Dental dams are used during many dental procedures to prevent dental items or debris from entering a patient's oral cavity where they can be swallowed or inhaled, leading to potential injury. Further, dental dams are used where the dental materials require dry environments in and around a tooth to achieve their optimum physical properties. Referring to FIG. 1, an example conventional dental dam 10 includes a rubber membrane 15 which the dentist uses to isolate one tooth, or a series of teeth 20, by cutting out one or more small holes in the membrane 15 at locations corresponding to the teeth to be isolated. The dentist then places a portion of the membrane 15 in the patient's mouth with said teeth 20 protruding through corresponding holes in the membrane 15, thereby isolating said teeth. Clamps 25 are then used to hold the membrane 15 around the isolated teeth. Finally, the dentist stretches the periphery of the rubber membrane 15 over an extraoral frame 30, outside the mouth, to keep the membrane 15 held taut in front of the patient's face.
Existing dental dams have several disadvantages however. One disadvantage is that installing such dental dams requires the dentist to take several time consuming steps described above. When installed the dental dams are imposing, uncomfortable and the patients have to leave their mouths open during the entire dental procedure. Further, the dental dams are unstable and can easily collapse. For example, the rubber membrane can snap off the frame and the clamp can come off the tooth. This is specially problematic in Pedodontics where patients are typically young children who are impatient and frightened by the dental dams.
Another disadvantage of existing dental dams is that the patient must be anesthetized before the clamp can be used to hold the membrane around the isolated teeth. This is because the clamp exerts pressure to the tooth, causing severe pain. Administering anesthetics is time consuming and causes discomfort to the patient. Another disadvantage of a clamp, is that the pressure from the clamp can fracture a brittle tooth. This is common in Endodontics for root canal treatment where as part of the procedure, the teeth are made into hollow shells without any pulp therein. Further, the clamps are difficult and time consuming to fit and install around the teeth.
There is, therefore, a need for a dental dam which is simple to install, does not require an extraoral frame or clamps, and can be installed without anesthetizing the patient.