FR2746295A1 - Soft tissue protector for dental work - Google Patents

Abstract

The protector (C) is mounted on a dental grinder (3) which has a support (10) with a lower protective plate (20). the support is formed as a massive open ring of a material sufficiently elastic to allow frontal placing in clip on fashion onto the grinding head. The ring has a circumferential groove which opens (13) and the plate has a foot (21) shaped to lodge in the groove and displaceable circumferentially to allow angular adjustment of the plate with respect to the support.

Description

 The invention relates to a soft tissue protection device intended to be mounted on a dental milling head, and making it possible to protect the soft tissues inside the mouth during the performance of dental work using a cutter or similar tool, rotated at a suitable speed, for example an air turbine.

 Numerous protective devices are known, which are of the type comprising a fixing support equipped below with a protective pallet. During the milling of a tooth, it is necessary to work not only on one and the other free side of it, that is to say on the side of the cheek and on the side of the tongue, but also on its sides close to the neighboring teeth. The protective pallet must allow work on the lingual or jugal side of the tooth, and constitute a spacer which is integral with the head of the turbine.

 To illustrate the state of the art, we can cite the document FR-A-2,228,463 which describes a protector drawn from a blank in two parts, one part of which engages by pressure on the contra-angle of the turbine, and a pivoting pallet mounted articulated around an axis coincident with the axis of the milling head. This type of protection device thus covers the upper part of the turbine head, and thereby prevents the use of a press button conventionally used in modern turbines to eject the milling tool. This document also illustrates other protective devices of the wired type which avoid this drawback, but these devices do not allow angular adjustment of the protective paddle. A similar device is illustrated in document US-A-2,924,013, with a pallet constituting a portion of a folded metal blank and clipped onto an end portion of the turbine. If the practitioner wishes to change the working position, he must then dismantle the protective device to clip it into a symmetrically opposite position.

 Document CH-A-602.086 illustrates a complex technique according to which two circumferential rails are attached to the milling head, these rails making it possible to hang a protector mounted movable in rotation produced in the form of a wire element having, in the upper part , two grooves allowing its attachment to the two parallel rails integral with the milling head.

 Document US-A-2,671,269 illustrates various embodiments of a protection device which is snapped onto a milling head. The fixing support is either produced in the form of a cylindrical clip having two lateral protuberances allowing a protective pallet to be hung, or in the form of a flat metal ring, one of the branches of which is extended and curved to allow hooking by jamming the foot of the protective pallet. In this latter embodiment, the protection device can rotate as a block, but this causes scratching of the protection head and above all, the fixing of the protection pallet is unreliable during the practitioner's work.

 Finally, document US-A-4,583,945, which emanates from the applicant, illustrates a protective device with a rotating paddle. The fixing support is then in the form of a cap which covers the milling head, and the protective pallet is connected to this cap by a washer fixed by a rivet at the level of the axis of said cap. This device is convenient during use by the practitioner, but it still has the drawback of masking the upper face of the milling head, which prevents the use of heads having a button for ejecting the cutting tool. milling. In addition, the pallet cap may scratch the milling head if it is too tight and above all it can only be suitable for a given diameter of the milling head.

 The known protective devices which have just been recalled thus have a certain number of drawbacks and / or limitations which the invention intends to remedy, thanks to a particular structure of protective device with fixing support and protective pallet.

 The object of the invention is therefore to design a protection device of the aforementioned type which can be mounted reliably on a milling head, without covering the upper part of this head, and without scratching it as a result of excessive tightening, while retaining the possibility of modifying the angular position of the protective pallet with respect to the fixing support, without risk of loss of this protective pallet.

 In accordance with the invention, this problem is solved by means of a soft tissue protection device intended to be mounted on a dental milling head, of the type comprising a fixing support, equipped below with a protection pallet, in which the fixing support is produced in the form of a solid open ring made of sufficiently elastic material to allow a front positioning in the manner of a clip on the milling head, said solid ring having a circumferential through groove, and the pallet has a shaped foot to be received in the aforementioned groove while being retained there, while being able to move there circumferentially to modify the angular position of said pallet relative to said fixing support.

 Preferably, the circumferential groove opens at at least one of the two end edges of the open solid ring. This allows easy positioning or replacement of the protective pallet by simple lateral insertion into the end of the circumferential groove of the open solid ring.

 Advantageously also, the circumferential groove has an enlarged bottom, the base of the pallet then being shaped with a homologous profile so as to have a fitting of said base in said groove. Such embedding avoids any risk of inadvertent fall of the protective pallet during the practitioner's work, regardless of the forces exerted.

 According to another advantageous characteristic, the base of the pallet is essentially flat, and has a width which is adapted to the radius of curvature of the circumferential groove in such a way that said foot remains naturally maintained by friction in said groove whatever the position. angle of the pallet.

 Advantageously also, the base of the pallet is connected to the main part thereof by a portion forming a hinge allowing movement of said pallet towards the outside and / or inside.

 In particular, the hinge portion of the pallet is a thinned area providing the desired flexibility. This achieves a one-piece protective pallet, without having to bring back a hinge.

 Provision may also be made for the open solid ring to have a coaxial central skirt in cylinder section, forming an internal abutment support for the pallet whatever the angular position thereof. In this case, the travel of the protective pallet is de facto limited in the direction of the milling tool, which avoids any risk of contact between said pallet and the milling tool under the pressure of the soft tissues concerned.

 In accordance with a particular characteristic, the solid open ring has a circumferential extent of approximately 2700 so as to allow an angular range of displacement close to 1800 for the pallet. An angular debate close to 1800 for the protective pallet makes it possible to quickly pass from a work on the lingual side to a work on the legal side, and vice versa.

 Preferably, finally, the open solid ring and the associated pallet are made of plastic, with preferably the choice of a polyamide or the like for the open solid ring, and the choice of a polyethylene or the like for the associated pallet.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will appear more clearly in the light of the description which follows and of the appended drawings, relating to a particular embodiment, with reference to the figures or
- Figure 1 illustrates a soft tissue protection device, according to the invention, mounted on a dental milling head forming the end of an air turbine
- Figure 2 illustrates in perspective the aforementioned protection device, without the dental milling head
- Figure 3 is a plan view illustrating the protective palette of the device of the invention, and Figure 4 is an associated section along the line IV-IV;
- Figure 5 is a bottom view of the open solid ring forming the fixing support of the aforementioned protection device, the hatched rectangle symbolizing the foot of the associated protection pallet in different angular positions
- Figures 6a and 6b are two sections along VI
VI of FIG. 5, making it possible to distinguish the open solid ring and the associated protective pallet, the variant of FIG. 6b being distinguished from the variant of FIG. 6a by the presence of a central coaxial skirt forming an internal stop of support for the pallet.

 FIG. 1 illustrates a dental milling turbine 1, the end bend 2 of which ends with a milling head 3 equipped with a milling tool 5. The axis of the milling head and of the tool 5 is noted X, and this milling head 3 is surmounted by a button 4 used for ejecting the milling tool. The dental milling head 3 is equipped with a protective device C in accordance with the invention, this device comprising a fixing support 10 fitted below with a protective pallet 20. According to a characteristic of the invention, the support fixing 10 is made in the form of a solid open ring of sufficiently elastic material to allow a front positioning in the manner of a clip on the milling head 3, and the protective pallet 20 is connected by means which will be described in more detail below, allowing a circumferential movement of the latter to modify the angular position of said pallet relative to the fixing support, this circumferential movement being shown diagrammatically in FIG. 1 by the arrow in phantom 50.

 FIG. 2 makes it possible to better distinguish the arrangement of the open solid ring 10, the end edges of which are denoted 11, 12. This open solid ring has an opening circumferential groove 13 in which the foot 21 of the pallet is received protective 20, the main portion of said pallet, denoted 22, being connected to the foot 21 by a connecting ligament 23 allowing a movement of the pallet outwards and / or inwards. This ligament-shaped portion 23 thus forms a hinge for the protective pallet 20, by simply being constituted by a thinned zone which confers the desired flexibility. The angular movement towards the outside or the inside is shown diagrammatically by the double arrow 51.

 Figures 3 and 4 make it possible to better distinguish the structure of the protective pallet 20, with its foot 21 connected to the main portion 22 by the hinge ligament 23 and also with a free end of the foot 21, denoted 24, which has a conformation in projecting relief, the profile of which is homologous to that of the bottom of the circumferential groove 13. This makes it possible to have a reliable embedding of the foot 21 of the protective pallet 20 in the circumferential groove 13, this embedding must of course allow movement circumferential to modify the angular position of said pallet.

 FIG. 5, and the associated sections of FIGS. 6a and 6b, make it possible to better distinguish the structure of the open solid ring 10 of the soft tissue protection device according to the invention.

 The solid open ring 10 here has a circumferential extent, denoted a, which is approximately 2700, which allows an angular range of displacement close to 1800 for the protective pallet. The circumferential opening groove 13 formed in the open solid ring 10 has a bottom, noted 14, the profile of which is homologous with that of the end edge of the foot 21 of the protective pallet 20. It can be seen that the circumferential groove 13 opens here at the two end edges 11, 12 of the open solid ring 10, which allows easy insertion or removal by one or the other of the ends of said ring. It will naturally be possible to provide that the circumferential groove 13 opens at one of the end edges of the open solid ring 10. This terminal access to the circumferential groove is essential when the foot of the protective pallet has a particular relief, here in sharp projecting edge, with a view to embedding at the bottom of the groove. In effect, this avoids forcing the foot of the protective pallet back when the said pallet is placed in the open solid ring.

 As shown schematically in Figure 5, the foot 21 of the pallet 20 is essentially flat, and it has a width which is adapted to the radius of curvature of the circumferential groove 13 so that said foot remains naturally held by friction in said groove regardless of the angular position of the pallet 20. In FIG. 5, a central position and two lateral positions have been illustrated to the right and to the left thereof, more particularly suitable for working on the lingual side or on the side. jugal of the affected tooth.

 With the variant of FIG. 6a, the movement of the main portion 22 of the protective pallet 20, shown diagrammatically by the arrow 51, can be carried out moving away from or approaching the axis X. On the variant of the FIG. 6b, it can be seen that the open solid ring 10 has a coaxial central skirt 16 in cylinder section, which skirt forms an internal abutment support for the pallet whatever the angular position thereof. In this case, the movement of the protective pallet 20, shown diagrammatically by the arrow 51, is limited in the direction of the axis X by the support against the central skirt 16. This makes it possible to avoid any risk of contact between the protective paddle and milling tool during work.

 The open solid ring 10 and the associated pallet 20 are preferably made of plastic. This makes it possible to have a suitable elasticity for the open solid ring 10, the internal contact surface of which, denoted 15, is a soft surface which does not run the risk of scratching the milling head, and the opening space of which allows a front insertion like a clip for milling head diameters which may differ significantly. We know in particular that the diameters of the milling heads currently used with modern turbines range between 8 and 13 mm. In this case, it will suffice to have a set of three open solid rings, relating respectively to the diameters of 8 or 9 mm, the diameters of 10 or 11 mm, and the diameters of 12 or 13 mm.

This opening travel in no way affects the solid attachment of the protection device to the milling head.

As an indication, a polyamide or the like may be used for the open solid ring 10, and a polyethylene or the like for the associated pallet 20.

 The invention is not limited to the embodiment which has just been described, but on the contrary encompasses any variant incorporating, with equivalent means, the essential characteristics set out above.

 In particular, the method of embedding the foot of the protective pallet in the circumferential groove of the open solid ring can be implemented according to variable profiles which differ from the profile presently illustrated.

Claims (10)

 1. Device (C) for protecting soft tissues intended to be mounted on a dental milling head (3), of the type comprising a fixing support (10), equipped below with a protection pallet (20), characterized in that the fixing support (10) is made in the form of a solid open ring of sufficiently elastic material to allow a front positioning in the manner of a clip on the milling head (3), said solid ring having a circumferential opening groove (13), and the pallet (20) has a foot (21) shaped to be housed in the aforementioned groove (13) while being retained therein, while being able to move there circumferentially to modify the position angular of said pallet relative to said fixing support.  2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the circumferential groove (13) opens at at least one of the two end edges (11, 12) of the open solid ring (10).  3. Device according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that the circumferential groove (13) has an enlarged bottom (14), the foot (21) of the pallet (20) then being shaped with a homologous profile to have embedding said foot in said groove.  4. Device according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the foot (21) of the pallet (20) is essentially flat, and has a width which is adapted to the radius of curvature of the circumferential groove (13) so that said foot remains naturally held by friction in said groove regardless of the angular position of the pallet (20).  5. Device according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the foot (21) of the pallet (20) is connected to the main part (22) thereof by a portion (23) forming a hinge allowing a movement of said pallet (20) outwards and / or inwards.  6. Device according to claim 5, characterized in that the portion (23) forming a hinge of the pallet (20) is a thinned zone giving the desired flexibility.  7. Device according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the open solid ring (10) has a coaxial central skirt (16) in cylinder section forming an internal abutment abutment for the pallet (20) which whatever the angular position of it.  8. Device according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the open solid ring (10) has a circumferential extent of approximately 2700 so as to allow an angular range of displacement close to 1800 for the pallet (20 ).  9. Device according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the open solid ring (10) and the associated pallet (20) are made of plastic.  10. Device according to claim 9, characterized in that the open solid ring (10) is of polyamide or the like, and the associated pallet (20) of polyethylene or the like.