Apparatus and methods for cleaning teeth
AssigneeSonendo, Inc.
InventorsBjarne Bergheim, Mehrzad Khakpour
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Various embodiments for cleaning carious regions of a tooth are disclosed herein. For example, a dental apparatus can include a fluid platform having a chamber sized and shaped to retain fluid. The chamber can be configured to be coupled to the tooth over the carious region. A pressure wave generator having a distal end may be configured to be positioned in the chamber. The pressure wave generator may be configured to generate pressure waves in the retained fluid sufficient to clean the carious region.
Claims21
(canceled)
A method for treating a tooth having a carious region, the method comprising:
- applying a cap over the carious region on an external surface of the tooth such that a chamber of the cap defines a volume surrounding the carious region;
- supplying at least a portion of the volume of the chamber with a fluid;
- and
- activating a pressure wave generator exposed to the chamber to propagate pressure waves through the fluid in the volume to remove at least some caries from the carious region.
A method for cleaning a carious region on a tooth, the carious region disposed in a space at least partially between two adjacent teeth, the method comprising:
- retaining a fluid in the space;
- and
- propagating pressure waves through the fluid in the space to substantially clean the carious region.
A method for cleaning a carious region of a tooth, the method comprising:
- directing a high-speed liquid jet into a chamber disposed at or near the carious region on an exterior surface of the tooth;
- and
- maintaining the high-speed liquid jet in contact with the tooth at or near the carious region until substantially all of the carious region is removed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.