Dental wedge

A unitary dental wedge for interproximal insertion in the interdental space between teeth comprising:

• an elongated body being substantially triangular in cross section;
• means for positively engaging said teeth thereby locking said body therebetween, said positive engagement and locking means comprising at least one depression disposed in a portion of said elongated body contacting one of said teeth when said body is interproximally disposed, said depression being concavely tapered to conform substantially to and for capturing and selectively retaining therein a part of said contacted portion of said tooth, said contacted portion of said tooth being an interproximal surface thereof, said at least one depression being contoured to substantially conform to said contacted interproximal surface;
• and
• means for simulating the contour of the concave bulbous papillia of the gingiva disposed in the interdental space when said papillia is displaced by interproximal insertion of said dental wedge, said contour simulating means comprising a pair of recesses disposed in said elongated body, said recesses being contoured as said papillia, said elongated body portion including a pair of side portions meeting at a vertex edge and a base portion, one of said recesses being disposed in one of said sidewalls, the other of said recesses being disposed in the other of said sidewalls, said recesses being adjacent, merging together, and undercutting said vertex edge proximate thereto.