Permanently lubricated dental prophylaxis angle

A dental prophylaxis angle comprising:

• a body defining a sleeve and a head;
• the sleeve defining a bore which receives a drive member and the head defining a bore which receives a driven member, the head bore and the sleeve bore communicating with each other, the driven member being driven by the drive member;
• and
• a cap received in the head bore, the driven member being journaled in the cap, the cap forming the sole rotational bearing for the driven gear, the driven member making substantially point contact with a thrust bearing in the head, rotation of the driven member thereby being substantially unaffected by slight misalignments of the cap with respect to the body.

A dental prophylaxis angle comprising:

• a one piece body defining a sleeve, a neck, and a head;
• a body bore extending through the neck and the sleeve;
• a head bore in the head, the head bore communicating with the body bore;
• a driven member rotatably mounted in the head bore;
• a drive assembly in the sleeve bore, the drive assembly comprising a drive gear including a gear part at a forward end of the drive assembly, the gear part being operatively connected to the driven member, and a shaft part extending rearwardly from the gear part, the shaft part being sized to be grasped by a collet in a handpiece, and a thrust bearing comprising a sheet-metal retaining ring having a plurality of generally radially extending arms, the arms engaging a wall defining the sleeve bore, the thrust bearing restraining rearward axial movement of the drive assembly.