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:
Dec. 04, 2001
Filed:
Jun. 19, 2000
V. Kim Kutsch, Jefferson, OR (US);
Joe D. Deardon, Spring Valley, CA (US);
Gregory S. Dollard, Oceanside, CA (US);
Richard D. McEachern, Escondido, CA (US);
Melvin B. Tamayo, Chula Vista, CA (US);
Other;
Abstract
The present invention relates to a instrument for use in an air abrasion dental instrument that allows direct contact between a nozzle which delivers a stream of abrasive particles directly through a primary opening to a tooth surface. As the primary opening if the nozzles of this invention are in continuous close contact with a tooth surface, exhaust amounts of abrasive-laden fluid escape secondary openings at a direction lateral to the tooth surface. The invention also embodies removable nozzle covers having both primary and secondary openings that enable prior art nozzles to be easily converted to contact nozzles. Both the nozzles and removable nozzle covers of this invention define areas for dental restoration that remove a minimal amount of healthy tooth structure. The invention allows the comfort of air abrasion dentistry to the patient as well as both visual and tactile feedback to the dentist, the latter filling a long felt need of the practicing dental community.