Dentistry – Method or material for testing – treating – restoring – or... – Endodontic
Reexamination Certificate
2001-08-09
2003-11-11
Wilson, John J. (Department: 3732)
Dentistry
Method or material for testing, treating, restoring, or...
Endodontic
C433S081000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06644972
ABSTRACT:
REFERENCE TO PENDING APPLICATIONS
This application is not related to any pending United States or international patent application.
REFERENCE TO MICROFICHE APPENDIX
This application is not referenced in any Microfiche Appendix.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
One of the greatest improvements made in dentistry in this century is the use of endodontics to save natural teeth that become abscessed. In the past, when the root canal of a tooth became abscessed, a fairly frequent occurrence, a dentist could relieve the intense pain produced by the abscessed tooth only by extracting the tooth. In the last couple of decades, procedures have been improved to the point that by the practice of endodontics, most abscessed teeth can now be saved.
Endodontics in general consists of treating an abscessed tooth to relieve the abscess by cleaning out the nerve and pulpal tissue in the tooth root canal so as to remove the material that is the source of infection and thereby remove the infection itself from within the tooth and from within the patient's system.
The typical procedure for treating an abscessed tooth in the modern dental practice is to drill a hole through the coronal area to access the upper end of the root canal. The dentist, or endodontic practitioner, then carefully removes the nerve and pulpal tissue from the root canal and shapes the root canal for receiving an inert filler material. Removal of pulpal material and shaping the root canal is accomplished by the use of dental files that are inserted through the opening in the coronal area and manipulated to scrape away and remove pulpal material and at the same time shape the canal to receive the filler material. After a canal has been cleared of pulpal material it must be filled with an inert material to prevent, or at least substantially reduce the possibility of fluids and material from the body entering into the root canal through the root apical area. The standard filler material that has been in use by dentists and endodontists for many years is gutta percha, a naturally occurring plastic-like material that has characteristics that particularly adapt it for use as a filler material although other types of filler materials have been and in the future undoubtedly will be developed.
Effectively filling a cleaned and prepared root canal is an essential step in a successful endodontic operation. Filler material can be injected directly into a root canal such as by means of a manually employed compacting instrument. Others have suggested the use of mechanical injection devices for injecting filler material directly into the root canal. One of the most successful ways of filling a root canal in modern times has been by the use of an endodontic obturator disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,758,156 and 4,894,011 by Dr. William B. Johnson. These patents are incorporated herein by reference. These patents disclose endodontic obturators utilizing a carrier in the form of a shaft of solid material that is metal or plastic that has formed thereon filler material, such as gutta percha. The gutta percha is heated such as over an open Bunsen Burner or by other techniques and while in semi-liquid state, the carrier with the adhered gutta percha is inserted into the prepared root canal. This technique introduces the gutta percha into the canal and, by means of the carrier, into the full depths of the canal to the apical area. Further, the physical insertion of the carrier serves to compact and force the filler material into irregular areas of the root canal.
The technique employed in these two patents is typically in the form of an elongated tapered shaft that is inserted into and remains in the tooth root canal.
Carriers can be either metal, fiberglass or plastic and in recent years the use of plastic carriers has increased in preference by some practitioners.
The present invention is directed towards an improved system for filling an endodontically prepared root canal. Additional background material relating to the endodontic preparation of root canals and filling root canals can be obtained from the following previously issued United States and foreign patents and technical art:
PATENT NO.
INVENTOR
TITLE
674,419
Kinsman
Root Canal Filling For Teeth
1,463,963
Miller
Root Canal Point
1,469,992
Card
Dental Root Canal Point
1,969,808
Lentulo
Rotary Plugging Tool
3,318,000
Paris
Dental Root Canal
Filling Point
3,534,476
Winters
Method and Apparatus for
Drilling and Filling Root
Canals
3,813,779
Tosti
Method and Apparatus for
Sealing Root Canals and
Anchoring Teeth
3,861,043
Lieb et al.
Dental Pin
4,353,698
McSpadden
Dental Tool
4,397,634
Biggs
Surgical Pins and Method
4,457,710
McSpadden
Dental Instrument
4,480,996
Crovatto
Endodontic Instrument for
Dental Root Canal Filling
4,758,156
Johnson
Tool for Use in Applying
Filler Material to an
Endodontically Prepared
Root Canal
5,051,093
Fitzmorris
Root Canal Filling Device
Including Releasably
Reusable Inserter Tool
CA 1220369
Weisskircher
Self-Adapting Retentive
Endodontic Build-Up Post
CH 513640
Corneo
Instrument for Filling
Dental Root Canals
DE 126184
Beust
Dental Root Filling
FR 775073
Garnier
Filling Paste for Sealing
Obturations of the Tooth
Crevice
FR 2,163,953
Aubert & Gluck
Obturator Root
Other Cited References:
Vol. 4, No. 6
Journal of
Endodontics-June 1978
Vol. XXV,
New York Odontological
The Dental Cosmos
P. 185-195
Society
Third Edition,
Endodontics-
Obturation of the Radicular
P. 271-272
Ingle and Taintor
Space
Jan. 1, 1980
British Dental Journal-
A Newly Designed Root
Negm, Grant et al.
Canal Filling Material
January, 1983
Oral Surgery- Negm
Filing Root Canals with
Silver-Percha Cones: A
Clinical Study
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention herein is an obturator system for filling an endodontically prepared root canal in a tooth. The system uses an obturator in the form of an elongated heat conductible shaft having a proximal and a distal end. Filler material, such as gutta percha, is formed on the shaft distal end portion. The shaft distal end portion with the gutta percha material thereon is inserted into a prepared root canal, the shaft serving as a vehicle for carrying the filler material into the lowermost portion of the root canal and compacting the filler material in the canal. A heater as employed in association with the shaft to heat the shaft before or after the filler material has been inserted into a root canal plasticize the gutta percha and decrease the surface tension between the shaft and the filler material. After the shaft is heated, it can be removed leaving the filler material within the tooth root canal.
The shaft of an obturator can be heated electrically such as by resistance heating employing wires attached to the shaft. In addition, the shaft can be heated electromagnetically by employing wire coiled around the shaft proximal end portion. The coil is subjected to an AC current to create an alternating electromagnetic field to heat the shaft. Further, the shaft can be heated by subjecting it to electromagnetic waves such as from a laser or other generator.
The temperature of the shaft may be sensed and indicated or a signal generated from a temperature sensor may be employed to control the heater to terminate heating when the shaft has reached a preselected temperature.
A better understanding of the invention will be obtained from the following description and claims, taken in conjunction with the attached drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 674419 (1901-05-01), Kinsman
patent: 1463963 (1923-08-01), Miller
patent: 1469992 (1923-10-01), Card
patent: 1969808 (1934-08-01), Lentulo
patent: 3318000 (1967-05-01), Paris
patent: 3534476 (1970-10-01), Winters
patent: 3813779 (1974-06-01), Tosti
patent: 3861043 (1975-01-01), Lieb et al.
patent: 4353698 (1982-10-01), McSpadden
patent: 4397634 (1983-08-01), Biggs
patent: 4457710 (1984-07-01), McSpadden
patent: 4480996 (1984-11-01), Crovatto
patent: 4525147 (1985-06-01), Pitz et al.
patent: 4681545 (1987-07-01), Lapcevic
patent: 4758156 (1988-07-01), Johnson
patent: 4971556 (1990-11-01), Ritano
patent: 505109
Gable & Gotwals
Johnson Paul H.
Wilson John J.
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