This invention relates to a support mechanism for supporting dental instruments, and more particularly, to a dental instrument support mechanism for establishing stable support for dental instruments such as a dental cutting tool, a drill, a fiber scope and a diamond bar within an oral cavity in desired positions therein to perform a dental treatment or test.
In performing a dental treatment such as dental test or dental operation, a dentist and his/her assistant must use various types of dental instruments. Such dental instruments include grinding tools such as a diamond bar for grinding a tooth, and cutting tools such as a dental reamer or a dental file for forming a root canal. Further, for an implant such as an artificial root of tooth, a hole must be created on a bone in the jaw, which requires a special drill.
Further, in the dental treatment, since the object in the oral cavity is not easily visible, a special tool such as a fiber scope has to be used in the location near the object to observe the object through the monitor. Moreover, a drain pipe may also be used to remove the fluid such as saliva and or debris in the oral cavity.
Ordinarily, such dental instruments, i.e., a diamond bar, reamer, and file for drilling and cutting, a fiber scope for monitoring, and a drain pipe for cleaning the oral cavity, have to be supported by the hands of the dentist and/or dentist""s assistant. Thus, in a typical example of dental treatment, the fiber scope and the drain pipe are held by, for example, the assistant while the diamond bar and/or reamer are operated by the dentist.
However, this process of performing the dental treatment while holding the dental instruments in the hands requires a high level of skill and experience by both the dentist and the assistant. Because the oral cavity is small, it is difficult to hold the various instruments in the right positions in the oral cavity. Further, since the small movement of the fiber scope is magnified in the microscope monitor, the manual handling of the fiber scope needs special talents and experience.
This invention has been made to solve the problems involved in the dental treatment and operation in the conventional technology. It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a dental instrument support mechanism which can stably support dental instruments with a relatively simple structure.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a dental instrument support mechanism which can stably support dental instruments while maintaining the positional relationship with the object.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a dental instrument support mechanism which is able to adjust the positions and directions of the dental instrument held at the end of the support mechanism.
In the present invention, the dental instruments support mechanism is comprised of a base portion, and a support arm connected to the base portion at one end for holding a dental instrument at another end. The dental instrument held by the support arm is fixedly maintained a positional relationship with dental object in an oral cavity of a patient. The dental instrument support mechanism is attached to one or more of a head, face, jaw, tooth of the patient or a treatment bed.
Each component of the dental instrument support mechanism is provided with sufficient stiffness to endure loads received during movements of dental instrument or dental treatment using the dental instrument wherein a distance and an angle of the dental instrument relative to the dental object in the oral cavity is adjustable.
Preferably, the dental instrument on the support arm is moveable along a predetermine route in the oral cavity. A plurality of dental instruments can be supported by the dental instrument support mechanism. Alternatively, two or more dental instrument support mechanisms support one dental instrument in the oral cavity of the patient.
Preferably, the support arm has a column connected to the base portion and an arm connected to the column at one end for mounting the dental instrument at another end, wherein the arm is moveable along the column. To achieve this, a combination of a pinion gear and a rack gear are incorporated in the support arm.
According to the present invention, the dental instrument support mechanism has the base portion and the support arm attached to the base portion at one end to support the dental instrument at the other end. The dental instrument supported by the support arm can be fixedly maintained in the oral cavity with a constant positional relationship with the intended object. Therefore, the dental instruments can be fixed in the desired positions and orientation in the oral cavity without requiring any experience of skill by the user, thereby enabling the dental treatment with high efficiency and accuracy.