Adjustable denture attachment

Claim 1

In a denture attachment comprising a male connector element formed of resilient material and comprising a normally upright channel shaped housing having a bight from the opposed ends of which project a pair of spaced apart confronting arms, the male connector including an insert having a shank and an enlarged head, the housing being embedded in a denture, the head having a vertical slit formed therein, and a female housing mounted fixedly in a tooth adjoining said denture and having an internal configuration shaped to receive said insert and fixedly retaining the same therein, that improvement comprising: vertical ribs projecting inwardly on said confronting arms to interfit with complementary slots formed in said shank; the arms and the shank having a series of coaxially aligned openings extending transversely therethrough; changeable fasteners extended through said openings to fixedly engage the shank to the arms; the head having a horizontal, internally threaded bore intersecting the slit therein said bore having an enlarged, tapered entry section, and the bore extending into the slit with the slit at its approximate center line; and a threaded member having a portion of tapered form, whereby inward engagement within the bore expands the head laterally, the head being of a first outside dimension with the threaded member in extended position and upon such expansion being of a second outside dimension tightly engaged in the female housing.