Dentistry – Apparatus – Having means to emit radiation or facilitate viewing of the...
Patent
1986-11-04
1990-05-15
Weiss, John
Dentistry
Apparatus
Having means to emit radiation or facilitate viewing of the...
A61C 300
Patent
active
049253913
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a dental instrument.
When examining and treating the teeth of a dental patient, it is often necessary to place a suction device in the patient's mouth in order to remove saliva therefrom.
In present day dental surgeries, teeth are normally drilled with the aid of a drill which drives a drill bit by means of a turbine. A drill of this kind is provided with water jets or nozzles located in the vicinity of the drill bit. Significant quantities of water are sprayed through the jets onto the teeth in order to cool the teeth while drilling takes place. Fragments of the tooth being drilled, together with old fillings when found, are loosened and broken away during drilling of the teeth.
In order for the dentist to be able to drill a tooth properly, he/she must be able to see the drilling site clearly. Consequently, it is necessary to remove continuously all saliva, water, tooth and filling debris from around the tooth, so that the drilling site is kept clean.
To this end there is used a suction device in the form of a straight pipe, normally a plastics pipe, which is connected to a suction source by means of a connecting hose.
In order to be able to see the drilling site clearly, and to illuminate the drilling site, there is used a dental mirror by means of which light is reflected from an overhead lamp onto the drilling site.
Thus, it is often necessary for the dentist to use a drill, a suction device and a mirror simultaneously, at one and the same time. In addition to being extremely difficult, if not impossible, to hold all three instruments at the same time, a further problem resides in the fact that access to the tooth area decreases with the number of instruments placed in the location of the tooth.
In order to enable three instruments to be used simultaneously, the suction device is normally held in place by the dental nurse while the dentist holds the drill and the mirror.
Thus, it is necessary for the dental nurse to remain at the patient's side, together with the dentist, solely because of the need to use three instruments.
It has previously been proposed to combine a mirror with a suction device. This proposal, however, gives rise to a further problem, namely that the mirror, and therewith the suction device, must be frequently removed from the mouth cavity, in order to clean the mirror so that the working area can be seen clearly. Because of this the use of a conventional suction device and a conventional mirror prevails, despite the aforesaid disadvantages associated therewith.
The aforementioned problems are fully solved by means of the present invention, which provides an instrument which enables solely the instrument and a drill to be used simultaneously.
The present invention relates to a dental instrument comprising a shaft having firmly mounted on one end thereof a mirror which is supported by a housing provided with an inlet opening leading to a first internal channel which communicates with a further channel provided in the shaft, this channel being intended for connection to a suction source, and is characterized in that the shaft incorporates a second channel having one end which opens above the mirror and the other end of which is intended for connection to a pressurized-air source via a control means for controlling the supply of pressurized air to a turbine drill, whereby the supply of pressurized air to the instrument is proportional to the supply of pressurized air to said turbine drill, whereby the pressurized air supplied to the instrument is blown over the mirror.
The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which
FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the instrument according to the invention;
FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line A--A in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line B--B in FIG. 4;
FIG. 4 is a plan view of the mirror; and
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating coupling of the instrument.
FIG. 1 illustrates a dental instrument 1 constructed in accordance with the invent
REFERENCES:
patent: 1905633 (1933-04-01), Feltham
patent: 1925981 (1933-09-01), Hopkins
patent: 2984909 (1961-05-01), Johnston
patent: 3001288 (1961-09-01), Freedman
patent: 3052031 (1962-09-01), Piscitelli
patent: 3092910 (1963-06-01), Warriner
patent: 3118231 (1964-01-01), Rathsmill
patent: 3256603 (1966-06-01), White
patent: 3928916 (1975-12-01), Hansson
patent: 4386910 (1983-06-01), Cattani
Lepiane Adriene J.
Weiss John
LandOfFree
Dental instrument does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Dental instrument, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Dental instrument will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-618783