Dentistry – Apparatus – Hand manipulatable implement
Reexamination Certificate
2001-04-06
2003-02-11
O'Connor, Cary E. (Department: 3722)
Dentistry
Apparatus
Hand manipulatable implement
C433S144000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06517349
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manual hand ratch reamer for a dentist, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a manual hand ratch reamer for a dentist, which is configured in such a way as to be suited to dental treatment or dental surgery.
2. Description of the Related Art
A variety of dental implant systems which are installed in a diversity of ways and have numerous effects, are currently known and available in the art. These dental implant systems are installed in a manner such that a dental implant is inserted into an alveolar bone, and, after the dental implant and the alveolar bone undergone osseointegration with each other, an abutment is coupled to the dental implant so as to support the mounting of a prosthetic tooth.
In this regard, conventional dental implant systems are divided into a screw type and a non-screw type. Screw type dental implant systems are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,330,891, 4,763,788, 4,824,372, 5,064,375, 5,064,425, 5,069,622, 5,080,589, 5,098,293, 5,125,841, 5,145,371, 5,154,612 and 5,269,685.
The conventional dental implant system comprises a dental implant, an abutment and a coping. The dental implant is formed, on a circumferential outer surface thereof, with a self-tapping screw, is inserted into an alveolar bone and undergoes osseointegration along with the alveolar bone. The abutment is threadedly coupled to the dental implant on a circumferential inner surface thereof. The coping for a synthetic prosthesis is joined to the abutment by a fastening screw of the synthetic prosthesis.
Consequently, in order to install the dental implant system in the alveolar bone of a patient, a cylindrical hole must be necessarily defined in the alveolar bone. In this connection, the present applicant disclosed a dental implant system in International Patent Application No. PCT/KR00/00050 dated Jan. 24, 2000. Repeatedly speaking, in order to effectuate dental treatment through the dental implant systems which include one diclosed in the international application, a work for forming a cylindrical hole in the alveolar bone must be necessarily performed.
As a dental implement which is employed for this purpose, a ratch reamer which is a kind or handpiece, is known in the art. Conventional hand ratch reamers are driven by fluid injection force or fluid flowing force, or use as their power sources electric motors.
The conventional hand ratch reamers are employed in a manner such that torque is multiplied, using rotating force generated by fluid injection or by the electric motor, through reduction gears which are disposed in the reamers. However, these conventional hand ratch reamers are encountered with a drawback in that they are expensive and apt to be broken. In the case that a breakdown of the electric motor is caused while installing the conventional implant system, specifically, at the place of a molar tooth of upper or a lower jaw, it is difficult to form a cylindrical hole in the alveolar bone, with existing straight type hand ratch reamer, due to a geometrical limitation. In this connection, by the fact that the hand ratch reamer cannot be adequately erected in a vertical direction at the place of molar tooth, a bent type hand ratch reamer which has a bent configuration, is necessarily needed.
Further, when reaming a bone such as a lower jawbone which has a high bone density, the likelihood of the conventional hand ratch reamer to be broken is increased.
In an attempt to solve these drawbacks, hand ratch reamers which can be purchased at a low cost and can be manually rotated to form the cylindrical hole in the alveolar bone, are disclosed in the art. Tie hand ratch reamers have been widely used throughout the world in that diverse implant manufacturers provide hand ratch reamers of shapes and constructions suited to their products.
However, the conventional manual hand ratch reamer suffers from defects as described below, in that a reamer tip is threadedly secured to a fixed cap which is formed with a threaded portion and the entire handpiece is rotated to perform the cylindrical hole forming work.
(1) In the case that the reamer tip is rotated to perform the cylindrical hole forming work in a state wherein the reamer tip is mounted to the fixed cap which is located at a distal end of the handpiece, since an entire body section of the handpiece is rotated, the lips of a patient are liable to be mechanically damaged. Also, as the cylindrical hole forming work is repeatedly performed, the patient feels pain, whereby reluctancy for dental implantation surgery is increased.
(2) Also, since an allowable rotation angle of the manual hand ratch reamer is restricted to a certain value by a geometrical figure of the oral cavity, inconvenience is induced upon installing the dental implant system. Further, since the handpiece in which the end tip has the bent configuration for improving convenience upon implementing the dental implantation surgery, is seriously limited in its use, bothersomeness is imposed on the patient and a dentistry provider.
(3) In the conventional construction, due to the fact that a separate provision for raising rotating force does not exists, a great deal of force is required upon forming the cylindrical hole in the alveolar bone.
(4) As the reamer tip is threadedly coupled with the end cap, when considering the fact that reamer tip of a multitude or sizes are prepared and the dental implantation surgery is implemented while frequently changing the reamer tip, a time required for changing the reamer tip is increased, and thereby, a whole time required for implementing the dental implantation surgery is lengthened.
FIG. 6A
illustrates an exemplary dental implantation surgery to which a manual hand ratch reamer is applied. As can be readily seen from
FIG. 6A
, a lower alveolar bone S
1
of a lower jawbone B serves as a portion which constitutes a socket for supporting natural teeth on a mandible B
1
. As shown in
FIG. 6A
by a dotted line, a phenomenon in which the lower alveolar bone S
1
is gradually absorbed into the mandible B
1
due to pathology, occurs. According to this, by the fact that a possible insertion depth for anchoring a dental implant I is decreased, in he case of a patient who has a shallow depth of a lower alveolar nerve canal C or undergoes lapse of a lengthy period of time after one or more natural teeth came out, it is almost impossible to implement dental implantation surgery.
Thus, in order to install a dental implant system, a bone graft procedure must be executed in advance in an attempt to increase a possible insertion depth d for anchoring the dental implant I.
Specifically, this problem becomes more serious in the case of an upper jawbone B shown in FIG.
6
B. In other words, since maxillary sinuses M are respectively defined in the upper jawbone B at both sides of the human face, particularly, a depth of a maxilla B
2
which is positioned below the maxillary sinus M, is so small that an upper alveolar bone S
2
cannot be properly distinguished. Hence, with the conventional dental implant system, it is difficult to secure a sufficient depth for anchoring the dental implant I.
In particular, in the case of the upper jawbone B, once natural teeth T came out, neumatization of a portion of the upper jawbone B which is located beneath the maxillary sinuses M, takes place as shown in
FIG. 2B
by a dotted line. By this, since the possible insertion depth for anchoring the dental implant I, is further decreased, the above-described problem is more worsened with the lapse of time after natural teeth T came out.
According to this, in the conventional art, if the bone, that is, the alveolar bone S of the upper or lower jawbone B does not have a sufficient height for enabling the dental implant I to be inserted therein, it is the norm that a bone graft procedure or a maxillary sinus lift procedure in which bone of another part of the human body or synthetic bone is inserted into the lower jawbone B
1
or mucosae of the maxillary sinuses M, i
Jacobson & Holman PLLC
O'Connor Cary E.
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