A human body ideally exists by nature in a condition where the human body is balanced vertically and horizontally against the force of gravity. The condition where the human body is balanced against the force of gravity is fundamentally realized by interrelation among 206 to 208 bones. At present, there has been proposed no medical treatment apparatus nor medical treatment method for synthetically pursuing the balance of a human body based on understanding the roles and conditions of the bones.
Conventionally, when various measurements are to be performed by using various dental diagnostic apparatuses, for example, the measurements are usually performed by using a medical chair having a tiltable back plate (for example, see Japanese Patent Publication (Kokai) No. HEI9-51924) in a condition where the subject lies on the back plate of the treatment table which is made horizontal.
In order to measure the shapes of the dental arches and occlusion of the maxilla and mandible of the human body, for example, the subject in such a condition bites an articulating sheet which is produced by applying a coloring agent such as carbon to both faces of a base material such as paper, and the states of the dental arches and occlusion of the subject are checked on the basis of the change in color of portions of the articulating sheet which are in contact with the teeth. In this case, however, the obtained states of the dental arches and occlusion are only those in the condition where the subject lies or is inclined backwards. Therefore, it is impossible to correctly know the states of the dental arches and occlusion.
In order to solve the problem, a method of detecting dental occlusion, and an articulating sheet have been proposed in which temporally fixing means such as a metal core wire is integrated with the articulating sheet, and the measurement for dental occlusion is performed in a condition where the articulating sheet is temporally fixed to teeth or a dental arch of a subject, so that the dental occlusion of the subject in a natural condition can be measured (for example, see Japanese Patent Publication (Kokai) 2003-38524).
However, it was found by the study of the inventors of the invention that the dental occlusion of a subject cannot be correctly known even when the dental occlusion examining method using the articulating sheet disclosed in the above-identified patent publication is used. This is caused because, when the subject in a natural condition where the subject naturally sits on a chair or stands bites the articulating sheet, for example, the subject unconsciously senses a point which becomes into contact with the sheet at the earliest timing (premature contact), and the brain causes the positions of the cranium and the cervical vertebrae to be displaced so as to achieve a balance of the occlusal plane in the front-and-aft and right-and-left directions. Even when the articulating sheet is bitten in such a displaced condition of the cranium and the cervical vertebrae and the bitten result is examined, the occlusal condition cannot be correctly known.
It has been ascertained in studies for long years by the inventors of the invention that such dental arches and occlusal condition can be correctly known when the motions of various regions of the subject are regulated in a condition where the horizontal and vertical balances between the cranium and the cervical vertebrae are achieved.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds