1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to tools, instruments, and implements used in the medical field, and particularly to a manual dental instrument for elevating and luxating or loosening teeth in preparation for extraction.
2. Description of the Related Art
Although modern medical science and technology have greatly improved the ability of dentists and other medical professionals to retain the natural teeth for their patients, from time to time it is still necessary to extract a natural tooth. Such tooth extractions must still be accomplished by hand, using manual tools for the most part. Accordingly, a number of different tools and instruments have been developed in the past, for extracting a tooth or preparing a tooth for extraction.
Most of these instruments used for the preparation of extraction, i.e., luxating or loosening the tooth, are shaped or contoured to provide only a single contact point, or at most a single short line of contact, between the tooth and the instrument. The resulting very high localized pressure can often result in the tooth breaking before the root has been loosened sufficiently to facilitate extraction. When this occurs, the dentist or dental professional is left with a considerably more complex and time-consuming operation to remove the remaining tooth. This additional work results in additional trauma for the patient.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus, a dental instrument solving the aforementioned problems is desired.
The dental instrument is formed of a single elongate, unitary length of surgical steel or other suitable material. The instrument preferably includes two mutually opposed working end portions and a generally medial cushioned handgrip portion. Each of the end portions has a shallow axial channel with a sharpened distal end having a notch formed therein. The two sides of the notch provide two contact points or areas to avoid the extreme pressures applied by conventional single contact point instruments and the resulting breakage of the tooth and subsequent difficulty in extracting the base or root of the tooth that often occurs. A lateral notch having sharpened edges is also preferably formed along one side of each working end portion of the tool.
The configuration of the dental instrument provides greater versatility to perform the manipulations generally required for tooth extraction. The instrument enables the dental professional to luxate or loosen the subject tooth prior to extraction by prying or levering the tooth angularly, and provides some ability to rotate the tooth axially as well in order to luxate the tooth prior to applying forceps for the actual extraction. The sharpened blades of the distal end notch of the dental instrument also enable the dental professional to cut the tissue surrounding the subject tooth, thereby further facilitating the removal of the tooth.
These and other features of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings.
Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings.
The dental instrument enables the dental professional to luxate or loosen a tooth prior to extraction.
The tip 18a, 18b of each working portion 16a, 16b is formed with a notched and sharpened edge, respectively 28a and 28b. The notches preferably define an included angle A of about 135°, as shown most clearly in the top plan view of the working portion 16a of the instrument 10 in
The dental instrument 10 is formed with a series of convex and mutually adjacent knobs 40 disposed axially therealong and surrounding the medial handle portion 14 of the instrument 10. The knobs 40 preferably increase in diameter from the first knob adjacent the respective working end 16a and 16b of the instrument 10 to a medial largest diameter knob. Each of the knobs 40 has a circular cross section that is somewhat larger than the major diameter 20 of the elliptical cross section of the working portion of the instrument 10, as shown in the end view of
It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the following claims.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
739333 | Miles, Jr. | Sep 1903 | A |
1109924 | Hoffman et al. | Sep 1914 | A |
2056417 | Bosworth | Oct 1936 | A |
2674799 | Fraser | Apr 1954 | A |
4270902 | Wiland | Jun 1981 | A |
4315745 | Murata | Feb 1982 | A |
4365957 | Das | Dec 1982 | A |
4854867 | Meinershagen | Aug 1989 | A |
5830225 | Detsch | Nov 1998 | A |
5934905 | Martoral et al. | Aug 1999 | A |
6309219 | Robert | Oct 2001 | B1 |
20050095558 | Jones | May 2005 | A1 |
20060063130 | Hayman et al. | Mar 2006 | A1 |
20060160046 | Nesbitt et al. | Jul 2006 | A1 |
20090042165 | Garrison et al. | Feb 2009 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
2260787 | Dec 2010 | EP |
WO 2005079693 | Sep 2005 | WO |
WO 2009118741 | Oct 2009 | WO |
Entry |
---|
Website, http://www.kabdental.com/small-dental-equipment/miltex—instruments—and—products/elevators.htm, series of dental instruments, 11 pages printed from the internet on Jun. 13, 2011. |