Background Art As well known to those skilled in the art, conventional orthodontics methods of correcting irregularly arranged teeth by means of bracing wires have been classified into two types, that is, labial orthodontics, in which the bracing wire is installed along the wire holding brackets adhered to the labial surfaces of the teeth facing the lips as shown in Fig. 1, and lingual orthodontics, in which the bracing wire is installed along the wire holding brackets adhered to the lingual surfaces of the teeth facing the tongue as shown in Fig. 2. In the conventional labial or lingual orthodontics, the wire holding brackets 1 are respectively adhered to the surfaces of the irregularly arranged teeth, and are integrated into a single structure by means of a bracing metal wire 3 such that the teeth are steadily biased by the wire and brackets in desired directions.

The conventional methods of installing the bracing wire on the brackets for orthodontics have been classified into a direct method and an indirect method.

In the direct method, the brackets are directly adhered to the desired surfaces of irregularly arranged teeth to be corrected while determining the position and height of each bracket such that the wire catching slots of the brackets are precisely arranged to allow the bracing wire caught by the slots to bias the irregularly arranged teeth in desired directions. In the indirect method, model teeth are primarily produced by modeling the teeth of a patient to be corrected, and the positions and heights of the brackets are secondarily completely determined at the

model teeth, and the brackets which are previously arranged at desired positions and heights are adhered to the desired surfaces of the patient's teeth. In recent years, such indirect methods are more widely used than the direct methods since the indirect methods are more preferable than the direct methods from a point of view of convenience and division of labor.

A conventional wire holding bracket is shown in Fig. 3. As shown in the drawing, the conventional bracket 1 is formed as a single body consisting of a base 5 and two sets of upper and lower wings 7a and 7b. The bracket 1 is adhered to a desired surface of a tooth at the base 5. A wire catching slot 9 is formed between the upper and lower wings 7a and 7b, and catches a bracing wire. The bracket 1 of Fig. 3 has been so-called"an edgewise bracket"in the orthodontic technical field. The technical term"edgewise"means that the edgewise brackets 1 are adhered to the surfaces of irregularly arranged teeth while controlling the positions and heights of the brackets 1 on the teeth such that a bracing wire caught by the slots 9 of the brackets 1 desirably corrects the irregularly arranged teeth through its sliding and frictional action relative to the edges of the slots 9. In recent years, most orthodontics methods have been performed using such edgewise brackets 1 having the construction shown in Fig. 3.

However, such edgewise brackets are problematic in that it is necessary for a dentist to carefully control the positions and heights of the brackets 1 on the irregularly arranged teeth of a patient one by one, such that the bracing wire, caught by the slots 9 of the brackets 1, corrects the teeth through its sliding and frictional action relative to the edges of the slots 9. In addition, it is also necessary for the dentist, who attaches the bracing wire to the slots 9 of the edgewise brackets 1, to carefully bend the bracing wire at each bracket so as to make the wire, caught by the brackets, correct the irregularly arranged teeth without failure. Such a careful wire bending operation is a very difficult operation, which complicates the orthodontics method and is inconvenient to dentists.

In past years, the orthodontics methods were typically and mainly performed through the labial orthodontics. However, since the labial

orthodontics somewhat spoils the appearance of a patient's mouth, the lingual orthodontics as well as the labial orthodontics has been preferably used in recent years. The lingual orthodontics is an orthodontics method which is performed according to the same theory as that of the labial orthodontics using the edgewise brackets adapted to the lingual surfaces of teeth in place of the labial surfaces of said teeth.

In the case of a lingual orthodontics method, the bracing wire and brackets are less likely to be exposed to the outside of a patient's mouth, and so the lingual orthodontics is more preferable than the labial orthodontics from a view point of maintenance of patients'appearances. However, different from the labial orthodontics, the process of such lingual orthodontics is very difficult for dentists, due to the structural limit of the human oral cavity.

Furthermore, the lingual orthodontics is performed according to the same theory as that of the labial orthodontics using the edgewise brackets adapted to the lingual surfaces of teeth in place of the labial surfaces, and so the faults of the conventional edgewise brackets become worse in the case of where such lingual orthodontics is performed on a patient. That is, it is necessary for a dentist to attach the brackets to the lingual surfaces of patient's teeth facing the tongue while carefully controlling the positions and heights of the brackets, and to install a bracing wire to the brackets while carefully bending the wire at each bracket even though it is very difficult for dentist's fingers to perform such an intricate operation at the lingual surfaces of the teeth. The lingual orthodontics is thus very inconvenient to the dentist as well as consuming excessive time while installing an orthodontics device on patient's teeth. The lingual orthodontics also increases the orthodontic cost such that the lingual orthodontic cost is twice or more as much as the labial orthodontic cost. Another problem of the lingual orthodontics resides in that the operational effect of the lingual orthodontics is less than that of the labial orthodontics regardless of such high cost, forcing the patients to pay much money, and such difficult operation forcing the dentists to make a great effort while installing the orthodontics device on the patient's teeth.

Disclosure of the Invention Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and provides a device and method for orthodontics, which uses a bracing wire and wire holding brackets based upon a conventional indirect method but not upon a conventional edgewise method, and which is easily adapted to lingual orthodontics as well as labial orthodontics.

An object of the present invention is to provide an orthodontics device, which is comprised of a female part, and a male part having a shape suitable for being inserted in the female part, different from conventional edgewise brackets, and in which the female part is adhered to the surface of each tooth of irregularly arranged teeth of a patient to be corrected, and the male part, with a bracing wire caught by a wire catch of the male part at model teeth, is easily inserted into the female part adhered to the surface of the patient's tooth.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an orthodontics method, which comprises the steps of : adhering the female part of the above orthodontics device to the surface of each tooth of irregularly arranged teeth of a patient to be corrected, attaching a bracing wire to the wire catch of the male part at model teeth formed by modeling the patient's teeth, and inserting the male part with the bracing wire into the female part adhered to the surface of the patient's tooth.

In order to accomplish the above objects, the present invention provides an orthodontics device, comprising: a female part having a pocket shape, and provided on the outer surface thereof with a tooth adhesion face for adhering the female part to the surface of a tooth; and a male part consisting of a body having a shape suitable for being entirely inserted in the female part, the male part having a wire catch for catching a bracing wire.

In the orthodontics device, the wire catch comprises: a wire catching slot for catching the bracing wire; and a fastening screw for fastening the bracing wire caught in the wire catching slot, thus preventing an undesired removal of the wire from the wire catching slot. In addition, the tooth adhesion face has an area,

which is larger than that of a body of the female part and enlarges a contact surface of the tooth adhesion face and the tooth.

A side groove is formed at a side edge of the male part, and a side projection is formed on a sidewall of the female part in the interior of the female part, whereby the side projection engages with the side groove when inserting the male part into the female part, thus holding the male part in the female part without allowing an undesired removal of the male part from the female part. A lower projection is formed at a lower edge of the male part, and a hole is formed at a bottom of the female part at a position corresponding to the lower projection, whereby the lower projection passes through the hole to be exposed outside the hole when inserting the male part into the female part, thus allowing the male part to be removed from the female part when pushing the lower projection of the male part protruding from the outside of the female part.

The orthodontics device further comprises: a horizontal cutout having a width W, and formed on a wall of the female part opposite to the tooth adhesion face, with a plurality of embossments formed on the internal surface of the wall; a lower wing formed on a lower portion of the male part, and having a width W' smaller than the width W of the horizontal cutout; an upper wing 44a formed on an upper portion of the male part at a position spaced apart from the upper edge of the lower wing by a gap longer than a distance between the upper inlet edge of the female part and the upper edge of the horizontal cutout; and a plurality of recesses formed on the upper and lower wings at positions corresponding to the embossments of the female part.

The present invention also provides a female part positioning jig, inserted into the above-mentioned female part, and precisely replicating a position of the female part adhered to the tooth, and allowing another female part to be adhered to another tooth at the same position as the replicated position, comprising: a jig body having a shape suitable for being entirely inserted in the female part, and a head extension extending outward from an edge of the jig body opposite to a leading edge at which the jig body is inserted into the female part.

The present invention further provides an orthodontics method of

correcting an irregularly arranged tooth of a patient using both the orthodontics device and the female part, comprising the steps of : 1) producing several sets of model teeth by modeling a desired number of patient's teeth including the irregularly arranged tooth; 2) adhering a female part to each tooth of the first set of model teeth after producing the several sets of model teeth; 3) inserting a female part positioning jig into each of the female parts adhered to the first set of model teeth, and applying a resin on the peak area of each tooth of the first set of model teeth such that the resin covers the peak area and a part of a head extension of the positioning jig coming into contact with the peak area; 4) removing the positioning jigs integrated with the resins from the female parts of the first set of model teeth after the resins are sufficiently hardened, and inserting the removed positioning jigs into two sets of new female parts; 5) positioning the two sets of new female parts around a second set of model teeth and the patient's teeth, respectively, by placing the resins, integrated with the head extensions of the positioning jigs inserted into the two sets of new female parts, over the peak areas of the second set of model teeth and the patient's teeth, and adhering the two sets of new female parts to the second set of model teeth and the patient's teeth, respectively, and removing the positioning jigs from the two sets of new female parts; 6) moving an irregularly arranged tooth of the first set of model teeth within an allowable range to place the irregularly arranged tooth of the first set of model teeth at a first intermediate corrected position; 7) inserting a male part into each of the female parts adhered to the first set of model teeth, with the irregularly arranged tooth of the first set of model teeth having been moved to the first intermediate corrected position, and attaching a bracing wire along a plurality of wire catches of the male parts inserted into the female parts of the first set of model teeth; 8) removing the male parts having the bracing wire from the female parts of the first set of model teeth, and inserting the male parts into the female parts adhered to the patient's teeth; 9) moving the irregularly arranged tooth of the second set of model teeth to a second intermediate corrected position when the irregularly arranged tooth of the patient has completely moved to the first intermediate corrected position expected at step (7), and inserting a new male part into each of the female parts of the

second set of model teeth, and attaching a new bracing wire along the new male parts, and removing the new male parts having the new bracing wire from the female parts of the second set of model teeth; 10) removing the existing male parts from the female parts of the patient's teeth, and inserting the new male parts having the new bracing wire into the female parts of the patient's teeth; and 11) repeating the steps (9) and (10) while alternately using the first and second sets of model teeth until the irregularly arranged tooth of the patient is completely corrected.

In the above orthodontics method, the female parts at step (2) are adhered to the first set of model teeth such that the wire catches of the male parts are positioned at the same height when the male parts are inserted into the female parts adhered to the first set of model teeth. In addition, the first and second intermediate corrected positions at steps (6) and (9) are estimated intermediate corrected positions placed between an original position and a completely corrected position of the irregularly arranged tooth of the patient, and are determined through a computer simulation. Furthermore, the bracing wire at each of steps (7) and (9) is attached along the male parts by inserting the bracing wire into a plurality of wire catching slots of the wire catches of the male parts and by fastening the wire in the wire catching slots by tightening a fastening screw provided at each of the wire catches.

Brief Description of the Drawings The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a plan view of a conventional labial orthodontics device placed along the patient's teeth to be corrected; Fig. 2 is a plan view of a conventional lingual orthodontics device placed along the patient's teeth to be corrected; Fig. 3 is a perspective view, showing the construction of a conventional

edgewise bracket to be adhered to the surface of a tooth; Fig. 4A is a perspective view, showing the construction of an orthodontics device in accordance with the primary embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 4B is a side view, showing the orthodontics device according to the primary embodiment of this invention which is placed against the surface of a tooth; Fig. 4C is a perspective view, showing the construction of a female part positioning jig used for positioning a female part of the orthodontics device of this invention when placing the female part against the surface of a tooth; Fig. 4D is a side view, showing an operation of the female part positioning jig of this invention; Figs. 4E to 4H are views showing the construction of an orthodontics device in accordance with the second embodiment of the present invention; Figs. SA, 5B and 5C are flowcharts of the orthodontics method performed in accordance with the present invention; and Figs. 6 and 7 are views, showing the concept of the orthodontics method according to the present invention.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention (1) Orthodontics devices Reference should now be made to the drawings, in which the same reference numerals are used throughout the different drawings to designate the same or similar components. The orthodontics device according to the primary embodiment of this invention comprises a female part 10, and a male part 30 inserted into the female part 10 to form a wire holding means of this device, as shown in Fig. 4A. The female part 10 has a pocket-shaped structure, which defines an interior space suitable for entirely receiving the male part 30 therein.

The male part 30 consists of a body, which has a shape suitable for being entirely inserted into the pocket-shaped female part 10. This male part 30 is also

provided with a wire catch 32 at the central flat area of the body for catching a bracing wire 70. The wire catch 32 has a triangular cross-section, with a slit defining a wire catching slot 34. A fastening screw 36 is provided at the wire catch 32 for fastening the wire 70 inserted in the wire catching slot 34, thus preventing an undesired removal of the wire 70 from the slot 34.

The pocket-shaped female part 10, receiving such a male part 30 therein, is provided on the outer surface of its rear wall with a tooth adhesion face 18a for adhering the female part 10 to a desired surface of a tooth. The front wall 18b of the female part 10 has a central cutout 12 at its upper edge for receiving the wire catch 32 of the male part 30 when inserting the male part 30 into the female part 10. The tooth adhesion face 18a is preferably designed such that it has a sufficiently large area, which is larger than that of the body of the female part 10 and enlarges the contact surface of the face 18a and a patient's tooth. Such a difference between the area of the tooth adhesion face 18a and the body of the female part 10 is not shown in detail in the drawings. In an effort to accomplish such a desired large area of the face 18a, a large-sized base (not shown) may be provided at the outer surface of the real wall of the female part 10 shown in Fig.

4A. In such a case, the large-sized base may be separately produced from the body of the female part 10 prior to being welded to the real wall of the female part 10 to form a desirably enlarged tooth adhesion face 18a. Alternatively, the large- sized base may be cast with the body of the female part 10 into a single structure.

In a similar manner to that of a conventional edgewise bracket, the female part 10 may be processed to have an uneven surface at the tooth adhesion face 18a in an effort to enhance the adhesion force of the face 18a relative to a tooth.

A side groove 38 is formed at each side edge of the male part 30, while a side projection 14 is formed on each sidewall of the female part 10 in the interior of the part 10 at a position corresponding to the stop groove 38. When the male part 30 is inserted into the female part 10, the two side projections 14 of the female part 10 engage with the two side grooves 38 of the male part 30, thus firmly holding the male part 30 seated in the female part 10 without allowing an undesired removal of the male part 30 from the female part 10.

Of course, it should be understood that the effect for firmly holding the male part 30 in the female part 10 may be accomplished by means of another conventional structure in place of the above-mentioned grooves and projections without affecting the functioning of this invention. For example, such a firm holding effect may be accomplished by reducing the size of the interior space of the pocket-shaped female part 10 such that the male part 30 is frictionally fixed in the interior space of the female part 10. Since the male and female parts 30 and 10 are not frequently assembled or disassembled relative to each other, such a frictional fixing structure is preferably used as a simple and effective structure for holding the male part 30 in the female part 10.

A lower projection 40 is formed at the lower edge of the male part 30 of Fig. 4A, while a hole 16 is formed at the bottom of the female part 10 at a position corresponding to the lower projection 40. The provision of the lower projection 40 and the hole 16 is to allow a dentist to more easily remove the male part 30 from the female part 10 when necessary. That is, when the male part 30 is inserted into the female part 10, the lower projection 40 passes through the hole 16 such that the tip of the projection 40 is exposed outside the bottom of the female part 10. When it is desired to remove the male part 30 from the female part 10, the dentist pushes the lower projection 40 of the male part 30, thus removing the male part 30 from the female part 10.

Fig. 4B is a side view, showing the orthodontics device of Fig. 4A placed against the surface of a patient's tooth. In this drawing, the device is placed against the lingual surface of the tooth 80. That is, the female part 10 is adhered to the lingual surface of the tooth 80, while the male part 30 is inserted into the female part 10, with a bracing wire 70 caught by the wire catching slot 34 of the male part 30 and fastened by the screw 36. In such a case, the gap between the tooth adhesion face 18a of the female part 10 and the lingual surface of the tooth 80 is filled up with appropriate filler 42.

Fig. 4C is a perspective view, showing a female part positioning jig 50 which is placed, in place of the male part 30 relative to the female part 10, for positioning the female part 10 when adhering the female part 10 to a tooth. The

positioning jig 50 consists of a jig body having a shape similar to that of the male part 30. However, different from the male part 30, this jig 50 has a head extension 56 integrally extending from the upper edge of the jig body, and does not have any wire catch. The upper portion of the head extension 56 is smoothly bent to form an arc-shaped profile. Of course, the shape and construction of the positioning jig 50 may be changed from the above-mentioned shape and construction without affecting the functioning of this invention. It is preferable to make the head extension 56 of the jig 50 in the form of an appropriate shape using an appropriate material such that the upper portion of the extension 56 is easily shaped into a desired profile. The jig 50 is used for producing a precise replica of the desired position of the female part 10 relative to a tooth.

In a brief description of the operation of this female part positioning jig 50 for replicating the position of the female part 10, the jig 50 is primarily inserted into the female part 10 adhered to the tooth 80 as shown in Fig. 4D. In such a case, the head extension 56 of the jig 50 comes into contact with the peak area of the enamel of the tooth 80. The peak area of the tooth 80 is, thereafter, covered with a resin 58 such that the resin 58 covers the peak area and the upper portion of the extension 56. After the resin 58 is sufficiently hardened, the jig 50 is removed from the female part 10. In such a case, the resin 58 is integrated with the extension 56, and so the resin 58 is removed from the tooth 80 at the same time as the jig 50. In addition, the resin 58 has a depression, which was occupied by and replicates the peak area of the tooth 80. The operational effect of the positioning jig 50 will be described in more detail in the section of describing the orthodontics method, later herein.

Figs. 4E to 4H are views, showing the construction of an orthodontics device in accordance with the second embodiment of the present invention. In an orthodontic operation using the orthodontics device according to the primary embodiment of this invention, it may be difficult for a dentist to insert or remove the male part 30, at the upper inlet of the female part 10, into or from the female part 10 adhered to a patient's tooth. The orthodontics device according to this second embodiment is designed to overcome such a problem by allowing a dentist

to insert or remove the male part 30 into or from the female part 10 at the front wall of the female part 10 as shown in Fig. 4E.

In a detailed description of the shape of the orthodontics device according to this second embodiment with reference to Fig. 4E, the female part 10 of this device has a pocket-shaped structure similar to that of the device of Fig. 4A.

However, this female part 10 has two horizontal cutouts 18c each having a width W, and horizontally formed at a lower portion of each side edge of a central cutout vertically formed at the front wall 18b of the female part 10. A plurality of embossments 14'are formed on the internal surface of the front wall 18b at predetermined positions around the cutouts.

A lower wing 44b is formed at a lower portion of each side edge of the male part 30, such that the two lower wings 44b are inserted into the female part 10 through the two horizontal cutouts 18c from the front of the female part 10.

The width W'of the lower wings 44b is set to be slightly smaller than the width W of the horizontal cutouts 18c. Two upper wings 44a are formed at two corners of the upper end of the male part 30 such that the upper wings 44a are spaced apart from the two lower wings 44b by a gap D'which is slightly longer than the distance D between the upper inlet edge of the female part 10 and the upper edge of each horizontal cutout 18c. A plurality of recesses 38'are formed at the upper and lower wings 44a and 44b of the male part 30 at positions corresponding to the embossments 14'of the female part 10.

The male part 30 of the orthodontics device of Fig. 4E engages with the female part 10 as follows. When it is desired to seat the male part 30 in the female part 10 adhered to the surface of a tooth, the male part 30 is inserted into the female part 10 such that the two lower wings 44b of the male part 30 are inserted into the two horizontal cutouts 18c of the female part 10 from the front of the female part 10 as shown by the arrow of Fig. 4F. In such a case, since the width W'of each lower wing 44b of the male part 30 is smaller than the width W of each horizontal cutout 18c of the female part 10, and the gap D'is longer than the distance D as described above, the male part 30 is entirely inserted into the interior space of the female part 10. Thereafter, the male part 30 is pushed into

the female part 10 in a direction as shown by the arrow of Fig. 4G until the embossments 14'of the female part 10 completely engage with the recesses 38'of the male part 30. The male part 30 is thus completely seated in the female part 10. Fig. 4H is a sectional view of the male and female parts 30 and 10, showing the positions of the recesses 38'and embossments 14'.

As described above, the male part 30 according to this second embodiment is inserted into the female part 10 from the front of the female part 10, different from the primary embodiment designed such that the male part 30 is inserted into the female part 10 from the upper inlet of the female part 10.

Therefore, it is easier for a dentist to install the orthodontics device according to the second embodiment within the limited oral cavity of a patient than the orthodontics device according to the primary embodiment.

(2) Orthodontics method The orthodontics method using the above-mentioned orthodontics device will be described herein below. Figs. 5A, 5B and 5C are flowcharts of the orthodontics method performed in accordance with the present invention. Figs. 6 and 7 are views, showing the concept of this orthodontics method.

Step 101: Two sets of model teeth are produced by modeling the irregularly arranged teeth (a) of a patient to be corrected as shown in Fig. 6 (A).

For ease of description, the two sets of model teeth are herein referred to as"first model teeth (b)"and"second model teeth (c)", respectively. The orthodontics method of this invention is based upon an indirect method since the orthodontics device is installed on the real teeth (a) of the patient after a bracing wire is attached to the orthodontics device attached to the first model teeth (b) or the second model teeth (c). In the following description with reference to Fig. 6, the orthodontics method is performed to correct the central tooth 82 of the three teeth of the patient, which diverges from the normal dental arch"N"of the patient's regularly arranged teeth.

Step 103: After producing the two sets of model teeth, three female parts

10 are adhered to the surfaces of the first model teeth (b), respectively, as shown in Fig. 6 (B). Of course, the two sets of model teeth have the same structure, and so the designation of the two sets of model teeth as the first model teeth (b) and second model teeth (c) may be interchangeable. In such a case, the female parts 10 may be attached to the labial or lingual surfaces of the first model teeth (b).

However, since one object of this invention is to overcome the problems experienced in the conventional lingual orthodontics, it is more preferable to adapt the orthodontics method of this invention to lingual orthodontics rather than labial orthodontics.

The attachment of the female parts 10 to the desired surfaces of the model teeth (b) is performed in a manner similar to a method of attaching a conventional edgewise bracket to the surface of a tooth. However, it is preferable to attach the female parts 10 to the model teeth (b) such that the wire catching slots 34 of three male parts 30 are positioned at the same height and form a line H of Fig. 6 (B) when the male parts 30 are inserted into the three female parts 10. This is to avoid a difficult operation, such as an operation forcing a dentist to excessively and intricately bend a bracing wire, in a wire catching step of installing the bracing wire along the male parts 30.

Step 105: Three positioning jigs 50 are inserted into the three female parts 10 adhered to the first model teeth (b) as shown in Fig. 6 (C). The peak area of each model tooth (b) is covered with a resin 58 such that the resin 58 covers the peak area and the upper portion of the jig's extension 56 in the same manner as that described for Fig. 4D. This step 105 is performed to allow the female parts 10 to be attached to the second model teeth (c) and the real teeth (a) of the patient at precisely the same positions as those of the first model teeth (b).

Steps 201 and 301: After the resins 58 of step 105 are sufficiently hardened, the jigs 50 are removed from the female parts 10 of the first model teeth (b). In such a case, the resins 58 are integrated with the jig's extensions 56, and so the resins 58 are removed from the model teeth (b) at the same time as the jigs 50. The resins 58 removed from the first model teeth (b) have depressions, which replicate the peak areas of the first model teeth (b). Therefore, the resins 58

produce a desired replica of the peak areas of the teeth. The removed jigs 50 are, thereafter, inserted into first new female parts 10 as shown in Fig. 6 (D). The first new female parts 10 with the jigs 50 are positioned around the second model teeth (c). In such a case, the resins 58 integrated with the head extensions 56 of the jigs 50 and having the replicating depressions are placed over the peak areas of the second model teeth (c), thus naturally and precisely positioning the first new female parts 10 on the second model teeth (c). The first new female parts 10 are, thereafter, adhered to the surfaces of the second model teeth (c). After adhering the first new female parts 10 to the second model teeth (c), the jigs 50 having the resins 58 are removed from the first new female parts 10 of the second model teeth (c). As described above, the. resins 58 of the jigs 50 have the depressions replicating the peak areas of the first model teeth (b). It is thus possible to naturally and precisely position the first new female parts 10 on the second model teeth (c) at the same positions as those of the first model teeth (b) by placing the resins 58 of the jigs 50, inserted into the first new female parts 10, over the peak areas of the second model teeth (c). As shown in Fig. 6 (E), the second model teeth (c), which have the first new female parts 10 but do not have the jigs 50, are kept in a secure container that does not cause any variation in the shape of the model teeth. The second model teeth (c), having the first new female parts 10 and safely stored in the container, are used for adhering new female parts 10 to the patient's teeth at the same positions as those of previously attached female parts 10 when a previously installed orthodontics device is undesirably deformed or removed from the patient's teeth. In the same manner as that described for the second model teeth (b), second new female parts 10 are attached to the patient's teeth (a) at step 301. The patient having the second new female parts 10 on his/her teeth waits for a next step.

Step 107: Separate from the above-mentioned process of attaching the female parts 10 to the patient's teeth (a), there is provided another process of moving the irregularly arranged central tooth 82 of the first model teeth (b) within an allowable range to accomplish a first intermediate corrected state of the tooth 82. In such a case, the irregularly arranged tooth 82 is not moved from its

original position of Figs. 6 (A) and Fig. 6 (B) to an expected completely corrected position through one step, but is moved within an allowable range to a first position which is close to said expected completely corrected position. In such a case, the allowable range is determined through an orthodontic clinical examination or a computer simulation. In the present invention, such a first position close to the expected completely corrected position of the tooth 82 is so- called"a first intermediate corrected position".

In orthodontics, it is impossible to quickly and forcibly correct the irregularly arranged state of a patient's tooth to a completely regularly arranged state. During an orthodontic process, the irregularly arranged teeth are moved from their original positions in desired directions at a rate of about 1 mm per month, thus being very slowly corrected. Such a slow process, wherein the patient's irregularly arranged teeth fitted with an orthodontics device steadily move toward their completely corrected positions, can be effectively estimated by an orthodontic clinical examination or a computer simulation.

Fig. 7 (A) shows the irregularly arranged central tooth 82 of the first model teeth (b), which has intricately moved from its original position of Figs. 6 (A) and 6 (B) within an allowable range to reach the first intermediate corrected position close to the expected completely corrected position.

Step 109: After the irregularly arranged central tooth 82 of the first model teeth (b) has been moved to its first intermediate corrected position at step 107, three male parts 30 are inserted into the three female parts 10 of the first model teeth (b). Thereafter, a bracing wire 70 is attached along the wire catches 32 of the male parts 30 as shown in Fig. 7 (B). In such a case, when the wire catches 32 have the structure of Fig. 4A, the wire attachment to the male parts 30 is accomplished by inserting the wire 70 into the wire catching slots 34 of the wire catches 32 and fastening the wire 70 in the slots 34 by tightening the fastening screw 36. Since the bracing wire 70 is attached along the wire catching slots 34 of the male parts 30 installed on the first model teeth (b), with the irregularly arranged central tooth 82 of the model teeth (b) having been moved to its first intermediate corrected position, the tooth 82 is biased by the bracing wire 70 to be

corrected to the first intermediate corrected state.

Steps 111 and 303: The three male parts 30, having the bracing wire 70, are removed from the female parts 10 of the first model teeth (b), and are inserted into the female parts 10 attached to the real teeth (a) of the patient as shown in Figs. 7 (C) and 7 (D). Particularly, Fig. 7 (C) shows the three male parts 30, which are removed from the female parts 10 of the first model teeth (b) and integrated by the bracing wire 70 in a linear arrangement.

Steps 203 and 205: These steps are performed when a substantial lengthy period of time has elapsed after the three male parts 30, having the bracing wire 70, were inserted into the three female parts 10 of the patient's real teeth (a), and the patient's teeth (a) accomplish the first intermediate corrected state expected at step 107. In such a case, the central tooth 82 of the second model teeth (c) is moved to its second intermediate corrected position, thus accomplishing a second intermediate corrected state of the teeth (c) prior to inserting new male parts 30 into the female parts 10 of the second model teeth (c). After inserting the new male parts 30 into the female parts 10 of the second model teeth (c), a new bracing wire 70 is attached along the male parts 30 of the second model teeth (c). The new male parts 30 having the new bracing wire 70 are, thereafter, removed from the female parts 10 of the second model teeth (c) as shown in Fig. 7 (E). This drawing, Fig. 7 (E), shows that the irregularly arranged tooth 82 of the second model teeth (c) further approaches the normal dental arch"N"of the patient's regularly arranged teeth, thus accomplishing its second intermediate corrected position, which is closer to the completely corrected position, in comparison with the first intermediate corrected position of Fig. 6 (E). After the central tooth 82 of the second model teeth (c) is moved to its second intermediate corrected position as described above, the three new male parts 30 are inserted into the female parts 10 of the second model teeth (c). Thereafter, the new bracing wire 70 is attached along the male parts 30 of the second model teeth (c). The new male parts 30 having the new bracing wire 70 are removed from the female parts 10 of the second model teeth (c). The processes of these steps 203 and 205 are similar to those described for the steps 107,109 and 111.

Step 305: The existing male parts 30 are removed from the female parts 10 of the patient's teeth (a), and the new male parts 30, which have been prepared at steps 203 and 205, are inserted into the empty female parts 10 of the patient's teeth (a). The orthodontics device thus starts its operation for correcting the patient teeth (a) to the second intermediate corrected state.

Step 307: The above-mentioned steps 203,205 and 305 are repeated until the irregularly arranged tooth 82 of the patient's teeth (a) is completely corrected.

At this step 307, it is possible to attach bracing wires to new sets of male parts 30, which are stepwisely corrected to approach the completely corrected position of the irregularly arranged tooth while alternately using the first and second model teeth (b) and (c) at a dental hospital without requiring the presence of the patient at the hospital. Therefore, the replacement of existing male parts 30 of the patient's teeth with newly positioned male parts having a new bracing wire is simply accomplished by removing the existing male parts 30 from the female parts 10 of the patient's teeth and inserting the newly positioned male parts, which have been prepared by a dentist using a set of model teeth at a dental hospital without presence of the patient at said hospital, into the empty female parts 10 of the patient's teeth. It is thus not necessary for the patient to wait at the hospital for the preparation of such newly positioned male parts. This orthodontics method is thus very convenient to patients.

Industrial Applicability As described above, the present invention provides a device and method for orthodontics. The orthodontics device and method of this invention effectively corrects irregularly arranged teeth of a patient by changing the existing male parts having a bracing wire with new ones, which are newly positioned to accomplish intermediate corrected states of the patient's irregularly arranged teeth, without using a conventional edgewise method. The present invention thus solves the problems of the conventional edgewise method, which forces a dentist to carefully control the positions and heights of the edgewise brackets on the

patient's irregularly arranged teeth one by one, and to carefully bend a bracing wire at each edgewise bracket so as to cause the wire to correct the irregularly arranged teeth without failure. The orthodontics device and method of this invention is also effectively used without regarding the diameters, materials, or cross-sectional structures of the bracing wires, different from the conventional edgewise method, and so it is possible to use standardized bracing wires in the orthodontic process.

In the orthodontics device and method of this invention, it is possible for a dentist to attach a new bracing wire to a new set of male parts using model teeth at a dental hospital without requiring the presence of a patient at the hospital. The present invention thus reduces the amount of chair time when the patient meets the dentist at the hospital, and reduces the orthodontic cost. Particularly, the orthodontics device and method of this invention improves the orthodontic operational effect when it is used in lingual orthodontics, and so the orthodontics device and method is preferably used in such lingual orthodontics.