Dental probe
First Claim
1. A dental trace apparatus for providing signals corresponding to the position of intra-oral tissues, including teeth, of a patient, comprising:
- a three dimensional position transducer to provide position signals,a dental probe operable to probe intra-oral tissues of a patient and operably coupled to said transducer to generate said signals, said signals indicating the position of said probe,enabling means responsive to contact between said probe and patient'"'"'s intra-oral tissues to enable said transducer,said transducer providing said position signals only when enabled, andindexing means adapted to conform to and to be rigidly connected to the jaw of the patient to which jaw the intra-oral tissues are anchored as a part of the anatomy, and said transducer being achored to said indexing means thereby to form an origin point for said signals which is fixed with respect to the jaw of the patient, and may move with movement of the patient'"'"'s jaw, head or body with no effect on the transducer signal generation.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A dental probe having a stylus which is connected through a rod to a three position transducer which produces three signals indicating the position of the probe at any point to which the probe is applied. The transducers are mounted on an index tray which is adapted to be fastened to the jaw of the patient. Thus the patient'"'"'s jaw becomes the origin against which all measurements are made. A handle is connected to the probe in such a fashion that the dentist has three rotational degrees of freedom of movement without affecting the position of the end of the stylus. Contact between the tip of the stylus and the patient'"'"'s tissue completes a circuit to turn on the recording mechanism which receives the transducers'"'"' outputs.
369 Citations
7 Claims
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1. A dental trace apparatus for providing signals corresponding to the position of intra-oral tissues, including teeth, of a patient, comprising:
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a three dimensional position transducer to provide position signals, a dental probe operable to probe intra-oral tissues of a patient and operably coupled to said transducer to generate said signals, said signals indicating the position of said probe, enabling means responsive to contact between said probe and patient'"'"'s intra-oral tissues to enable said transducer, said transducer providing said position signals only when enabled, and indexing means adapted to conform to and to be rigidly connected to the jaw of the patient to which jaw the intra-oral tissues are anchored as a part of the anatomy, and said transducer being achored to said indexing means thereby to form an origin point for said signals which is fixed with respect to the jaw of the patient, and may move with movement of the patient'"'"'s jaw, head or body with no effect on the transducer signal generation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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Specification