Dentistry – Apparatus – Having motor or means to transmit motion from motor to tool
Patent
1992-11-23
1994-07-19
Mancene, Gene
Dentistry
Apparatus
Having motor or means to transmit motion from motor to tool
433122, A61C 118
Patent
active
053303555
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to dental equipment which has a drive unit for endodontic instruments or, more accurately, a mechanised system that can be used during the various phases of work relating to endodontic treatment.
It is well known that these various phases are very awkward because of the extremely wide variety of shapes of root canals depending on the teeth involved (canine, incisor, premolar and molar).
Many items of equipment, as described in the patent documents EP-A-230 846, EP-A-0 161 196, FR-A-2 178 349 are known for accomplishing various endodontic procedures; they provide alternating angular movements that may or may not be combined with longitudinal straight movements involving various alternatives in terms of the amplitude of movement or the degrees of freedom that the instrument has when working.
These types of equipment provide incomplete, non-progressive damping of the movements of the instrument either by permanent backlash deliberately created in the means of transmitting the movement or by a disengaging system that acts if the instrument is overloaded.
A large number of these types of equipment have the following problems:
significant modification of the apical third on curved root canals;
producing false root canals;
frequent breakage of instruments when they become jammed.
All the above items of equipment attempted to replace manual operation by mechanised systems but did not afford the practitioner the necessary adequate safety when carrying out endodontic treatment.
The present invention adds an additional feature to all combined-movement equipment by eliminating the risks mentioned above. The invention relates to a device that modifies an alternating helical movement (or other movements) in the event of an overload on the instrument in the root canal, thus making sure that endodontic treatment is gradual, smooth and gentle.
In order to achieve this, the invention comprises an angle-piece head consisting of:
a head,
a transmission shaft mounted so that it rotates in the head,
an instrument holder sleeve that rotates and slides in the head with a movement along a transverse axis,
a cam that engages the instrument holder sleeve and is driven by the transmission shaft and is off-centred with respect to the longitudinal axis of the transmission shaft;
a main transmission element that is rotated by the transmission shaft and is angularly flexible with respect to the longitudinal axis of the transmission shaft having, at its end, the cam, and being located between the instrument holder sleeve and the transmission shaft.
The device according to the invention gradually reduces the operating amplitude of the root canal instrument depending on the mechanical stress exerted on it. When the force exerted on the instrument becomes abnormally high, the operating amplitude of the instrument changes gradually until it is completely cancelled. The amplitude of the movement transmitted to the instrument is therefore damped and converted into a vibrational movement thus encouraging possible release of the instrument whilst eliminating any risk of breakage. This conversion of movement when excessively high forces are exerted on the instrument makes it possible to carry out, without risk, root canal finding, root canal drilling and other endodontic operating procedures.
This conversion of altrenating helical movement is obtained thanks to the flexibility of the main transmission element that is located between the instrument holder sleeve and the transmission shaft.
The present invention is distinguished by the fact that the safety of root canal treatment is based on deflection, the gradual bending of a main transmission element. This deformable element is:
the sensitive component that detects any abnormal resistance to the instrument;
the intelligent component of the equipment that converts movement, by automatically deforming, when the total force exerted on the instrument exceeds a specific amount.
This conversion of movement makes the safety of mechanised root canal treatment comparable to t
REFERENCES:
patent: 2135933 (1938-11-01), Blair
patent: 5040977 (1991-08-01), Weissman
patent: 5169312 (1992-12-01), Berlin
Anthogyr, societe anonyme
Eilberg William H.
Lucchesi Nicholas D.
Mancene Gene
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