Patent Application
20200306008
Embodiments of the invention relates generally to dental instruments. More particularly, the invention relates to dental surgical stents that fit a patient's tooth or teeth to help guide a dentist during a procedure such as a root canal, apicoectomy, or the like.
The following background information may present examples of specific aspects of the prior art (e.g., without limitation, approaches, facts, or common wisdom) that, while expected to be helpful to further educate the reader as to additional aspects of the prior art, is not to be construed as limiting the present invention, or any embodiments thereof, to anything stated or implied therein or inferred thereupon.
The primary aim of any endodontic treatment is to disinfect the root canal system in order to reduce the bacterial load as much as possible and to seal the system to prevent ingress or egress of bacteria or their byproducts. A root canal procedure often accesses the root from the top of the tooth to remove infection therein. In some applications, a dental professional, such as an endodontist, would need to access infection of the root from the bottom of the tooth. A flap may be made of the soft tissue to provide access to the bone and a tool may be used to remove the bone to gain access to the area containing the infection, such as a root tip. The infection may be removed, and the flap replaced to heal. In some circumstances, the root tip may be removed, and the root canal treated and sealed.
Often, once a flap is cut, it is difficult to handle and maintain in its proper position during the surgical procedure. The surgeon needs to keep the flap out of the way during the surgery and properly position the flap back in place thereafter. The soft tissue flap may be difficult to handle after it is cut.
Moreover, to access the infection, the surgeon may need to remove a substantial amount of bone to not only gain access but also to visually ensure the position and depth of hard tissue is correct.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for dental surgical stents that may secure the flap during surgery as well as provide a hard tissue drilling location during dental surgery.
In some embodiments, the present invention provides a method for using a dental surgical stent comprising placing the stent body over at least one or more dentures; cutting soft tissue along an incision line; flapping the soft tissue, while being placed against the inside of the stent flap portion, outwardly away from the gum region of the patient; removing infection below the soft tissue; and reattaching the flap of the soft tissue by moving the stent flap portion to a position aligned with the stent body.
Embodiments of the present invention further provide a hard tissue stent comprising a stent body configured to drape over at least one tooth, the stent body including side members, wherein at least one of the side members extends downwards to cover at least a portion of the gum region of at least one tooth; an access opening formed in the side member of the stent body, the access opening positioned in a location for drilling hard tissue there between.
Embodiments of the present invention also provide a soft tissue stent comprising a stent body configured to drape over at least one tooth, the stent body including side members, wherein at least one of the side members extends downwards to cover at least a portion of the gum region of at least one tooth; and an incision line formed in the side member of the stent body; wherein the incision line is formed as two arc spanning about 90 degrees; the incision line is positioned adjacent to the gum region, when the stent body is disposed over at least one patient's tooth.
These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following drawings, description and claims.
Some embodiments of the present invention are illustrated as an example and are not limited by the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which like references may indicate similar elements.
Unless otherwise indicated illustrations in the figures are not necessarily drawn to scale.
The invention and its various embodiments can now be better understood by turning to the following detailed description wherein illustrated embodiments are described. It is to be expressly understood that the illustrated embodiments are set forth as examples and not by way of limitations on the invention as ultimately defined in the claims.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well as the singular forms, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one having ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and the present disclosure and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.
In describing the invention, it will be understood that a number of techniques and steps are disclosed. Each of these has individual benefit and each can also be used in conjunction with one or more, or in some cases all, of the other disclosed techniques. Accordingly, for the sake of clarity, this description will refrain from repeating every possible combination of the individual steps in an unnecessary fashion. Nevertheless, the specification and claims should be read with the understanding that such combinations are entirely within the scope of the invention and the claims.
In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be evident, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details.
The present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments illustrated by the figures or description below.
As is well known to those skilled in the art, many careful considerations and compromises typically must be made when designing for the optimal configuration of a commercial implementation of any device, and in particular, the embodiments of the present invention. A commercial implementation in accordance with the spirit and teachings of the present invention may be configured according to the needs of the particular application, whereby any aspect(s), feature(s), function(s), result(s), component(s), approach(es), or step(s) of the teachings related to any described embodiment of the present invention may be suitably omitted, included, adapted, mixed and matched, or improved and/or optimized by those skilled in the art, using their average skills and known techniques, to achieve the desired implementation that addresses the needs of the particular application.
Broadly, embodiments of the present invention provide a dental surgical stent that can be used to assist a dental surgeon. A hard tissue stent can include an access hole formed in one side and may be placed over one or more of the patient's teeth where the access hole is accurately aligned at a location for drilling to, for example, remove infection. A soft tissue stent may be placed over one or more of the patient's teeth, where the stent can include a mark positioned where the surgeon is to cut to create an access flap in the soft tissue. By keeping the flap attached to the semi-circular window of the soft tissue stent, the surgeon can more easily return the flap to the proper position.
Referring now to
The sleeve 10 can include inside threads 18 (also referred to as female threads 18) that begin at the front face 12 and extend downward toward a back face thereof. The sleeve 10 can include outside threads 20 (also referred to as male threads 20) extending from the back face of the sleeve 10 as shown in
A groove 22 may be disposed about an exterior circumference of the sleeve 10 at a longitudinally central portion thereof. The groove 22 may be helpful to minimize the concentration of compressive stress during use of the surgical guide as discussed in greater detail below.
A nut 30, as shown in
A screw 50, as shown in
Referring now to
Referring now to
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All the features disclosed in this specification, including any accompanying abstract and drawings, may be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise. Thus, unless expressly stated otherwise, each feature disclosed is one example only of a generic series of equivalent or similar features.
Claim elements and steps herein may have been numbered and/or lettered solely as an aid in readability and understanding. Any such numbering and lettering in itself is not intended to and should not be taken to indicate the ordering of elements and/or steps in the claims.
Many alterations and modifications may be made by those having ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, it must be understood that the illustrated embodiments have been set forth only for the purposes of examples and that they should not be taken as limiting the invention as defined by the following claims. For example, notwithstanding the fact that the elements of a claim are set forth below in a certain combination, it must be expressly understood that the invention includes other combinations of fewer, more or different ones of the disclosed elements.
The words used in this specification to describe the invention and its various embodiments are to be understood not only in the sense of their commonly defined meanings, but to include by special definition in this specification the generic structure, material or acts of which they represent a single species.
The definitions of the words or elements of the following claims are, therefore, defined in this specification to not only include the combination of elements which are literally set forth. In this sense it is therefore contemplated that an equivalent substitution of two or more elements may be made for any one of the elements in the claims below or that a single element may be substituted for two or more elements in a claim. Although elements may be described above as acting in certain combinations and even initially claimed as such, it is to be expressly understood that one or more elements from a claimed combination can in some cases be excised from the combination and that the claimed combination may be directed to a subcombination or variation of a subcombination.
Insubstantial changes from the claimed subject matter as viewed by a person with ordinary skill in the art, now known or later devised, are expressly contemplated as being equivalently within the scope of the claims. Therefore, obvious substitutions now or later known to one with ordinary skill in the art are defined to be within the scope of the defined elements.
The claims are thus to be understood to include what is specifically illustrated and described above, what is conceptually equivalent, what can be obviously substituted and also what incorporates the essential idea of the invention.
