture of the puce can probably be done in different way's. They can be cut out of a plate, or you can use composit-tube, sawing it into desirable sizes. A mould can be used to form the construction.

Before placing the puce in a cavity (together with fluid composite) it must be coated with resin/bonding. Either the dentist puts on the resin before use, or the construction is delivered prepared with resin.

In the attached drawing the puce is illustrated from above (fig. Ia.), from the side (fig. Ib.) in the scale of 10:1. Further you can see the puce used in a filling (fig. 2), and for core-buildup (fig. 3).