US 5,342,196 AGranted

Dental hand piece

OwnerGregory L. Van Haleinventor

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Abstract

An aspirating dental hand piece having at its distal end a vacuum scoop that circumscribes the work tool and automatically carries away cooling water and debris during operation of the hand piece. The hand piece includes a two-part handle. The distal portion of the handle terminates in a suction scoop or shroud within which the gas driven motor is housed. This portion of the handle is divided into two portions, one of which houses the cooling fluid, gas and fiber optic conduits, and the other of which forms a fluid passageway in communication with the suction scoop for carrying away the cooling fluid and the debris generated during the drilling and grinding operations. The fluid and debris passageway is sealed with respect to the conduit carrying portion of the handle.

Claims10

Dependent claims

An aspirating dental hand piece system comprising:

(a) an elongated first handle member including:
(i) an outer wall defining an interior space having first and second ends, said first end terminating in a downwardly depending shroud having an open mouth;
(ii) a gas driven motor connected to said outer wall proximate said first end of said interior space;
(iii) a work tool rotatably driven by said motor, said work tool having a shank portion extending from said open mouth of said shroud;
(iv) cooling means, including a source of cooling fluid, for directing a cooling fluid outwardly of said open mouth of said shroud toward said shank portion, said cooling means comprising a spray jet disposed within said shroud and a fluid conduit disposed within said shroud and a fluid conduit disposed within said interior space of said first handle member, one end of said fluid conduit being in communication with said spray jet and the other end being in communication with said source of cooling fluid;
(v) a divider wall connected to said outer wall for dividing said interior space of said first handle member into first and second portions, said second portion being in communication with said shroud;
and
(vi) vacuum means including a vacuum source for producing a vacuum within said second portion tending to urge said cooling fluid to flow inwardly into said second portion;
and
(b) an elongated second handle member removably connected to said first handle member, said second handle having an outer wall defining an interior space and connector means for interconnecting said first and second handle members.

7 more elements

As aspirating dental hand piece system for use in grinding a patient's tooth comprising:

(a) an elongated first handle member including:
(i) an outer wall defining an interior space having first and second ends, said first end terminating in a downwardly depending shroud having an open mouth;
(ii) a gas driven motor connected to said outer wall proximate said first end of said interior space;
(iii) a work tool rotatably driven by said motor, said work tool having a shank portion extending from said open mouth of said shroud;
(iv) cooling means, including a source of cooling fluid for directing a cooling fluid outwardly of said open mouth onto the tooth said cooling means comprising a pair of spray jets disposed within said shroud and a pair of fluid conduits disposed within said interior space of said second handle member one end of each said fluid conduit being in communication with one of said spray jets and the other end of each said fluid conduit being in communication with said source of cooling fluid;
and
(v) a divider wall connected to said outer wall for dividing said interior space into first and second portions comprising a fluid passageway in communication with said shroud;
(b) an elongated second handle member removably connected to said first handle member, said second handle including:
(i) an outer wall defining an interior space;
and
(ii) a vacuum conduit carried within said interior space;
(c) connector means for releasably interconnecting said first and second handle members so that said vacuum conduit is in communication with said fluid passageway of said first handle means;
and
(d) vacuum means including a vacuum pump connected to said vacuum conduit for producing a vacuum within said vacuum conduit and said fluid passageway sufficient to urge said cooling fluid flowing onto the tooth to then flow inwardly into said mouth of said shroud.

11 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.