The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 29, 1997
Filed:
May. 08, 1995
Applicant:
Inventors:
Derek E Heath, Johnson City, TN (US);
Jerry A Mooneyhan, Johnson City, TN (US);
Assignee:
Tulsa Dental Products, L.L.C., Tulsa, OK (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
A61C / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
433 72 ; 433141 ;
Abstract
A dental hand instrument, such as an explorer, which comprises an elongate rigid handle, and an elongate highly flexible blade attached to one or both ends of the handle. The blade is curved and/or bent along its length and is composed of nickel-titanium alloy, which provides a high degree of flexibility and wear resistance. The high degree of flexibility has been found to significantly enhance the tactile feedback to the hand of the dentist, so that the dentist is able to recognize and distinguish surface cracks, areas of decay, and the like as the point is moved across the exterior surface of a tooth.