Specification of Edwin Thomas Truman : artificial teeth.

  • Truman, Edwin Thomas.
Date:
1856
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Specification of Edwin Thomas Truman : artificial teeth. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Truman’s Improvements in Palates or Holders for Artificial Teeth. over tlie base of the teeth, is sufficiently yielding to afford every comfort to the wearer. The manner in which I carry my Invention into effect is as follows:—I take a stout wire, or a rod, or a bar of aluminum, either round, square, or of 5 any other desired form, and bend it to the shape required in such a manner that the teeth when placed upon the bar and embedded in the gutta percha, shall occupy those places in the jaw intended to be filled by artificial teeth. I prepare artificial teeth for securing to the aluminum holder, by fixing in the back of each artificial tooth a loop or eye, in such manner that the loop shall 10 be in the same parallel line with the length of the tooth ; or I fix the loop or eye at the base of the tooth, a method I follow particularly for back teeth. I form the loop of platinum wire, and cause it to adhere by inserting the ends thereof in the case of mineral teeth into the mineral while in a soft' state, and then bake them in a furnace; or any other suitable metal may be used for the loop, 15 and may be connected to the tooth by other means. The loop is formed to correspond to the shape of the aluminum holder. Now, in order to finish the palates or holders and fix the teeth thereon, I thread on to the aluminum holder as many artificial teeth (prepared with loops as aforesaid) as are necessary, cover the bases of the teeth, and surround 20 the holder with suitably prepared gutta percha applied in a heated, soft, and plastic state, in order to cause it to fill up the spaces, and assume the form desired. I finish the whole by shaping the gutta percha over a cast of the gums, for which the artificial teeth are required, and allow the gutta percha to cool, when the holder and teeth are ready to be fitted in the mouth ; or, having 25 selected the teeth necessary to fill the spaces with the loops in the most con¬ venient position, I fasten them on a plaster model in their proper form with wax or other suitable material, and then by means of a metal cast taken from the plaster model so prepared, I form a plate of aluminum, which I cause to pass over the back of the teeth in such manner as to enable me, by means of 30 the loop or loops on the teeth and corresponding loop or loop holes in the plate, to pin, bolt, or tie the teeth to it in their proper position, and I then make good all the hollows and interstices necessary with gutta percha, the whole combined having the requisite shape and size for use. I am aware that mineral teeth have been prepared with loops, fixed in a 35 direction across them for the purpose of being affixed by means of a pin or metal back to a gold or silver plate, and therefore I lay no claim to forming teeth with such transverse loops; but I claim,— First, the making of the palate plates or holders for artificial teeth of aluminum, as herein-before described, the fitting of artificial teeth with loops