Systems and methods for intra-oral drug delivery

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed for intra-oral delivery of drugs.

1 . A method for delivering one or more substances, comprising: 
 attaching the one or more substances to an oral structure; and    fluidly providing the one or more substances from the oral structure into a body at a pre-selected dose.    
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the substances is a therapeutically effective amount of a drug or a bioactive agent.  
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the substances accelerates or decelerates tooth movement.  
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the substances induces irritation of the oral structure.  
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the substances induces inflammation of a bone structure or surrounding tissue.  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the substances is delivered through gingiva.  
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the substances is positioned on a bracket, a dental attachment, a bracket auxiliary, a ligature tie, a pin, a bracket slot cap, a wire, a screw, a micro-staple, a denture, a partial denture, a dental implant, a periodontal probe, a periodontal chip, a film, or a space between teeth.  
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the substances is positioned on a removable appliance.  
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein one or more of the substances is positioned on the removable appliance such that the substances are delivered to specific locations within the oral tissue while a different substance is positioned on the same appliance such that it can be delivered to a different location within the oral tissue.  
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising one or more modules positioned on the removable appliance to house one or more of the substances.  
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the substance provides energy for treatment.  
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the energy comprises electric, light, heat, sound, magnetic or electromagnetic energy.  
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising recharging the oral structure with an additional substance.  
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising 
 scanning a patient's dentition; and 
 designing one or more appliances to attach the substance to the oral structure based on the scanned dentition.  
   
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein at least one of the appliances is designed to dispense the preselected dose.  
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the appliances dispense the substance in a predetermined sequence.  
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein at least two of the appliances dispense the substance in two or more different dosages for delivery at two or more different periods.  
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising 
 sampling an intra-oral substance; and    detecting a body condition based on the intra-oral substance    
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the body condition comprises a disease.  
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 18 , comprising performing a close-loop delivery of substance based on a sampled intra-oral substance.  
   
   
       21 . The method of  claim 18 , comprising transmitting the detected body condition to a remote computer for diagnosis.  
   
   
       22 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the substances accelerates tooth movement by degrading collagen and/or elastin in the oral tissue.  
   
   
       23 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein one or more of the substances contains at least one of the following active ingredients: trypsin, elastase, papain, aminobenzoate potassium, cathepsin, amylolytic enzyme, proteolytic enzyme, celluloytic enzyme or lipase.  
   
   
       24 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the substances accelerates tooth movement by increasing the expression or activity of endogenous enzymes that degrade collagen and/or elastin.  
   
   
       25 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein one or more of the substances contains at least one of the following active ingredients: prostaglandin E2, prostaglandin F2alpha, heparin, relaxin, conconavalen A and/or nicotine.  
   
   
       26 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the substances accelerates tooth movement by causing degradation of glycosaminoglycans or proteoglycans.  
   
   
       27 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein one or more of the substances contains at least one of the following active ingredients: hyaluronidase, alpha-L-iduronidase, catabolin, or estradiol.  
   
   
       28 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the substances induces inflammation by increasing the local concentration of interleukin-1, interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, or transforming growth factor-beta.  
   
   
       29 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the substances prevents tooth relapse by causing an increase in the number of crosslinks between tissue matrix proteins in the oral environment.  
   
   
       30 . The method of  claim 29 , wherein one or more of the substances contains at least one of the following active ingredients: genipin, carbodiimide, glutaraldehyde, formaldehyde, 1,6-diaminohexane, bioflavonoids, or reducing sugars such as glucose, ribose or derivatives thereof.  
   
   
       31 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the substances alters tooth movement by stimulating or reducing bone resorption.  
   
   
       32 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein one or more of the substances contains a bisphosphoate such as risedronate or AHBuBP.  
   
   
       33 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising storing a first substance in a first reservoir and a second substance in a second reservoir.  
   
   
       34 . The method of  claim 33 , wherein the first substance is different from the second substance.  
   
   
       35 . The method of  claim 33 , wherein the first substance is the same as the second substance.  
   
   
       36 . The method of  claim 33 , comprising a third reservoir storing a third substance, wherein the first and third substances are different from the second substance.  
   
   
       37 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the substance comprises analgesics.  
   
   
       38 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the substance relieves oral pain involved with dental movement.  
   
   
       39 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the substance relieves pain from alveolar ridge augmentation and orthognathic treatment.  
   
   
       40 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the substance provides fresh breath.