The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 15, 2001
Filed:
Oct. 07, 1999
Alvin I. Kobashigawa, Laguna Beach, CA (US);
Christos Angeletakis, Orange, CA (US);
Kerr Corporation, Orange, CA (US);
Abstract
There is provided a resin-containing dental composite including a dispersed phase, reinforcing, translucent filler having about 25-80% by volume of the filler particles in the particle size range from about 0.2 &mgr;m to about 0.6 &mgr;m whereby the composite has a self-opalescing quality. Without the addition of opalescence-imparting pigments, a dental restorative composite is provided that displays opalescence to the visible eye, which gives the restoration the appearance of a vital, natural tooth. Preferably, the refractive indices of the resin and the translucent filler are the same or substantially similar, both advantageously being within the range of 1.45-1.60. Further, to prevent the opal effect from being masked, the dental restorative composite advantageously comprises less than 0.0021% by weight yellow hue pigments such that the composite formulation is relatively colorless.