JP2000166941A - Method for forming ruggedness on tooth front surface, and dental laser instrument used for the method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for forming ruggedness on a tooth front surface by which multiple recessed parts are simultaneously formed at regular interval and each of them is formed with uniform depth, and to provide a dental laser device to be used for the method. SOLUTION: This dental laser device for radiating laser beams and forming the recessed part is provided with a light splitting mask 42 for splitting the laser beams into plural spots through plural through-holes. Thus, the laser beams are split by the plural through-holes which are formed in the light splitting mask 42 in the case of irradiating a tooth with the laser beams. Plural parts on the front surface of the tooth 50 are simultaneously irradiated with the split laser beam and the respective recessed parts are simultaneously formed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for forming a concave and convex surface on a tooth by laser light and a dental laser apparatus used for the method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a dental laser device shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 has been known as this type of dental laser device.

In this dental laser apparatus, as shown in FIG. 5, a laser beam is oscillated from a laser oscillator 1 such as a YAG laser oscillator, and this laser beam is transmitted to an articulated manipulator 2.
And irradiates the teeth 4 with the handpiece 3. In the handpiece 3, as shown in FIG. 6, the light is condensed on one point of the teeth 4 by the condensing lens 3a, and thereby the teeth are cut.

[0004]

In the case where a concave portion is formed only at one point of the teeth 4, there is no problem with the conventional dental laser apparatus. Must shift the handpiece and change the position of the focal point.

However, in the conventional dental laser apparatus, when changing the focal point position, the handpiece 3 is shifted by a human hand, so that a large number of concave portions are regularly formed at intervals of 1 mm or less. In such cases, it has been almost impossible. Further, when the positions of the condensing points are erroneously overlapped, the depth of the concave portion is not uniform, and it is difficult to adjust the depth.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for forming irregularities on a tooth surface, in which a large number of concave portions can be simultaneously formed at regular intervals, and each concave portion can be formed with a uniform depth, and a dental laser device used in the method.

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided a dental laser apparatus for forming a concave portion by irradiating a laser beam with a spectral mask for dividing a laser beam into a plurality of spots through a plurality of holes. Structure.

According to the present invention, when irradiating a tooth with a laser beam, the laser beam is split by a plurality of transmission holes formed in a split mask. As a result, the laser beam is simultaneously applied to a plurality of locations on the tooth surface, and each recess is formed simultaneously.

[0009]

1 to 4 show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a structural view showing a configuration of a dental laser apparatus, and FIG. 2 is an operation explanation showing a spectral state of laser light. Figure,
FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a spectral mask, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a concave portion formed in a tooth.

The dental laser apparatus includes a laser oscillator 10 for oscillating a laser beam, an attenuator 20 for attenuating and adjusting the intensity of the laser beam, a manipulator 30 for guiding the laser beam adjusted by the attenuator 20, and a manipulator. And a handpiece 40 for irradiating the teeth 50 with the laser light guided through 30.

The laser oscillator 10 is an Nd: YAG laser oscillator or an E laser commonly used as a dental laser.
An r: YAG laser oscillator or the like is used. The laser oscillator 10 outputs, for example, a laser beam having a wavelength of 248 nm, a pulse width of about 15 ns, and a pulse energy of about 250 mJ at a maximum frequency of 200 Hz. Here, the reason why the laser oscillator 10 having a short wavelength is used is that the teeth 5
This is for improving the resolution at the time of forming the 0 concave portion.

The attenuator 20 adjusts the light intensity of the laser beam as described above, and for example, a rotary type continuously variable one is used. When the light intensity adjusting mechanism is built in the laser oscillator 10, the attenuator 20
Is of course unnecessary.

The manipulator 30 is usually of the articulated type. The manipulator 30 has a function of guiding the laser beam adjusted by the attenuator 20 to the handpiece 40 and moving the handpiece 40 to a desired position. The manipulator 30 is not limited to this as long as it is suitable for guiding light to the handpiece 40 and mobility of the handpiece 40. For example, an optical fiber (not shown) may be used to guide the light to the handpiece 40 through the optical fiber.

The handpiece 40 has a waveform shaping optical system 41,
It has a spectral mask 42 and a condenser lens 43.

The waveform shaping optical system 41 converts the laser light incident on the handpiece 40 into an intensity distribution and shape effective for forming a concave portion. For example, when using a YAG laser oscillator, the intensity distribution is a Gaussian distribution, and the central portion is strong while the peripheral portion is weak. Therefore, the concave portion 51 on the center side is deep and the concave portion 51 on the peripheral side becomes shallow. Therefore, in the waveform shaping optical system 41, the light intensity distribution is made uniform by using a caricon or the like. Further, in order to form the concave portion 51 on the tooth surface without any gap, when forming the rectangular concave portion 51, a flyer lens is used.

As shown in FIG. 3, the spectral mask 42 has a plurality of transmission holes 42a for transmitting a laser beam arranged at predetermined intervals. A stainless steel plate is used as the material of the spectral mask 42, the diameter of the transmission holes 42a is changed from 50 μm to 300 μm, and the pitch is approximately doubled.
The spectral mask 42 may be made of an opaque material, and is not limited to this stainless steel plate.

The principle of irradiating the teeth 50 using the spectral mask 42 and the condenser lens 43 will be described with reference to FIG. Here, A is the distance between the spectral mask 42 and the condenser lens 43, B is the distance between the condenser lens 43 and the teeth 50, and F is the focal length of the condenser lens 43. That is, of the incident laser light, only the laser light passing through the transmission hole 42 a of the spectral mask 42 is split and enters the condenser lens 43, and is guided by the condenser lens 43 to reach the teeth 50. If the distance ratio M = A / B, the image of the transmission hole 42a is projected on the surface of the tooth 50 with a size of 1 / M.

Therefore, a large number of transmission holes 4 are formed in the spectral mask 42.
When forming 2a, a large number of laser light spots are formed on the surface of the teeth 50. Further, it is possible to obtain an energy density that is at most M times the energy of the laser beam on the surface of the tooth 50. Even if the leather energy is small, sufficient energy for processing can be obtained on the tooth surface.

Here, the diameter D of the transmission hole is 200 μm (FIG. 3).
) And M = 10, the diameter of the concave portion 51 of the tooth 50 is reduced to 20 μm as shown in FIG.
Further, one pulse of the laser light irradiation results in a concave portion 51 having a depth of 0.5 μm. Therefore, irradiation of 20 pulses forms a concave portion 51 having a depth of 10 μm as shown in FIG. As described above, the pitch of the transmission holes 42a is set to 40
When 20 μm and 20 × 20 transmission holes 42 a are formed in the spectral mask 42, 400 concave portions 51 can be formed in 0.8 mm square of the teeth 50.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, a large number of concave portions 51 can be formed on the teeth 50 at the same time, and the depth of the concave portions 51 is also determined by the number of pulses of the laser oscillator 10. Can be of uniform depth.

As a preferred example of using the dental laser apparatus and the method for forming tooth surface irregularities, for example, when a large number of fine irregularities are formed on the surface (enamel) of the teeth 50, that is, the surface area of the teeth 50 is increased by the irregularities. This is particularly effective when increasing, and white teeth 50 can be realized by increasing the surface area.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention,
A large number of recesses can be formed in a tooth at the same time, and the depth of the recesses is also determined by the number of pulses of the laser oscillator, so that all of the recesses can have a uniform depth.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of a dental laser device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an operation explanatory view showing a spectral state of laser light.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a spectral mask.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a recess formed in a tooth;

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of a conventional dental laser device.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a focused state of laser light.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference numeral 10 denotes a laser oscillator, 42 denotes a spectral mask, 42a denotes a transmission hole, 50 denotes a tooth, and 51 denotes a concave portion.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A tooth surface asperity characterized by oscillating laser light from a laser oscillator, dispersing the oscillated laser light on teeth through a spectral mask having a plurality of transmission holes, and forming a plurality of recesses in the teeth. Forming method. 2. A dental laser device used in a method of forming a concave / convex surface of a tooth by irradiating a laser beam, wherein a spectral mask for dividing the laser beam into a plurality of spots through a plurality of transmission holes is provided. Dental laser device used in a method for forming irregularities on a tooth surface.