US 6,273,712 B1 · Equine dental grinding apparatus

Abstract

A dental appliance or apparatus for grinding the teeth of equine patients includes a variable speed motor and an elongated tube leading from the motor to a head member that mounts an annular disk-shaped grinding wheel that has a planar grinding surface thereon. The head member also mounts a cup-shaped guard member that has a skirt portion extending beyond the grinding surface of the grinding wheel so as to protect the tongue and mucosa of the patient during the grinding operation. The elongated tube permits the grinding wheel to be inserted into the horse's mouth to bring it into close proximity to teeth needing to be ground and the grinding wheel can be easily oriented relative to the teeth to be ground since it can be rotated through several angles relative to the motor to reach both upper and lower sets of teeth. A drive shaft couples the grinding wheel to the motor, is contained within the elongated tube, and is connected to the motor through a clutch assembly. Should the horse bite down on the grinding wheel and stop its rotation the clutch will prevent the motor from stalling or from twisting in the operator's hand. A water cooling accessory can be provided to spray cooling water directly at the grinding surface. By using this apparatus a more effective grinding operation can be performed and there is less danger of damage to the inner walls of the horse's mouth or to its tongue than with conventional grinding or filing techniques.

Claims17

Dependent claims

Dental apparatus for grinding teeth of equine patients comprising:

a hand-held variable speed electrical motor including means for connecting the motor to a source of electricity and means for controlling the speed of said motor;
and a grinding tool including:
hollow cylindrical tube means connected at a proximal end thereof to said motor;
shaft means connected at a proximal end thereof to said motor for rotation thereby, said shaft means extending within said tube means from said proximal end thereof to the distal end thereof;
a head member connected to said distal end of said tube means;
means for allowing said tube means and said head member to rotate through an angle of at least 45° on the axis of said tube means;
a disk-like grinding wheel rotatably mounted within said head member, said grinding wheel including a planar grinding surface thereon, said grinding wheel having an axis of rotation that is at an angle of 90° relative to the axis of said tube means;
cup-shaped guard means attached to said head member, enclosing all but the grinding surface of said grinding wheel;
and drive means within said head member for transmitting rotation of said shaft means at the distal end thereof through 90° to said grinding wheel.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Equine dental grinding apparatus

Life of this patent

Equine dental grinding apparatus

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims17