Gillette Canada Inc

Edwards Lifesciences Corporation

Gillette Canada Company

Pranav Desai

Belinda L Tsao

Pritpal Singh

Pascal Destandau

Alex Angell-Atchison

Mingchih M Tseng

Sanjay Shrivastava

Casper W Chiang

Edward Hosung Park

Melissa Denton

Xiangyang Zhang

Paul Zwick

Methods for forming a support frame for flexible leaflet heart valves from a starting blank include converting a two-dimensional starting blank into the three-dimensional support frame. The material may be superelastic, such as NITINOL, and the method may include bending the 2-D blank into the 3-D form and shape setting it. A merely elastic material such as ELGILOY may be used and plastically deformed in stages, possibly accompanied by annealing, to obtain the 3-D shape. Alternatively, a tubular blank could be formed to define a non-tubular shape, typically conical. A method for calculating the precise 2-D blank shape is also disclosed. A mandrel assembly includes a mandrel and ring elements for pressing the blank against the external surface of the mandrel prior to shape setting.

Method of manufacture of a heart valve support frame

Elastomeric polymeric flosses comprising particulate modification agents stably associated with the surface thereof, as well as methods for their fabrication, are provided. In the subject flosses, particulate modification agents are either adsorbed to the surface of the floss or embedded in the surface of the floss. To fabricate the subject flosses, unmodified elastomeric flosses are contacted with particulate modification agents under conditions which provide for the stable association of the particles with the floss surface, where the floss surface may be softened to promote embedding of the particulate modification agents in the surface of the floss.

Particulate modified elastomeric flosses

A method and apparatus for coating a fiber used in oral hygiene. The method comprises aerosolizing a coating and projecting the aerosolized coating particles onto a target area of the fiber. The method also comprises recycling recaptured coating particles for reuse in fiber coating. An apparatus for coating oral hygiene fibers is also described.

Method of coating a fiber

Monofilament gel dental flosses and methods for their fabrication are provided. The gel flosses comprise a core material in combination with a gel material, where both the core and gel materials comprise thermoplastic elastomeric polymers and are sufficiently adherent to one another so as not to separate under conditions of hygienic use.

'Gel' dental floss

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Anaheim Hills, CA, United States of America

Pranav Desai