Dental treating apparatus and driving method for the same

A dental treating apparatus, comprising:

• a hand piece for drivably holding a cutting tool on a head unit;
• a driving unit for driving said cutting tool so as to be rotatable in a normal rotation direction in which said cutting tool cuts an object to be cut and in a reverse rotation direction opposite to said normal rotation direction;
• a control unit for controlling a rotation direction of said cutting tool;
• a load specifying unit for specifying a load applied to said cutting tool;
• a rotation setting unit for setting a first condition for driving said cutting tool in said normal rotation direction and rotating said cutting tool in said normal rotation direction based on the load specified by said load specifying unit;
• and
• a load comparing unit for comparing the load specified by said load specifying unit and a reference load,
• wherein during a normal rotation period until said first condition for driving said cutting tool is satisfied, said control unit maintains the rotation direction of said cutting tool in said normal rotation direction,
• wherein when a result of comparison by said load comparing unit attains a predetermined result during said normal rotation period, said control unit controls the rotation direction of said cutting tool to said reverse rotation direction,
• wherein when a predetermined second condition is satisfied, said control unit controls the rotation direction of said cutting tool to be switched from said reverse rotation direction to said normal rotation direction, and
• wherein the predetermined second condition is a predetermined reverse rotation angle or a predetermined reverse rotation time.

A driving method for a dental treating apparatus to drive a cutting tool held on a head unit of a hand piece, the driving method comprising:

• a normal rotation driving step of, on the premise that said cutting tool is rotatable in a normal rotation direction in which said cutting tool cuts an object to be cut and in a reverse rotation direction opposite to said normal rotation direction, continuing driving of said cutting tool in said normal rotation direction until a predetermined first condition of driving said cutting tool is satisfied;
• a load comparing step of comparing a load applied to said cutting tool and a reference load after said normal rotation driving step is performed;
• a reverse rotation driving step of driving said cutting tool in said reverse rotation direction when a result of comparison in said load comparing step attains a predetermined result,
• wherein after driving of said cutting tool in said reverse rotation direction is continued until said reverse rotation driving step satisfies a predetermined second condition, said normal rotation driving step drives said cutting tool in said normal rotation direction again, and
• wherein the predetermined second condition is a predetermined reverse rotation angle or a predetermined reverse rotation time.