Identifiable dental restorative material
AssigneeNational Research Development Corporation
InventorsPeter B. Robinson, Brian J. Millar
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A problem on removing dental restorative material can be to know its exact extent, otherwise sound tooth material may be unnecessarily removed. The inventive restorative material is made identifiable by adding crushed ruby powder, which fluoresces under standard dental blue light.
Claims17
A dental restorative composition comprising a dental restorative material and an additive which luminesces when irradiated by visible-wavelength light and does not luminesce when irradiated by ultraviolet light.
A method of differentiating tooth material from a dental restorative composition comprising a dental restorative material and an additive which luminesces when irradiated by visible-wavelength light and does not luminesce when irradiated by ultraviolet light, said method comprising the step of:
- irradiating the tooth to cause the dental restorative composition to luminesce.
A method for restoring a tooth, comprising the steps of:
- introducing a dental restorative composition into the tooth to be restored, said dental restorative composition comprising a dental restorative material and an additive which luminesces when irradiated by visible-wavelength light and which does not luminesce when irradiated by ultraviolet light;
- and
- inspecting the introduced dental restorative composition by irradiating said dental restorative composition to determine the location of said restorative composition in the tooth and thereby ensure accurate restoration of the tooth.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.