TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure relates, in general, to dental devices for treatment and care of the teeth in an oral cavity, and more particularly, to a dental medicament applicator for treating interproximal caries and the like.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Dental caries, which are also referred to as tooth decay or cavities, are one of the most common and widespread persistent diseases in the oral cavity. When an individual eats certain food, bacteria in the oral cavity break down the food and produce acids that have the ability to seriously damage hard tissues of a tooth in the oral cavity. The result may be the formation of dental caries. In current clinical dentistry practice, interproximal caries are extremely difficult to treat due to the location of the dental caries between teeth. Accordingly, there is a need for improved systems and methods for effectively treating dental caries and, in particular, hard to reach interproximal caries.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It would be advantageous to achieve systems and methods that would improve upon existing limitations in functionality with respect to treatment of dental caries and, in particular, interproximal caries. It would also be desirable to enable a mechanical-based and chemical-based medical solution that would provide simplified and accelerated treatment of interproximal caries. To better address one or more of these concerns, a dental medicament applicator is disclosed. In one embodiment of the dental medicament applicator, a retention device is sized for insertion at a dental site, such as an interproximal site. The retention device includes a body and at least one matrix within the body containing a topical substance, such as a fluoride-containing chemical agent, silver diamine fluoride, or a peptide-based chemical agent, for example. One or two wings may be selectively separably coupled to respective ends of the body. The body, in response to being physically affixed to the dental site, delivers the topical substance at a controlled rate to the dental site. These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter.

