Disposable dental mirror
AssigneePulpdent Corporation
InventorsPaul E. Winston, Ronald B. Wasserman, Kenneth J. Berk, Fredrick M. Berk, Donald A. Berk
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A disposable dental mirror and methods of making same. The mirror includes a long, thin, flat blade that provides both a handle and a mirror mount and has a reflective surface applied to one end thereof. The blade is made of a material which need not be sterilizable, such as wood or plastic. In a one embodiment, the reflective surface is made of a metallized film directly applied to one surface of the blade. In an alternate embodiment, a thin, flat piece of a rigid material is located between the blade and the reflective film to ensure flatness of the reflecting surface, thereby reducing distortion.
Claims25
A disposable dental mirror comprising:
- a handle in the form of a flat, elongated blade of substantially equal thickness along its length and having distal and proximal ends and top and bottom surfaces;
- a flexible, plastic, reflective film on the top surface of the blade at the distal end thereof to provide a substantially flat reflective surface;
- and
- the reflective film being attached directly to the blade top surface by means of an adhesive.
A disposable dental mirror comprising:
- a handle in the form of a flat, elongated blade made of wood, being of substantially equal thickness along its length, and having distal and proximal ends and top and bottom surfaces;
- a thin, flat, planar, substrate, made of a rigid material and having top and bottom surfaces;
- a flexible, plastic, reflective film covering substantially the entire top surface of the substrate and attached thereto to provide a mirror assembly having a flat reflective surface;
- means for attaching the substrate bottom surface to the top surface of the handle at the distal end thereof.
A method of manufacturing a disposable dental mirror including the steps of:
- shaping a flat, elongated blade of substantially equal thickness along its length and having distal and proximal ends and top and bottom surfaces to provide a head portion at the distal end and a handle portion at the proximal end with the handle portion being longer and narrower than the head portion and the head portion being of a rounded configuration about its periphery to eliminate sharp corners;
- and
- attaching a flexible, plastic reflective film to the top surface of the blade at the distal end thereof to provide a substantially flat reflective surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.