The present invention relates to the field of dental patient seating apparatuses, and, more particularly, to dental patient seating apparatuses including tool staging arms and related methods.
Dentists can most conveniently work on patient's teeth with the patient in a reclining or semi-reclining position. As such, most dentists have patient chairs suitably designed for conveniently and comfortably placing the patient in this position. In addition, dental work commonly involves the use of a myriad of equipment, appliances, pads and other supplies, and it can be helpful to have these items located in a convenient place near the patient's head where they can be reached easily and quickly.
Attempts at additions to dental chairs to hold such equipment in a convenient place have been made. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,281,136 to Giannella et al. discloses a support and guide apparatus for a dental drill. This support and guide apparatus comprises an articulated arm, which can be attached to a fixed support member and provided with an attachment member for a tail of the drill. The arm is provided with a device that acts to maintain the axis of rotation of the drill orthogonal to a working plane and a counterweight that balances the weight of the movable parts. The apparatus further includes a stabilization apparatus for the head and jaw comprising a side bracket lockable with respect to the headrest of a dental chair, which carries a transverse element projecting therefrom to maintain the patient's jaw in the open position.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,195,219 to Irwin et al. discloses a system for adapting a dental chair for use, including, for example, use from the right side or left side, use by right-handed or left-handed practitioners, and use in various dentistry practice styles. The system includes a link arm, a primary arm, and a secondary arm. The secondary arm has multiple pivotably connected segments allowing its distal end to be positioned as desired.
These structures, however, may not be easily attachable to a dental chair. In addition, these structures may not provide the desired amount of adjustment of where dental tools are held. As such, further advances are desired.
In view of the foregoing background, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a dental patient seating apparatus providing enhanced access to dental tools.
This and other objects, features, and advantages in accordance with the present invention are provided by a dental patient seating apparatus that may include a dental chair comprising a chair body with at least one head rest receiving slot therein, and a head rest. The head rest may have a head support to receive a patient's head thereagainst, and at least one coupling projection extending downwardly from the head support to be received in the at least one head rest receiving slot for coupling to the dental chair. At least one tool staging arm may be coupled to the head support.
This dental patient seating apparatus allows easy storage and usage of dental tools near the patient's mouth, and provides a great degree of adjustability to accommodate different dental procedures and differently sized patients.
The at least one tool staging arm may comprise at least one support member coupled to the head support and extending outwardly therefrom, and a tool staging member adjustably coupled to the at least one support member so as to permit movement of the tool staging member in a Y-direction. In addition, the at least one support member may comprise a pair of support members. The tool staging member may then be adjustably coupled to each of the pair of support members. In some applications, the head support, the coupling projection, and the pair of support members may be integrally formed as a monolithic unit.
Further, the tool staging member may be adjustably coupled to the at least one support member so as to also permit movement of the tool staging member in an X-direction and a Z-direction. The coupling projection and the dental chair may have respective portions configured to allow adjustment of a depth that the coupling projection rests at in the head rest receiving slot. Also, the tool staging member may have at least one hole defined therein for receipt of a dental tool. The tool staging member may be semicircular in shape, and the at least one support member may be semicircular in shape. In some embodiments, the tool staging member may comprise a polycarbonate material.
A method aspect is directed to a method of making a dental patient seating apparatus. The method may include forming a dental chair comprising a chair body with at least one head rest receiving slot therein. The method may also include forming a head rest comprising a head support to receive a patient's head thereagainst, and at least one coupling projection extending downwardly from the head support to be received in the at least one head rest receiving slot for coupling to the dental chair. In addition, the method may further include coupling at least one tool staging arm to the head support.
The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout, and prime and multiple prime notation is used to indicate similar elements in alternative embodiments.
Referring initially to
As will be understood by those of skill in the art, the coupling of the head rest 30 to the dental chair 21 via the coupling projection 32 is particularly advantageous, as it allows removal of a typical prior art head rest from an existing dental chair and replacement therewith of the head rest of the present invention. Since most dental practices already own multiple dental chairs, this facilitates easy adoption of the head rest 30 of this invention into typical dental chairs.
It should be appreciated that, in some applications, there may be only one tool staging arm, and that there need not be two staging arms 33a-33b, such as in the illustrated embodiment. In addition, in other embodiments, there may be a front member extending between the pair of tool staging arms 33a-33b, as will be explained in detail below.
In the illustrated embodiment, the head support 31, the coupling projection 32, and the pair of tool staging arms 33a-33b are integrally formed as a monolithic unit, but it should be understood that in other embodiments, these pieces may be separately formed and rigidly and/or adjustably coupled together.
So as to allow adjustment of the depth of the coupling projection 32 in the head rest receiving slot 23, and thus the height of which the head rest 30 extends upwardly from the dental chair 21, the coupling projection and dental chair have respective portions 35a-35d, 36 configured to allow adjustment of the depth that the coupling projection rests at in the head rest receiving slot. In particular, the coupling projection 32 has a plurality of holes 35a-35d defined therein to receive a cross-pin 36 inserted through the dental chair 21. This allows adjustment of the head rest 30 for use with both taller and shorter patients, as shown with dashed lines in
With reference to
The tool staging member 39′ illustratively includes a tool receiving hole 40′ defined therein for receipt of a dental tool. This advantageously allows dental tools to be securely held in a location convenient for a dentist to reach.
As shown in
In addition, as shown in
Referring now to
Many modifications and other embodiments of the invention will come to the mind of one skilled in the art having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is understood that the invention is not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed, and that modifications and embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2306294 | Brown et al. | Dec 1942 | A |
3198574 | Ota et al. | Aug 1965 | A |
3226160 | Page | Dec 1965 | A |
3259430 | Beach | Jul 1966 | A |
3731383 | Hayashi | May 1973 | A |
3802736 | Valeska et al. | Apr 1974 | A |
3936091 | Rabinowitz | Feb 1976 | A |
4114274 | Jones | Sep 1978 | A |
4126939 | Pyne, Jr. | Nov 1978 | A |
4209907 | Tsukada et al. | Jul 1980 | A |
4311461 | Hotta et al. | Jan 1982 | A |
4413858 | Beach | Nov 1983 | A |
4500134 | Kaneko et al. | Feb 1985 | A |
5281136 | Giannella et al. | Jan 1994 | A |
5575646 | Giannella | Nov 1996 | A |
5730497 | Raymond et al. | Mar 1998 | A |
6575575 | O'Brien et al. | Jun 2003 | B2 |
6626496 | Beach et al. | Sep 2003 | B2 |
7032965 | Howell et al. | Apr 2006 | B2 |
7111814 | Newman | Sep 2006 | B1 |
7195219 | Irwin et al. | Mar 2007 | B2 |
7784864 | Feder | Aug 2010 | B2 |
7862112 | Caturla et al. | Jan 2011 | B2 |
20060169730 | Morrison | Aug 2006 | A1 |
20100160739 | Van Lue | Jun 2010 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20130221723 A1 | Aug 2013 | US |