1. A facial plane indicator for determining the position of at least one of a dental patient’s dental midline and incisal plane relative to the patient’s facial midline, comprising:
an impressionbite tray fixedly coupled with a first end of an anteriorly-disposed rigid pedestal;
a first constituent part, comprising a first side and a second side, of a rotatable joint assembly including a semi-spherical concavity disposed on the first side with at least one of a horizontally-disposed arcuate cradle and a vertically-disposed arcuate cradle disposed on the second side, the at least one arcuate cradle being defined by at least one wedge-shaped buttress;
at least one of a horizontal alignment rod and a vertical alignment rod adapted for seating in the at least one of a horizontally-disposed arcuate cradle and a vertically-disposed arcuate cradle, respectively; and
a second constituent part of a rotatable joint assembly including a sphere coupled with a second end of the rigid pedestal; and wherein the sphere is adapted to be coupled with said semi-spherical concavity;
wherein the at least one of a horizontal alignment rod and a vertical alignment rod can be seated in the at least one of a horizontally-disposed arcuate cradle and a vertically-disposed arcuate cradle, respectively, and aligned with an orientation of a dental patient’s incisal plane, facial midline and an imaginary plane perpendicular to the facial midline, and a plane parallel to the facial midline and orthogonal to the imaginary plane, by rotating the first constituent part of a rotatable joint assembly about a maximum of 3 orthogonal axes relative to the second constituent part of a rotatable joint assembly while the impressionbite tray is occlusally retained in a patient’s mouth.
2. The facial plane indicator according to claim 1 wherein the second constituent part is mounted to the second end of the rigid pedestal by a selectively removable adapter.
3. The facial plane indicator according to claim 2, further comprising an opening associated with the sphere and the semi-spherical concavity.
4. The facial plane indicator according to claim 3 wherein the first constituent part can be selectively immobilized relative to the second constituent part by applying an adhesive to the sphere and the semi-spherical concavity through the opening.
5. The facial plane indicator according to claim 1 wherein the horizontal alignment rod terminates in no more than two opposed alignment wings with planar wing portions for determining the pitch axis of a patient’s maxillary arch.
6. The facial plane indicator according to claim 5 wherein the no more than two opposed alignment wings are removably attached to the horizontal alignment rod.
7. The facial plane indicator according to claim 1 wherein the at least one of a horizontal alignment rod and a vertical alignment rod is selectively detachable from the at least one of a horizontally-disposed arcuate cradle and a vertically-disposed arcuate cradle, respectively.
8. A device adapted for determining, in combination with an impressionbite tray fixedly coupled with a first end of an anteriorly-disposed rigid pedestal, the position of at least one of a dental patient’s dental midline and incisal plane relative to the patient’s facial midline, comprising:
a first constituent part, comprising a first side and a second side, of a rotatable joint assembly including a semi-spherical concavity disposed on the first side with at least one of a horizontally-disposed arcuate cradle and a vertically-disposed arcuate cradle disposed on the second side, the at least one arcuate cradle being defined by at least one wedge-shaped buttress;
at least one of a horizontal alignment rod and a vertical alignment rod selectively attachable to the at least one of a horizontally-disposed arcuate cradle and a vertically-disposed arcuate cradle, respectively; and
a second constituent part of a rotatable joint assembly including a sphere and adapted for coupling with a second end of a rigid pedestal;
wherein the semi-spherical concavity can be snapfit with the sphere for relative rotation of the sphere and the semi-spherical concavity, and retention of the sphere therein; and
wherein the at least one of a horizontal alignment rod and a vertical alignment rod can be rotated about a maximum of 3 orthogonal axes by relative rotation of the sphere and the semi-spherical concavity, and aligned with an orientation of a dental patient’s incisal plane, facial midline and an imaginary plane perpendicular to the facial midline, and a plane parallel to the facial midline and orthogonal to the imaginary plane.
9. The device according to claim 8, further comprising an adapter for selectively attaching the second constituent part to a second end of a rigid pedestal.
10. The device according to claim 9, further comprising an opening associated with the sphere and the semi-spherical concavity.
11. The device according to claim 10 wherein the first constituent part can be selectively immobilized relative to the second constituent part by applying an adhesive to the sphere and the semi-spherical concavity through the opening.
12. The device according to claim 8 wherein the horizontal alignment rod terminates in no more than two opposed alignment wings with planar wing portions that can be oriented for coplanar alignment with a patient’s occlusal plane.
13. The device according to claim 12 wherein the no more than two opposed alignment wings are removably attached to the horizontal alignment rod.
14. A facial plane indicator for determining the orientation of the pitch axis of a dental patient’s maxillary arch, comprising:
an impressionbite tray fixedly coupled with a first end of an anteriorly-disposed rigid pedestal;
a first constituent part, comprising a first side and a second side of a rotatable joint assembly including a semi-spherical concavity disposed on the first side with at least one of a horizontally-disposed arcuate cradle and a vertically-disposed arcuate cradle disposed on the second side, the at least one arcuate cradle being defined by at least one wedge-shaped buttress;
at least one of a horizontal alignment rod terminating in no more than two opposed alignment wings with planar wing portions and a vertical alignment rod, adapted for seating in the at least one of a horizontally-disposed arcuate cradle and a vertically-disposed arcuate cradle, respectively; and
a second constituent part of a rotatable joint assembly including a sphere coupled with a second end of the rigid pedestal;
and wherein the sphere is adapted to be coupled with said semi-spherical concavity;
wherein the first constituent part can be aligned with the pitch axis of a patient’s maxillary arch, while the impressionbite tray is occlusally retained in the patient’s mouth, by relative rotation of the sphere and the semi-spherical concavity about a maximum of 3 orthogonal axes and aligning the no more than two opposed alignment wings coplanar with the pitch axis of the patient’s maxillary arch.
15. The facial plane indicator according to claim 14, further comprising an adapter for selectively attaching the second constituent part to the second end of the rigid pedestal.
16. The facial plane indicator according to claim 15, further comprising an opening associated with the sphere and the semi-spherical concavity.
17. The facial plane indicator according to claim 16 wherein the first constituent part can be selectively immobilized relative to the second constituent part by applying an adhesive to the sphere and the semi-spherical concavity through the opening.
18. The facial plane indicator according to claim 14 wherein the no more than two opposed alignment wings are removably attached to the horizontal alignment rod.
19. A method of determining the position of at least one of a dental patient’s dental midline and incisal plane relative to the patient’s facial midline, comprising the steps of:
providing an impressionbite tray fixedly coupled with a first end of an anteriorly-disposed rigid pedestal;
providing a first constituent part, comprising a first side and a second side, of a rotatable joint assembly including a semi-spherical concavity disposed on the first side with at least one of a horizontally-disposed arcuate cradle and a vertically-disposed arcuate cradle disposed on the second side, the at least one arcuate cradle being defined by at least one wedge-shaped buttress;
seating the at least one of a horizontal alignment rod and a vertical alignment rod in the at least one of a horizontally-disposed arcuate cradle and a vertically-disposed arcuate cradle, respectively;
coupling the first constituent part with a second constituent part of a rotatable joint assembly including a sphere coupled with a second end of the rigid pedestal, the coupling effected by seating the sphere in the semi-spherical concavity;
placing an impression material in the impressionbite tray;
causing a patient to occlude at least one of the patient’s maxillary and mandibular arches in the impression material to provide an impression of at least one of the patient’s maxillary and mandibular arches;
rotating the at least one of the vertical alignment rod and the horizontal alignment rod about a maximum of 3 orthogonal axes to an adjusted position in alignment with the patient’s facial midline and an imaginary plane perpendicular to the facial midline, respectively, and a plane parallel to the facial midline and orthogonal to the imaginary plane;
affixing the sphere in the semi-spherical concavity in the adjusted position to prevent relative movement therebetween; and
removing the impressionbite tray from the patient’s mouth;
whereby a dental restoration can be made from the impression that will be accurately aligned with at least one of the patient’s facial midline and incisal plane.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A biometric information processing device comprising:
a heart rate detection unit that detects the heart rate of a subject;
a relative heart rate calculation unit that calculates a relative heart rate, which is the relative value of the heart rate to the prescribed resting heart rate of the subject;
a relative oxygen intake calculation unit that calculates a relative oxygen intake based on the relative heart rate;
an oxygen intake estimation unit that estimates the oxygen intake from the relative oxygen intake; and
a calorie expenditure calculation unit that calculates calorie expenditure based on the oxygen intake.
2. The biometric information processing device described in claim 1, wherein:
the resting heart rate is the value of the resting heart rate measured in a prescribed resting state before the start of exercise, or a value input externally by the user, or a value obtained by referencing a predefined table that stores correlations between age and the resting heart rate.
3. The biometric information processing device described in claim 1, wherein:
RHRmax is the relative heart rate;
RVO2max is the relative oxygen intake;
a is the slope of the approximation curve representing the relationship between the experimentally determined relative heart rate RHRmax and the relative oxygen intake RVO2max;
b is the intercept of the approximation curve with the axis corresponding to the relative heart rate RHRmax; and
the relative oxygen intake calculation unit calculates relative oxygen intake RVO2max from equation (1)
RVO2max=(RHRmax\u2212b)a\u2003\u2003(1)
when (A) the relative heart rate RHRmax\u226720%, and from equation (2)
RVO2max=0\u2003\u2003(2)
when (B) the relative heart rate RHRmax<20%.
4. The biometric information processing device described in claim 1, wherein:
VO2max is the maximum oxygen intake;
VO2rest is the resting oxygen intake indicating the basal metabolism level; and
the relative oxygen intake estimation unit calculates the oxygen intake VO2 from the following equation:
VO2=RVO2max*(VO2max\u2212VO2rest)+VO2rest.
5. The biometric information processing device described in claim 4, wherein:
the maximum oxygen intake VO2max is an externally input user-defined value, or a value acquired from a predefined table that stores a correlation between the maximum oxygen intake VO2max and one or more values selected from a group of values containing age, sex, and physical fitness, and including at least the age.
6. The biometric information processing device described in claim 1, further comprising:
a calorie expenditure data storage unit that stores the calorie expenditure calculated by the calorie expenditure calculation unit as calorie expenditure data.
7. The biometric information processing device described in claim 6, further comprising:
a communication unit that is connected to an external device over a communication network and sends the calorie data to the external device.
8. The biometric information processing device described in claim 1, further comprising:
an activity level determination unit that determines the subject is exercising if the relative heart rate is greater than or equal to a prescribed reference relative heart rate;
wherein the calorie expenditure calculation unit uses different operations to calculate calorie expenditure when the subject is exercising and when the subject is resting.
9. The biometric information processing device described in claim 2, wherein:
the calorie expenditure calculation unit eliminates from the calorie expenditure calculation data about the oxygen intake acquired in a prescribed heart rate range in which the heart rate is considered to fluctuate easily due to psychological effects on the user when resting.
10. The biometric information processing device described in claim 8, wherein:
the calorie expenditure calculation unit sets the calorie expenditure to zero when the subject is in the state of greatest rest.
11. The biometric information processing device described in claim 1, wherein:
HR is the heart rate;
HRrest is the resting heart rate;
HRmax is the peak heart rate defined as a function of the age of the subject; and
the relative heart rate calculation unit calculates the relative heart rate RHR using the equation
RHR=(HR\u2212HRrest)(HRmax\u2212HRrest)*100(%).
12. The biometric information processing device described in claim 11, wherein:
the peak heart rate HRmax is calculated from the following equation where AGE is the age of the subject:
HRmax=220\u2212AGE.
13. A biometric information processing method comprising:
a heart rate detection step that detects the heart rate of a subject;
a relative heart rate calculation step that calculates a relative heart rate, which is the relative value of the heart rate to the prescribed resting heart rate of the subject;
a relative oxygen intake calculation step that calculates a relative oxygen intake based on the relative heart rate;
an oxygen intake estimation step that estimates the oxygen intake from the relative oxygen intake;
a calorie expenditure calculation step that calculates calorie expenditure based on the oxygen intake; and
a reporting step that reports the calculated calorie expenditure to the subject.
14. A control program for controlling by means of a computer a biometric information processing device that has a heart rate detection unit for detecting the heart rate, the control program comprising steps of:
calculating a relative heart rate, which is the relative value of the heart rate to the prescribed resting heart rate of the subject;
calculating a relative oxygen intake based on the relative heart rate;
estimating the oxygen intake from the relative oxygen intake;
calculating calorie expenditure based on the oxygen intake; and
reporting the calculated calorie expenditure to the subject.