Methods and apparatus for light induced processing of biological tissues and of dental materials
First Claim
1. A method for processing a material which is selected from the group comprising biological tissue and dental materials, each having an outer surface, including:
- distributing a biologically safe substance containing abrasive particles in an area in front of at least a portion of said surface such that particles are present in said area during at least most of said processing; and
irradiating both said substance and said portion of said surface with light selected to cause selective ablation of said substance sufficient to force said abrasive particles under a selected pulse against said portion of the surface.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention relates to methods and apparatus for processing biological tissue and dental materials which involves providing or distributing a substance containing abrasive particles to an area in front of at least a portion of a surface of the tissue/material and irradiating both the substance and the portion of the surface with light from a selected source, the light being selected and delivered in a manner such that selective ablation is caused on the substance sufficient to force the abrasive particles under a selected pulse against the portion of the surface. Ablation may be of the particles themselves or the particles may be contained within a shell, with ablation being of the shell. The substance is preferably delivered as a series of distribution pulses with the light being delivered either continuously or as light pulses having a predetermined relationship to the distribution pulses.
148 Citations
54 Claims
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1. A method for processing a material which is selected from the group comprising biological tissue and dental materials, each having an outer surface, including:
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distributing a biologically safe substance containing abrasive particles in an area in front of at least a portion of said surface such that particles are present in said area during at least most of said processing; and
irradiating both said substance and said portion of said surface with light selected to cause selective ablation of said substance sufficient to force said abrasive particles under a selected pulse against said portion of the surface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. Apparatus for processing a material which is selected from the group comprising biological tissue and dental material, each having an outer surface including:
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a mechanism selectively providing a biologically safe substance containing abrasive particles in an area in front of at least a portion of said surface, said mechanism causing said particles to be present in said area during at least most of said processing;
a light source; and
a system for selectively directing light from said source to irradiate both said substance and said portion of the surface, said source and said system being selected to cause selective ablation of said substance in response to the irradiation thereof sufficient to force said abrasive particles under a selected pulse against said portion of the surface. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54)
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Specification