Dentistry – Apparatus – Having storage or nonuse supporting means
Reexamination Certificate
2001-01-22
2002-04-30
Lucchesi, Nicholas D. (Department: 3732)
Dentistry
Apparatus
Having storage or nonuse supporting means
C433S027000, C433S114000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06379149
ABSTRACT:
The invention relates to a dental treatment and processing unit for especially hoseless and cordless handpieces or the like, which contain at least one reservoir for a cooling medium for the treatment site and at least one energy source.
Dental treatment stations of the type under discussion have been known for a long time from everyday practice and exist in varying forms of construction. For example, handpieces are operated with turbines and/or air motors and/or electric motors, in particular for drilling, milling and abrading. Furthermore, curing lights are often used. Both for operating and for cooling these components, larger quantities of air are required. In particular, a large quantity of air is required for cooling the processing site in or on the tooth by means of a spray containing a lot of air. To this end, an efficient compressor is, first of all, necessary. Furthermore, heavy duty suction machines and separating devices are also necessary to separate the waste water and the outgoing air. In many countries it is also necessary to remove the environmentally harmful mercury, thus the amalgam, from the waste water.
To supply specifically the handpiece(s), assigned to the treatment station, with the operating mediums, which are required for their operation—for example electric energy, gas or liquid—, which are fed over hose and/or cable connections from the supply units to the handpieces, a very complicated configuration and supply of the treatment station is necessary. Furthermore, owing to the complexity, the treatment station is very expensive.
Starting from the processing unit, according to the U.S. Pat. No. 5,286,192, the invention is, therefore, based on the problem of providing a dental treatment station, where a simple, compact, ergonomically optimal and inexpensive construction with a very simple supply and disposal arrangement is realized.
In the case of the said treatment and processing unit, the invention provides that the treatment station includes means that enable the usual patient treatment of drilling, abrading, cleaning with the feed and removal of cooling mediums and the processing of the waste water under optimal hygienic and ergonomic conditions without a hose connection to the suction machine, compressor, tap water and waste water lines. At the same time the relatively low flow rate of cooling water, which is introduced into a patient's mouth, is utilized, as described in the document EP B 547 468. Thus, the goal is reached that the treatment site of the patient, thus in particular the treatment chair and its environment, can be kept completely free ofconnections for flowing mediums, such as air and water, and their drain lines, and of the electrical cables.
Expediently the handpieces within reach of the physician are disposed preferably on a tray. Furthermore, it is advantageous if a processing unit (charging unit) is available that charges the handpieces by means of couplings with the cooling mediums and electric energy. The invention can be designed especially advantageously to the effect that in the processing unit the cleaning and/or the disinfecting and/or the sterilization and/or the lubrication and/or other care of the handpieces occurs/occur. It is advantageous for a charging unit for the hoseless and cordless handpieces to be attached to a pressure source for air and/or a pressure source for water and/or to a waste water line.
Expediently the charging unit is supplied with electricity and attached to a pressure source for air and/or a pressure source for water and/or to a waste water line or generates the pressure from the surrounding air and the liquid reservoirs itself In detail, the charging unit can exhibit at least one connecting piece for receiving a counter-connecting piece of a hand unit, which is connected to the pressure source and/or to a source of electric energy for recharging the reservoirs, located in the handpiece. It is further recommended that the charging unit be coupled to a source of hot pressurized water.
In another preferred embodiment of the invention the processing unit includes a suction system with a collecting container for waste water and waste. The suction system can exhibit advantageously a canula with variable lumen. Furthermore, it is recommended that the collecting container exhibit an interchangeable filter made preferably of hydrophobic material.
In a further development of the invention the processing unit can include a separating system for separating liquids and solids, preferably amalgam. For the separating system an evaporation unit is recommended for the liquid that can be realized, for example, with a microwave generator for a mixture of liquid and solid, contained in a tank. Expediently the separating system is disposed behind a preferably microwave-proof flap. Finally the processing unit can also be designed in such a manner that there is a cuspidor, which is attached to a telescope support arm and which is assigned to a suction canula.
In an inventive manner it was recognized, first of all, that it is quite possible to use at least to some extent handpieces that are not connected to hoses or cables. In a further inventive manner at least one handpiece exhibits a reservoir for the energy and/or the gas and/or the liquid. Thus, the handpiece is supplied in a self-sufficient manner with operating mediums. The consequence is that the dental treatment station no longer requires complicated hose and/or cable connections. Furthermore, there is no need for heavy duty compressors or other supply units that normally feed operating mediums or energy over hose or cable connections to the handpieces. Thus, both the cost for the hoses, cables and couplings and for the expensive supply unit is eliminated. Finally the treatment station or the processing unit can be configured with a smaller space requirement.
Consequently the treatment station of the invention provides a treatment station, where a simple, compact and inexpensive construction is realized.
Depending on the requirement, the gas can be air, and/or the liquid can be water. Air and/or water constitute especially good coolants for a treatment site. For cooling, a spray, containing a lot of air, is used with water in the conventional manner. However, the results are that large quantities of water to be disposed collect, whereby the bulk of the water does not directly reach the treatment site to be cooled as spray, but rather is sprayed unused on the areas surrounding the treatment site. The air carries the generated aerosol cloud into the treatment space and contaminates it.
As an alternative to spray cooling, a pure liquid cooling arrangement could be used, where the liquid, for example water, is guided directly to the treatment site. For the cooling effect, it is only the water and not the air that is effective owing to its comparatively low thermal capacity. Since the liquid can be aimed better at the treatment site, a significantly smaller volume of liquid has to be used as compared to spray cooling for a comparable effect. Therefore, the consequence of such a pure liquid cooling arrangement is also a significantly smaller volume of liquid to be disposed. This feature reduces the number of equipment for draining and disposing the liquid.
In the case of cooling the treatment site largely without air, for example by means of pure liquid cooling, air is often required only in small quantities for cooling motors, as chip blowers, or for drying a tooth. Thus, expensive compressors can be avoided and the medium—air—can be reduced to a minimum.
With respect to an especially compact and multifaceted storage of a gas or a liquid, the reservoir could be a pressure and/or thermo-container. Thus, it is possible to feed a prethermostatted operating and/or cooling medium to the treatment site. The design of the handpiece(s) with a reservoir for the operating and/or cooling medium makes it possible to operate the handpieces without continuously supplying the handpieces by means of a cable or hose connection.
The treatment station, according to the invent
Jacobson & Holman PLLC
Lucchesi Nicholas D.
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