Sleeve for Cutting Bur for Dental Cutting Guide

A dental cutting system for cutting a patient's tooth, the system comprising at least one cutting guide with at least one slot therein, and a cutting tool guided by the slot, and further comprising:

• a) opposing channels formed in opposing walls of the slot and extending along a length of the slot;
• b) a sleeve slidably disposed in the slot and slidable along the slot;
• c) the sleeve having an enlarged collar slidably disposed in the opposing channels and retaining the sleeve in the slot with respect to an in-and-out direction with respect to the at least one cavity of the cutting guide and limiting the sleeve to movement within and along the slot;
• and
• d) the sleeve having a bore extending axially therethrough and removably receiving the cutting tool therein, the cutting tool being rotatable therein and slidable therethrough in the in-and-out direction and into and out of the sleeve such that the cutting tool has two transverse degrees of freedom, including laterally along the slot, and in and out of the slot and the sleeve.

A dental cutting system for cutting a patient's tooth, the system comprising:

• a) a plurality of cutting guides each having at least one cavity to match at least a portion of at least one of a patient's teeth, and each having a slot in the cutting guide with a depth extending from an exterior of the cutting guide to the at least one cavity;
• b) each of the plurality of cutting guides comprising a main body configured to engage at least one of a patient's teeth including buccal, lingual and occlusal walls, and each of the at least one cutting guides comprising a protrusion extending from the main body and having the slot therein, with the protrusion having a wall surrounding a majority of the slot with a constant cross-sectional shape;
• c) the plurality of cutting guides comprising:
• 1) a buccal cutting guide with a buccal slot located on the cutting guide;
• and
• 2) a lingual cutting guide with a lingual slot located on the cutting guide;
• d) a cutting tool having a shank and a cutting bur configured to cut the patient's tooth;
• e) a pair of opposing channels formed in opposing walls of the slot and extending along a length of the slot in each of the plurality of cutting guides;
• f) at least one sleeve slidably disposed in at least one of the slots and slidable along the at least one of the slots;
• g) the at least one sleeve having a pair of enlarged collars slidably disposed in the pair of opposing channels and retaining the at least one sleeve in the at least one slot with respect to an in-and-out direction with respect to the at least one cavity of a respective cutting guide and limiting the at least one sleeve to movement within and along the at least one slot;
• h) the pair of enlarged collars having a cross-sectional shape that matches a cross-sectional shape of the pair of opposing channels;
• i) the at least one sleeve having a bore extending axially therethrough and removably receiving the cutting tool therein, the shank of the cutting tool being rotatable therein and the bur of the cutting tool being slidable therethrough in the in-and-out direction and into and out of the at least one sleeve such that the cutting tool can rotate to cut, slide laterally in the slot along with the at least one sleeve, and displace in the in-and-out direction with respect to the at least one cavity of the respective cutting guide, and into and out of the at least one sleeve;
• and
• j) the cutting tool having two transverse degrees of freedom, including laterally along the slot, and in and out of the slot and the at least one sleeve.

A method for cutting a patient's tooth, comprising:

• a) placing a cutting guide on at least one of the patient's teeth with a cavity of the cutting guide matching at least a portion of at least one of the patient's teeth;
• b) inserting a sleeve into a slot of the cutting guide and an enlarged collar of the sleeve into opposing channels in opposing walls of the slot;
• c) inserting a bur of a cutting tool into the sleeve with the bur passing through the sleeve and a shank of the cutting tool rotatable in the sleeve;
• d) displacing the cutting tool along the slot with the sleeve slidable in the slot to cut a portion of the patient's tooth with the bur;
• and
• e) selectively retracting and inserting the cutting tool in the sleeve.