Dental tooth cleaning instrument with a mechanically driven tooth cleaning tool

• US 5,653,591 A
• Filed: 06/27/1996
• Issued: 08/05/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/1993
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kaltenbach & Voigt Gmbh & Co. (Danaher Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kaltenbach & Voigt Gmbh & Co. (Danaher Corporation)
• Inventors: Loge, Hans
• Primary Examiner(s): YAN, REN LUO
• Application Number:
  US08/671,080
• Time in Patent Office: 404 Days
• Field of Search: 433/82, 433/118, 433/119, 433/120, 433/126, 433/124
• US Class Current: 433/118
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 17/20 using ultrasonics

Abstract

In a tooth cleaning instrument (1) with an elongate handpiece, which carries a tooth cleaning tool (3) on its forward end, which can be set into vibration by a motor driven vibration generator (7) which is associated with the tooth cleaning instrument (1), whereby the tooth cleaning instrument (1) is connected or is detachably connectable at its rear end to a supply hose (6) having energy and/or media supply lines, the tooth contact element (17) is areal or quasi-areal and has a surface structure which is suitable for the abrasion of the tooth coating.

Claims

1. Dental tooth cleaning instrument including an elongate handpiece comprising a gripping sleeve;

a tooth cleaning tool having a cleaning head on a shaft mounting said tool;

a motor-driven vibration generator being arranged in the gripping sleeve, said generator comprising a base part vibratably mounted in a forward end portion of the gripping sleeve, a rear end of the gripping sleeve being detachably connectable with a connecting piece by a rotatable plug-in coupling formed with a coupling pin and a coupling recess for receiving said pin;

a rear end of the shaft being detachably connected with the base part;

an element arranged at the forward end portion of the shaft through which rotation is effected for alternatively tightening and releasing a screw connection;

the cleaning head being detachably connected to the forward end of the shaft by said screw connection;

the cleaning head having a plurality of wires at a forward end thereof, said wires lying laterally side by side and ending in a common working surface and being attached in a pot-shaped sleeve of the cleaning head, said sleeve receiving and enclosing the wires;

a selective rinsing and cooling device which includes a medium channel extending longitudinally from the coupling piece through the gripping sleeve, the base part, the shaft, the wire packet and ends at the working surface thereof, the shaft being angled within a range of about 20°

to 50°

relative to the cleaning head;

an illumination device in the gripping sleeve, said illumination device having a light-exiting opening at the forward end of the gripping sleeve on the side towards which the shaft is angled; and

including a plurality of different and selectively interchangeable cleaning heads.

2. Tooth cleaning instrument according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of wires comprise tooth cleaning tips which lie in defining surface plane which extends transversely of a longitudinal central axis of said cleaning head.

3. Tooth cleaning instrument according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of wires extends in a longitudinal direction and arranged radially in side-by-side relationship.

4. Tooth cleaning instrument according to claim 3, wherein the wires are constituted of an elastic, corrosion-resistant material.

5. Tooth cleaning instrument according to claim 4, wherein said material comprises a metal.

6. Tooth cleaning instrument according to claim 5, wherein said metal comprises a stainless spring steel.

7. Tooth cleaning instrument according to claim 4, wherein said material comprises a hard plastic.

8. Tooth cleaning instrument according to claim 4, wherein the wires each have a cross-sectional dimension of approximately 0.02 to 0.2 mm.

9. Tooth cleaning instrument according to claim 4, wherein the wires each have a cross-sectional dimension of approximately 0.05 to 0.08 mm.

10. Tooth cleaning instrument according to claim 4, wherein the wires lie against one another.

11. Tooth cleaning instrument according to claim 1, wherein the wires are formed by frictionally abrasive grains which are applied onto or embedded in the pot-shaped sleeve.

12. Tooth cleaning instrument according to claim 11, wherein the pot-shaped sleeve consists of a material which is stable in shape or elastically deformable.

13. Tooth cleaning instrument according to claim 11, wherein the pot-shaped sleeve is tubular shaft.

14. Tooth cleaning instrument according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of cleaning heads are provided each selectively of differing materials, hardness, form, performance characteristics and size.

15. Tooth cleaning instrument according to claim 1, wherein the vibration amplitudes of the tooth cleaning tool are directed selectively longitudinally and transversely of the longitudinal central axis of the handpiece.