Mouthguard

Dec. 14, 1965

K. W. GORES ETAL

MOUTHGUARD

Filed Dec. 3, 1963

3,223,085

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INVENTOR&amp;

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ATTORNEYS

3,223,085

Patented Dec. 14, 1965

United States Patent

3,223,085 MOUTHGUARD

Kenneth W. Gores, 9831 NE. 16th St., and Patrick D. Kennar, 9849 NE. 21st Place, both of Bellevue, Wash.

Filed Dec. 2,1963, Ser. No. 327,451 ⁰

Claims. (Cl. 128—136)

This invention is related to an intra-oral protective device and, more particularly, to a mouthguard to be worn by athletes for protecting the teeth and related oral struc- 10 tures from injury.

Our invention is designed to produce a substantially rigid splint to distribute the force of any traumatic impact over a large area, thus preventing a fracture at the point of impact and at the same time by the use of a yieldable ¹⁵material reduce the resultant force of impact.

Among other important objects of this invention has been the provision, in a resilient mouthpiece, of a rigid splint so incorporated and located as to distribute the force of a traumatic impact over a large area to reduce the effect of such force applied more locally; to provide a mouthpiece which includes tension means operable to grip the upper dental arch from side to side to facilitate maintaining the mouthpiece in place; to produce an intraoral protector having a rigid splint incorporated therein ⁰so that, even though the mouth piece body was molded of a resilient material, the splint does not require being cast in place; to provide a mouthpiece which by the use of a polymerizable, yieldable material may be personalized to accurately fit the oral structure of a user; and which mouthpiece and its yieldable material may also include reinforcing and abrasion resistant fibers; and the provision in a mouthguard of a pneumatic cushion disposed in the occlusal area of the posterior and possibly gg the anterior teeth to reduce bite through as well as to reduce the transmission of shocking forces between the jaws.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become more apparent during the course of the following ₄θ specification taken in view of the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a lower, front perspective view of an intraoral protective defective device according to the invention; 45

FIG. 2 is a perspective view from above, of a device according to this invention, looking into a trough which receives yieldable tooth-structure conforming material;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the protective device;

FIG. 4 is a face view in perspective from below of rigid 50 splint employed in the protective device;

FIG. 5 is a cross-section taken on line 5—5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a cross-section taken on line 6—6 of FIG. 3;

and 55

FIG. 7 is a cross-section view taken on line 7—7 of FIG. 3.

In general, this intra-oral protective device is formed of a yieldable, resilient material, preferably a material having rubber-like characteristics. Polyvinylchloride is a 60 very suitable material for molding this protective device. The principal elements of the device are a U-shaped base member 10 adapted to be disposed over and between the upper and/or lower teeth of a user. There are upstanding buccal and lingual walls 12 and 14 respectively along each 65 of the peripheral edges of the U-shaped base, the upstanding lingual wall being shortened to include only the coronal portions of the teeth. The walls and the base are integral and form a trough in which the upper or lower teeth are disposed. A plastic yieldable filler mate- 70 rial is placed in the trough and when applied to the user’s upper or lower teeth, the same is molded and shaped to an exact fit of the contours of the arch and of the teeth. Thereupon, through chemical reaction in situ, the filler material 16 is fused and set. In this way, the device is personalized to the user.

An important aspect of the invention is the improvement which resides in forming the anterior portion of the outer wall with a slit pocket 18 that extends from side to side approximately between the left and the right bicuspid teeth. Of course, the extension of this pocket may be varied as to length depending upon the number of teeth in the upper jaw it is desired to traverse.

A rigid arcuate, splint plate 20, is disposed in the slit pocket. It is preferable that the plate be formed of stainless steel or the equivalent, that it be resilient, that it be thin in the range of about 0.01-0.02, and that the plate extend from end to end of the pocket 18. Means are provided for sealing the mouth 22 of said pocket along the upper edge of the outer front wall. Such means restrains the plate from upward displacement from the pocket. In the instance where the protective device is molded from polyvinylchloride this sealing means is accomplished simply by a fusion together of the lips of the pocket mouth 22. This fusion is easily accomplished by the application of heat or of an adhesive material.

In one form of the invention, the arcuate splint plate 20, intermediate its upper and lower edges, is provided from end to end with concavo-convex ridge or rib 24. A second rib 26 may be added as desired. In place, the concave portion of the ridge or rib is disposed adjacent the labial surfaces of the user’s front teeth. The splint plate may be resilient between its ends and be more sharply curved than is the curvature of the outer wall and its pocket.

It is desirable that splint 20 have a length sufficient to include the upper anterior teeth. However, in the case where the splint is extended to include the posterior teeth, its springy action can be utilized to aid retention of the mouthguard. In sports other than football, a more abreviated form of the mouthguard may be used, in which case this additional retention would be necessary. When the plate 20 is in place, it imparts an inward pressure on the buccal wall 12 of the mouthguard and biases the buccal wall to close contact with the upper dental arch. The desired arching or curving of the splint may be accomplished after the mouthguard is personalized by the setting of the filler material 16. The splint in such instance can be manually shaped to the arc of a smaller circle, thereby rendering it slightly more curved than the individual dental arch. This is best accomplished after the filler material 16 has set.

The base 10 may either be thickened to provide resistance to bite-through or, more preferably, it may be molded with a chamber 30 which when sealed comprises a pneumatic cushion in the occlusal area. This occlusal air chamber may be U-shaped, having two collapsed, vertical, potential air spaces 41 and 42 in communication with it. The vertical potential air spaces would be inflated when the occlusal air chamber 30 is placed under compression by the force of occlusion. This inflation of the vertical air spaces 41, 42 will force the thin buccal and lingual walls against the filler material and thence against the teeth increasing retention of the mouthguard. The walls of the air chamber adjacent the filler material are preferably relatively thinner than the outer or opposite buccal, lingual and occlusal walls of the trough.

Referring to FIG. 6 the protector is shown in place. An anterior tooth 32 of the user’s upper jaw is shown embedded in the filler material 16 in a close fitting relationship. Splint plate 20, with its ridges 24 and 26 directed forward, is disposed in pocket 18. The mouth 26 of pocket 18 is sealed to retain the plate.

3,223,085 ³

FIG. 7 is a similar cross-section taken in the rear of the dental arch. A pneumatic cushion formed by chamber 30 underlies bottom wall 10 and communicates with potential chambers 41, 42, which after formation during molding area sealed at any open edges resulting from 5 molding requirements. The user’s posterior teeth, in occluded position, bite on and tend to compress cushion 30 and expand the collapsed, communicating leg portions 41, 42 of the U-shaped air chamber. When the mouthguard is being fitted to the user his name may be inscribed on a card 44 and the same inserted into one of the chambers 41, 42 through an overlapping slit on the tooth side of the trough, which is then sealed by the addition of the filler material. In this way the mouthguard, in addition to being accurately fitted to the user, is marked 75 with the user’s name.

It has also been found desirable to increase the attractiveness of the device to its user. By adding a longlived flavoring to the filler material 16, the use of the device, aside from its functional purposes, may thus 20 be made more attractive and insure its being in place and used when needed.

We have found that considerable care has to be exercised when the mouthguard and the filler material 16, still in its unshaped form, is first placed in the mouth, 25 so that the lingual wall 14 is not distorted or flared away from the lingual surfaces of the teeth an undesirable distance. This can be accomplished by fitting a U-shaped metallic retainer clip around the outside of the trough in the posterior areas during the shaping of the filler 30 material 16. Such U-shaped members should be designed to rigidify both the buccal and the lingual walls 12 and 14, thus preventing their flaring. They should be thin and easily removed after the filler material 16 has set in its molded shape. By so doing, it is possible that the 35 upper edges of walls 12 and 14 can be caused to lie in close relationship to the gun to eliminate the protruding edges or ridges that may not only be uncomfortable but, along the lingual surface, may be engaged by the tongue in such a way as to cause the mouthguard to be 40 displaced during use. The rigid U-shaped retainer clip also serves the purpose of preventing the air in chamber 30 being compressed to force air up with the buccal and lingual potential air spaces 41, 42 during the fitting process.