Dental bur and method

• US 6,257,889 B1
• Filed: 03/25/1999
• Issued: 07/10/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Temple University of The Commonwealth System of Higher Education
• Original Assignee: Temple University of The Commonwealth System of Higher Education
• Inventors: Boston, Daniel W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lewis, Ralph A.
• Application Number:
  US09/277,216
• Time in Patent Office: 838 Days
• Field of Search: 433/165, 433/166, 433/142, 433/147, 433/102
• US Class Current: 433/165
• CPC Class Codes: A61C 3/02 Tooth drilling or cutting instruments; Instruments acting like a sandblast machine

Abstract

A dental bur for use in examining anomalies and in restoration of decayed areas of teeth with a bur head having a generally elongate conical shaped body with a base and an opposed vertex. Cutting members are located about the outer surface of the body between the base and vertex and extend along the outer surface of the bur head which has a length of at least 1.5 millimeters.

Claims

1. A bur for use in examining an anomaly in a tooth, comprising:

a bur head with a body having a base, an opposed vertex and outer surface; and

a plurality of the cutting members located at the outer surface of the body with at least a portion of the cutting members being positioned between the base and vertex and extending along the outer surface with the bur head being at least 1.5 millimeters in length and in which at least one of the cutting members is a blade which extends over the vertex of the body beyond other cutting members at the outer surface of the body.

2. The bur of claim 1 in which the distance between the base and the vertex of the body ranges from 1.5 to 3 millimeters.

3. The bur of claim 1 in which the distance between the base and vertex is 2.5 millimeters.

4. The bur of claim 1 in which the body is formed of a carbide material.

5. The bur of claim 4 in which the cutting members are formed of a carbide material.

6. The bur of claim 5 wherein the bur head is generally conical in shape having a maximum diameter proximate the base and in which the diameter of the bur head gradually decreases as the body extends toward the vertex.

7. The bur of claim 6 in which the diameter of the conically shaped bur head ranges from 0.8 millimeters to 1.2 millimeters.

8. The bur of claim 7 wherein the cutting members are elongate blades which extend along the length of the body and in which the blades have a height extending outwardly from the body.

9. The bur of claim 8 in which the height of the blades varies as the blades extend along the length of the body.

10. The bur of claim 8 in which the height of the blades is substantially uniform as the blades extend from the base to the vertex of the body.

11. The bur of claim 1 in which the body has a longitudinal axis extending the length of the body of the bur and in which the bur head has a maximum diameter measured perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, and wherein

the ratio of the maximum diameter of the body to the length along the longitudinal axis of the body is no greater than 2.8: 1.

12. The bur of claim 11 wherein the cutting members are a plurality of blades generally parallel to the longitudinal axis.

13. The bur of claim 12 including six blades positioned about the body of the bur head and in which two opposing blades of the six blades extend over the vertex of the body.

14. The bur of claim 12 wherein the blades have a generally helical shape with an angle in a range of 0°

to 10°

.

15. The bur of claim 12 wherein the blades have a rake angle of minus eight degrees.

16. The bur of claim 12 wherein the height of the blades vary as the blades extend longitudinally over the outer surface of the body.

17. The bur of claim 1 wherein the cutting members are arranged about the outer surface of the bur head to cut at a preselected variable cutting intensity along a longitudinal axis of the body.

18. The bur of claim 1 in which the body has a longitudinal axis and a drive shaft coaxially aligned with the longitudinal axis of the body and extending outwardly from the base for operating the bur at a preselected rotational speed, and

a cutting surface established at the cutting members connected to the body of the bur such that a cutting intensity is variable along the longitudinal axis of the body upon operating the bur at the preselected rotational speed.

19. The bur of claim 18 including a handpiece engaging the bur for rotating the bur at the preselected rotational speed, and

a dental unit operatively connected to the handpiece for providing operating power to the handpiece.

20. The bur of claim 1 wherein the plurality of cutting members are positioned along the body of the bur head having a conical shape which tapers from the base having a diameter ranging from 0.8 to 1.2 millimeters to a location proximate the opposed vertex having a diameter of approximately 0.013 inches such that the bur head is formed to cut and remove at least a portion of the anomaly.

21. The bur of claim 20 wherein the anomaly is at least one of:

(a) a fissure;

(b) a pit; and

(c) a discoloration, in an enamel portion of the tooth.

22. The bur of claim 20 wherein the cutting members are positioned to cut and remove the anomaly to a preselected distance in the tooth.

23. The bur of claim 22 wherein the preselected distance extends to at least a junction of the enamel portion and a dentin portion of the tooth.

24. A dental system for use in applying dental procedures to teeth comprising:

a dental unit connected to a hand piece for providing operating power to the hand piece;

an elongate dental bur having a bur head with a body, a vertex and a base, said bur is generally conical in shape having a maximum diameter proximate the base and in which the diameter of the bur head gradually decreases as the body extends towards the vertex, said base engages the hand piece such that the hand piece rotates the engages dental bur at a preselected rotational speed upon receipt of operating power from the dental unit; and

a plurality of cutting members positioned about an outer surface of the body of the bur head which extends for length ranging from 1.5 to 3 millimeters measured along a longitudinal axis of the body between the base and the vertex of the bur head.

25. The dental system of claim 24 in which the distance between the base and vertex along the longitudinal axis of the bur head is 2.5 millimeters.

26. The dental system of claim 24 in which both the body and the cutting members are formed of a carbide material.

27. The dental system of claim 24 including a hose connecting the dental unit and the handpiece for providing compressed air power to the handpiece.

28. The dental system of claim 27 in which the handpiece provides variable high speed rotation of the dental bur at speeds ranging from 300,000 to 350,000 rotations per minute.

29. A method of treating anomalies in teeth comprising the steps of;

utilizing a dental bur securable to a drive shaft of a high speed headpiece for performing diagnostic procedures to a tooth in which the bur has a bur head with a body which has a length ranging from 1.5 millimeters to 3 millimeters, said body of the bur head being generally conical in share having a narrow portion proximate a vertex of the bur head and a wide portion proximate a base of the bur head and a plurality of cutting members located about an outer surface of the body; and

performing restoration procedures to the tooth with the same dental bur.

30. The method of claim 29 in which the step of utilizing includes the step of identifying an anomaly at the tooth, and

exploring the anomaly with the dental bur.

31. The method of claim 30 including the step of applying the narrow portion of the bur head to the anomaly.

32. The method of claim 31 in which the cutting members of the bur head are formed of a carbide material.

33. The method of claim 32 including the step of determining if the anomaly is at least one of:

(a) a decalcified fissure, (b) a pit and (c) a discoloration, in an enamel portion of the tooth.

34. The method of claim 33 including the step of directing the bur with the handpiece operatively powered to engage the anomaly to create a cut in the tooth at the anomaly.

35. The method of claim 34 including the step of gauging a depth of the cut in the enamel portion of the tooth based on the length of the bur head above an outer surface of the enamel and the location of the anomaly at the tooth.

36. The method of claim 35 including the step of performing a sweep cut about the decalcified fissure in response to determining that the anomaly is a decalcified fissure.

37. The method of claim 36 in which the step of performing the sweep cut includes the step of laterally moving the bur head about the decalcified fissure portion of the tooth to a point at which the fissure coalesces.

38. The method of claim 36 including the step of applying a flowable resin to fill the cut made in the tooth.

39. The method of claim 35 including the step of creating a plunge cut at the anomaly in which the bur cuts downward into the tooth upon the anomaly being either a pit or a discoloration at the enamel portion of the tooth.

40. The method of claim 39 in which the step of creating includes the step of pointing the vertex of the bur head in a downward direction, and pushing the bur head down into the tooth in line with the downward direction at which the vertex is pointed.

41. The method of claim 39 including the step of applying a flowable resin to fill the cut made into the tooth.

42. The method of claim 35 including the step of examining the cut for the presence of carious lesions.

43. The method of claim 42 including the step of applying carries dye to the tooth to identify the existence of carious lesions.

44. The method of claim 42 including the step of increasing the size of the cut by applying a wide portion of a base of the bur head to the area of the tooth having carious lesions.

45. The method of claim 44 in which the step of increasing the size of the cut includes the step of rotating the bur in a circular motion to enable the wide portion of the bur head to remove carious lesions of the tooth.

46. The method of claim 45 including the step of filling the cut in the tooth with an amalgam material.