CA1274408A

CA1274408A - Dental forceps

Info

Publication number: CA1274408A
Application number: CA000539618A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Edward Denis Pinder
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1987-06-15
Filing date: 1987-06-15
Publication date: 1990-09-25

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
The usual forceps used in a dental laboratory are the straight or rectilinear devices commonly employed by the medical profession. A better forceps design for use in dental laboratories includes a straight body defined by a pair of arms which are interconnected in a reverse scissors fashion ei., the jaws open when the handles of the forceps are pressed towards each other, with loops defining handles at one end, bent tips at the other end extending outwardly from the remainder of the arms at approximately 45° to the plane of such arms, and small jaws, each with a serrated edge, pivotally mounted on the free ends of the tips for engaging the interior of a crown to hold the latter. The jaws can pivot around axes perpendicular to the axes of the tips, or around the longitudinal axes of such tips. Rather than squeezing inner and outer surfaces of a crown, the novel forceps grip opposing surfaces of the interior of a crown.

Description

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This invention relates to dental forceps, and in particular to forceps intended for use in a dental laboratorv.
In genera', conventional dental forceps are the same as those used by the medical profession. Such forceps include a body defined by a pair of arms, which are interconnected scissors fashion. Loops on one end of each arm define handles for manipulating the forceps. The arms are releasably inter-connected at such one end by a short ratchet. The other ends of the arms define jaws, which taper to a point, and include opposed serrated inner edges for grippinq one edge of a dental crown in the same manner as tweezers or needle nose pliers.
Because only a small surface area of each jaw actually contacts the crown, the likelihood of slipping or dropping of the crown is somewhat high. Moreover, an area of the outer surface of the crown is covered by the tip of one of the jaws preventing or interferring with work in such area.
The object of the present invention is to overcome the above-identified problems by providing relatively simple dental forceps, which are capable of gripping a large area of the interior of a dental crown for holding such crown.
Accordingly, the present invention relates to dental forceps comprising a pair of elongated arm means; hinge means pivotally interconnecting said arm means in reverse scissors fashion; handle means on one end of each said arm means for operating the forceps; and jaw means pivotal on the other end of each said arm means for ~r ,~

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facilitating gripping of the sloping surface of a dental crown.
In this case, "reverse scissors fashion" is intended to mean that the jaw means are forced apart when the handle means are pressed towards each other.
The invention will be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawing which illustrates the prior art and a preferred embodiment of the invention, and wherein:
Figure l is a plan view of a pair of conventional forceps;
Figure 2 is a perspective view of a dental crown held by the jaw end of the forceps of Fig. l;
Figure 3 is a perspective view from above and one end of dental forceps in accordance with the present invention; and Figure 4 and 5 are partly sectioned, perspective views of two different types of jaws on the forceps of Fig. 3 in the use positions.
With reference to Figs. 1 and 2, conventional forceps of the type used in dental laboratory include a pair of arms 1 and 2, which are pivotally interconnected scissors fashion near jaws 3 on one end thereof. A loop defining a handle ~ is provided on one end of each of the arms 1 and 2. A pair of opposing lugs 6 and 7 extend inwardly from the arms 1 and 2 for defining a short rachet.
One lug 6 has a hook (not shown) on the free end thereof for engaging teeth 8 on the opposing lug 7. Thus, the lugs 6 and 7, and consequently the jaws 3 can be releasably locked together.
As shown in Fig. 2, one disadvantage of the forceps 4~

decribed above is experienced when holding acrown 10. The crown 10 has one open end 11 with sloping or tapering sides around such open end, when the jaws 3 of the forceps are used to grip one side of the crown 10, they usually grip only one small edge portion of the crown 10. Thus, there is the distinct possibility of slipping or dropping of the crown.
Referring -to Fig. 3, the forceps of the present invention which are generally indicated at 12 include a pair of arms 14. The arms 14 and 15 are pivotally interconnected near their jaw ends 16 in reverse scissors fashion by a pin 17 with an enlarged head 18 for seating the forceps firmly on a bench or table (not shown) while working on a crown 20 or 21 (Figs. 4 and 5, respectively). Loops 23 on one end of each of the arms 14 and 15 define handles for manipulating the forceps 12.
A short lug 24 with a downwardly extending tooth at its free end extends inwardly from one arm 14. An elongated arcuate lug 25 with teeth 26 on the upper surface thereof extends inwardly from the other arm 15 beneath the lug 24 and the arm 14. Thus, the lugs 24 and 25 define a ratchet for releasably locking the arms 14 and 15 in various open or closed positions.
The other jaw ends 16 of the arms 14 and lS bend upwardly at an angle of approximately 45 with respect to the plane of the remainder of the arms, so that a crown 20 or 21 will be positioned above the table or bench. A short jaw 28 is pivotally mounted on the free end of each of the arms 14 and 15.

The jaws 28 are mounted for rotation around lnclined axes such that the serrated outer edqes 30 of the jaws can engage the inner surface 31 of a crown 20 (Fig. 4). With this arrangement, the jaws conform to the inclined surface of the crown 20, and can be spread apart a distance sufficient to firmly retain the crown 2Q on the forceps. Thus, it is seen that the forceps act in a direction which is the reverse of the direction of operation of the conventional forceps, i.e. the jaws 28 are forced apart rather than together in order to hold a crown.
Referring to Fig. 5, -the second embodiment of the forceps is intended for use in a larger crown 21, e.g. a molar.
The forceps include all of the elements of the forceps of Fig.
4, except that the jaws 28 are replaced with jaws 33. The jaws 33 are pivotally mounted on the ends of the arms 14 and 15 for rotation around axes which are extensions of the longi-tudinal axes of the ends of the arms 14 and 15.
The use of forceps having jaws which extend into a crown for holding the latter faciiitates work on the entire outer surface of the crown without releasing and re-grasping the crown at another location. Because the surfaces of crowns are inclined or sloped the use ofrotatablejaws on the ends of the arms of the forceps improves the gripping or hol~ing action of the forceps.

Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF AN INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. Dental forceps comprising a pair of elongated arm means; hinge means pivotally interconnecting said arm means in reverse scissors fashion; handle means on one end of each said arm means for operating the forceps; and jaw means pivotal on the other end of each said arm means for facilitating gripping of the sloping surfaces of a dental crown.

2. Dental forceps according to claim 1, wherein said other end of each said arm means bends out of the plane of the remainder of said arm means, whereby, when said arm means occupy a horizontal plane, said jaw means are inclined upwardly with respect to such plane.

3. Dental forceps according to claim 2, wherein each said jaw means is adapted to rotate around an axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said other end of said arm means.

4. Dental forceps according to claim 2, wherein each said jaw means is adapted to rotate around the longitudinal axis of said other end of said arm means.

5. Dental forceps according to claim 2, including ratchet means releasably interconnecting said pair of arm means proximate said handle means.

6. Dental forceps according to claim 5, wherein said ratchet means includes elongated, arcuate first lug means extending inwardly from one said arm means beneath the other said arm means; short, second lug means extending inwardly from the other said arm means into overlapping relationship with said first lug means; and opposing teeth means on said first and second lug means for releasably interconnecting said one end of said pair or arm means.