Controlled force crown and bridge remover
OwnerRonald A. Maedainventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A dental implement has two moderately flexible hemostat-like handles enabling an operator to apply safely controlled force through finger and thumb grips to bring coplanar bracing and grasping beaks toward one another for gentle removal of crowns or bridges from the mouth of a patient. The bracing beak bearing on the occlusal surface of an underlying tooth is readily modifiable in length or angular position to accommodate a variety of tooth sizes, locations and orientations, and the grasping beak is hollow ground to provide enhanced purchase on a gingival margin or supramarginal notch of a crown. A method of crown or bridge removal utilizing an improved, lightweight, controlled force dental implement employs an iterative sectioning of the crown or bridge during removal.
Claims11
An implement for removing, from teeth in the mouth, a dental crown or bridge, said implement comprising:
- first and second arms pivotally joined for rotation relative to each other, the arms having first and second moderately flexible handle portions defining their respective proximal ends, and first and second jaw portions defining their respective distal ends, such that the jaw portions are propelled toward one another when the handle portions are manipulated toward one another in a hemostat-like manner by the fingers and thumb of a dental practitioner;
- a thumb grip formed on the first handle portion and a finger grip formed on the second handle portion;
- a hollow ground grasping beak formed on the first jaw portion, the grasping beak having a sharp edge adapted to engage a gingival margin or vertical surface of said crown;
- and
- an adjustable bracing beak formed on the second jaw portion, the bracing beak having a tip adapted to bear on a tooth through a preformed hole in the crown, within an arc generally coplanar with the plane of motion of said grasping beak, said bracing beak comprising an integral projection of the second jaw portion bent toward the first jaw portion at a modifiable bend angle to the longitudinal axis of said second jaw portion, said bracing beak bearing tip being tapered to diverge toward said second jaw portion, thus providing a self-limiting stop to prevent excessive intrusion of the tip into the preformed hole in the crown.
A method for removing, from a tooth in the mouth, a dental crown having at least occlusal, lingual, and buccal or labial surfaces and gingival margins, said crown contacting an underlying occlusal surface of the tooth or a base thereon, said method comprising the steps of:
- providing a hemostat-like implement having first and second moderately flexible arms, an adjustable bracing beak including a bearing tip disposed on a distal end of the second arm, a crown grasping beak having a hollow ground edge disposed on a distal end of the first arm and adapted to operate within an arc coplanar with the plane of motion of the bracing beak, and thumb and finger grips on proximal ends of the first and second arms, respectively;
- drilling a hole through an occlusal surface of the crown to access the surface of the underlying tooth or base thereon;
- adjusting the bracing beak lengthwise and angularly within said coplanar arc to advantageously accommodate tooth size, location and orientation with respect to the grasping beak;
- emplacing the bracing beak within the crown access hole so that the bearing tip bears on the underlying tooth or base and the grasping beak engages the crown;
- employing the thumb and finger grips to bring the grasping beak and bracing beak gently toward one another, thereby exerting simultaneously a bracing force on the occlusal and an opposing grasping force on the crown, the simultaneous forces being advantageously limited by the moderate flexibility of the first and second arms;
- cutting a groove in the crown if necessary from the occlusal outwardly to the buccal or labial surface thereof, just short of the gingival margin;
- and repeating the step of bringing the grasping and bracing beaks toward one another until the crown is removed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.