JPS6318507B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to dentistry, and more particularly to a dental tool that allows variable longitudinal extension from a hand piece to provide better access to treatment areas in a patient's oral cavity. It is about shayank.

Preferably, the upper head of the shank can be separated from the shank body to reduce the length of the shank.

In the use of a dental hand piece in a patient's oral cavity, the opening of the patient's jaw is controlled by the drill, burr, or
It is frequently encountered that it is inadequate to accommodate the head of a hand piece carrying suitable attachments such as anchors and the like. It is also known that in the entrance area of the oral cavity, the cheek and tongue do not readily allow access by conventional hand pieces with conventional dental attachment extensions.

A conventional adjustable rotary tool and its support is disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,576,076, which includes steps along its length to select and position the drill within the support. 1 shows a drill with a straight shank with a recess. The support has a spring retaining member to releasably hold the drill in a selected position and has a flat surface and a circumferential groove in the head for mounting within a dental hand piece. are doing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a drill with a shank, a bar, an anchor, etc. which overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art.

Another object of the invention is to provide a shank as described above in which the extension of the dental tool can be varied to conveniently access the treatment area without causing discomfort to the patient.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a shank as described above which can be shortened by the dentist to limit the extension of the tool.

Still another object of the invention is to have at least two drive and latch structures on the head of the shank,
The object is to provide such a shank, either of which structures can be utilized by a hand piece.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a shank as described above which includes a circumferential notch located between each drive and latch structure to enable the uppermost portion of the shank to be disconnected from its body member. be.

An additional object of the present invention is that the drive and latch structure selected to allow good access to the treatment area of the patient's oral cavity is adapted to allow the shank to be moved into a designated position to obtain the desired longitudinal extension of the shank from the hand piece. The object of the present invention is to provide a dental tool shank as described above, which can be inserted into the sleeve of a conventional hand piece, which is positioned in such a way as to be achieved with one of the following.

These objectives can be achieved by the present invention.

That is, the present dental tool includes a main body member having an operating end that acts on a patient's teeth, and a conventional dental hand.
a shank extending from a working end associated with the piece, the shank providing first means for removably engaging the shank to the hand piece and a driving engagement between the shank and the hand piece. It has a second means for. The first engagement means are at least two longitudinally spaced apart from the shank for selecting and receiving a latching member of the hand piece in one of the grooves to vary the longitudinal extension of the shank from the hand piece. a circumferential groove, and a second drive means is provided on the shank for driving engagement with the hand piece at first and second portions of the planar surface cooperating with the two grooves, respectively, at each selected extension of the shank. It has a flat surface extending longitudinally. The shank is further provided with third notch means for facilitating cutting of the end of the shank to shorten the longitudinal extension of the shank to allow better access to the treatment area of the patient's oral cavity. The shank comprises at least a plurality of first engagement means and second drive means at each selected length thereof such that at least one portion of the flat surface and at least one of the grooves always remain on the shank. , the third notch means are disposed between the longitudinally spaced grooves.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a dental tool 10 according to the invention. The dental tool 10 includes a dental anchor 12 and its support 14, the support 14 having a shank 16A according to the invention.

The dental anchor 12 consists of two threaded sections 18 and 20 of metallic material, each section being joined to one another by a frangible section 22 for cutting. The support 14 is provided with a hole for receiving the dental anchor 12, preferably in a push-fit relationship, and the support 14 is preferably formed of a plastic material. A similar structural form as described above is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. .

This structure is shown here for illustrative purposes only to show a dental tool that can be modified to include the dental tool shank of the present invention.
However, the shank of the present invention can still be used even if the exemplary dental anchor and support are formed as a unitary metal structure.

FIG. 2 shows a second dental tool 24 in the form of a dental drill having a drill bit 26 connected to a drill bit holder 28, the parts of which are made of metallic material. Holder 28
is equipped with a jank tool 16B according to the present invention. This similar structural type is described in applicant's US patent no.
3726014, for a more detailed description of its structure and function. A dental tool of this type is shown here for illustrative purposes only to demonstrate the employment of the shank of the present invention.
However, the drill bit holder can be formed as a one-piece metal structure.

In accordance with the present invention, the shank 16A and 16B shown in the dental tools of FIGS. 1 and 2 are identical, as best illustrated by the shank 16 shown in FIG. Therefore, Shank 16,
The parts 16A and 16B are described in detail below, but the reference numbers for these parts are kept the same here for each shank for better clarity and understanding.

Each shank 16, 16A and 16B, as well as the shank of other dental tools employing the present invention, is located in the head of the dental tool and extends longitudinally from its end along the head. It has a flat surface 30. The flat surface 30 can be used to rotate a dental tool in a conventional manner.
It can be drivingly engaged with a shank receiving sleeve provided on the head or tool support portion of the piece. Longitudinally spaced circumferential grooves 32, 34 and 36 are provided in the head and extend circumferentially from opposite ends of the flat surface. Selected ones of grooves 32, 34 and 36 receive conventional latching tongues on the hand piece to prevent the shank from being displaced along the longitudinal axis from the hand piece.

Additionally, the shank head has a circumferential tapered notch 38 longitudinally spaced between grooves 32 and 34 and another circumferential tapered notch 38 longitudinally spaced between grooves 34 and 36. A notch 40 is provided with a taper. Notches 38 and 40 divide the shank head into drive and latching structure sections 42, 44 and 46 and extend the dental tool from the hand piece to provide good access without discomfort to the treatment area of the patient's oral cavity. It is possible to separate these categories from each other so as to limit the

FIG. 4 shows the shank 16 with the drive and latching structure section 42 separated and the fifth
The figure shows the shank 16 with the drive and latching structure sections 42 and 44 separated. The top section can be cut from the shank by the use of any suitable cutting tool known in the art, such as snips or pliers, or in the case of metal or plastic shank, a razor to cut the desired section. blade can be used. Although only three sections are shown in the drawings, more sections can be provided on the shank which can be suitably cut to the desired length. Furthermore,
This structure can be provided in the tool shank of any currently used or conventional hand piece tool, or can be formed from any material that can be developed; any suitable cutting tool will It can be employed to cut along selected notches that act as cutting guides.

6, 7 and 8 depict a conventional head or support 48 of a conventional dental hand piece to illustrate variable extension of the dental tool shank for a dental hand piece according to the present invention. 2 shows the dental tool 24 of FIG.

The tool support, which is of the contra-angle type, has a connecting member 50 with a tubular sleeve 52 at one end thereof.

Connecting member 50 receives the chuck end of a hand piece, not shown. The coupling member 50 is mounted such that a drive shaft 54, which is held within the chuck of the hand piece, can be rotated by a dental power source. The tubular sleeve 52 includes a worm gear connected to a drive shaft 54 for turning a pinion gear (not shown) and has an internal flat surface such that the internal flat surface of the core is in rotational engagement with the flat surface of the shank. It has a hollow core for receiving the head of a dental tool.

The tool support 48 also includes a latching tongue 56 connected by a pivot screw 58 so that a locking slot (not shown) provided in the latching tongue locks the shank into the tool support. 48 along its longitudinal axis.
is pivoted to engage with. Reference may be made to my US Pat. No. 3,369,298 for a more detailed description of this tool support 48.

As shown in FIG.
is inserted into the tool support 48 in a conventional manner and is securely secured by the latching tongue 56, where the shank is fully extended from the tool support. Accordingly, if it is desired to shorten the tool extension to accommodate the limitations of the patient's oral cavity, the dental tool 24 may have a latching tongue on the shank, as shown in FIG. It is extended through tool support 48 to engage either groove 34 or 36. Thus, the dentist can vary the length of the dental tool that extends outwardly of the tool support 48. Additionally, if desired, the dentist can cut the upper end section from the shank using a suitable cutting tool as described above. FIG. 8 illustrates the dental tool 24 secured to the tool support 48 with the two upper end sections 42 and 44 separated, where these sections are attached to the tool of the dental hand piece. It may be excised prior to insertion into support 48.

Various modifications of the structure disclosed herein can be devised by those skilled in the art. However, this disclosure relates to preferred embodiments of the invention for illustrative purposes only and is not to be construed as a limitation of the invention.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a front view of a dental tool, such as a dental anchor and its support, showing the shank of the support according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a front view of a dental tool, such as a dental drill and its support, showing the shank of the support rotated 90 degrees with respect to the shank of the support shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a portion of a shank according to the invention. FIG. 4 is a partial front view showing one section cut away from the shank of FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 is a partial front view similar to FIG. 4 showing the shank with the two sections separated. Figures 6 and 7
8 and 8 are partial front views showing the dental drill of FIG. 2 and its support disposed in a conventional dental hand piece, showing the variable length of the dental tool shank according to the present invention. It shows. 10...Dental tool, 12...Dental anchor, 16, 16A, 16B...Shank, 24...
...Dental tools, 42, 44, 46... Drive and latching structure sections, 48... Supports.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A dental tool such as a drill bar anchor comprising a main body member provided with an operating end that acts on a patient's teeth and a shank extending from the operating end. , the shank has a flat surface formed to extend in the longitudinal direction, a plurality of circumferential grooves provided at predetermined intervals along the longitudinal direction of the shank, and a plurality of circumferential grooves provided adjacent to the circumferential grooves. the circumferential groove selectively determines the length of the shank removably retained within a dental tool holder, and the flat surface has a A dental tool, wherein the shank is rotatable, and the easy-to-cut portion facilitates selectively cutting the length of the shank. 2. The dental tool according to claim 1, wherein the easy-to-cut portion is a notch tapered in the circumferential direction. 3. The shank has three circumferential grooves, a longitudinally extending flat surface, and two notches arranged adjacent to the circumferential grooves. The dental tool according to item 1.