JP3020202B1 - Oral endoscopy device for dental practice - Google Patents

Abstract

Abstract: [Object] To provide an oral endoscope for dental treatment which is improved in convenience, safety and versatility, and at low cost. [Constitution] A spherical endoscope 1 has a hemispherical shell-shaped upper half 1A and lower half 1B, and a binocular part 4 is provided in the upper half 1A, and a lower half An objective section 5 and a light are provided in the section 1B, image transmission means for transmitting an image observed by the objective section 5 to the binocular section 4 is provided, and a cutout is provided in a lower end of the hemispherical shell of the lower half section 1B. An arm 2 is provided on the endoscope 1 so that the endoscope 1 can be moved to an arbitrary position. The arm 2 is fixed at a predetermined position, and the spherical shell is made of transparent plastic. The image transmitting means has an image control means for enabling enlargement and reduction of an image.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an endoscopic apparatus which enables examination and treatment while observing the inside of an oral cavity during dental treatment, and more particularly to an endoscope which can be used for dental treatment in general and at the same time when used. The present invention relates to an oral endoscope for dental treatment with improved safety and convenience.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Dental practice is usually performed in a system called horizontal practice. This horizontal medical treatment method is a method in which a patient is laid down, and a doctor looks into the oral cavity from above the patient and performs medical treatment.

On the other hand, an endoscope is conventionally known as a medical treatment device. The conventionally known endoscope uses an optical fiber to view the inside of the body. In addition, there is also known a device that projects an affected part on a television screen (display) and performs medical treatment.

[0004]

In the above-mentioned conventional horizontal medical treatment, a doctor looks into the oral cavity of a patient.
In practice, medical treatment is carried out with the head down or with the hips folded and the patient bent forward. In extreme cases, it causes back pain, shoulder pain, and muscle pain around the neck.

[0005] In addition, since conventionally known endoscopes are usually manufactured as separate devices having different functions for each treatment, medical institutions must prepare various types of endoscopes. Instead, the cost is high. In addition, a conventionally known apparatus for imaging and treating an affected part on a television screen does not have a sense of reality as compared with a system in which the affected part is directly viewed, and requires a doctor to be skilled and trained, and is not always satisfactory.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an oral endoscope for dental treatment which improves the above-mentioned drawbacks, increases versatility, and is low in cost.

[0007]

The features of the present invention are as follows. That is, a spherical endoscope is provided.
The endoscope has a hemispherical shell-like upper half and a pair of upper half.
And it has become and a lower halves rotatably mounted, binocular portion is provided on the upper half portion, the objective portion and the light is provided in the lower half, binocular the image observed by the objective portion an image transmission means for transmitting the parts, to the image transmission means
Image processing for electronically enlarging and reducing images transmitted
A notch is provided at the lower end of the hemispherical shell portion of the lower half portion, and an arm portion that allows the endoscope to move to an arbitrary position is provided in the endoscope, The arm must be fixed in place.

Further, a feature of the present invention is that the spherical shell is made of a transparent plastic .

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic front view showing a use state of an oral endoscopy device for dental treatment showing one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the endoscope of FIG.

An oral endoscope for dental treatment according to the present invention comprises a substantially spherical endoscope 1 and an arm 2 for holding the endoscope 1. The arm 2 is fixed to the attachment 3. The mounting part 3 may be a part of a chair for treatment or a light arm provided on the chair.

The arm 2 is provided with joints 2A and 2B, and the endoscope 1 is provided with the joints 2A and 2B as fulcrums.
Is movable up and down, up and down. The arm 2 has a rotation support 2C made of a universal joint.
Are provided, and the endoscope 1 is rotatable universally around the rotation support 2C. Note that the rotation support portion 2C may be a horizontal rotation support by a joint portion. The structures of these joints and the rotation supporting portions are not limited to those in the above-described embodiment, and any structure that allows the endoscope 1 to move to an arbitrary position is sufficient.

The endoscope 1 has a spherical shape in this embodiment, so that it is safe even if a patient or a doctor hits the endoscope 1. In addition, the spherical shape is a shape that eliminates fear of the patient, and particularly allows children and women to be able to undergo examination and treatment with peace of mind. In this embodiment, the spherical shell of the endoscope 1 is made of transparent plastic,
This makes it possible to see the inside. still,
The material of the spherical shell of the endoscope 1 may be an opaque plastic or a metal material such as aluminum.

The upper half 1A of the endoscope 1 is fixed to the tip of the arm 2. The upper half 1A is provided with a binocular unit 4 so that a doctor can watch the binocular unit 4 and observe the inside of the oral cavity. The lower half 1B of the endoscope 1 is rotatably attached to the upper half 1A in the horizontal direction.
Is provided with an objective section 5. A rotary joint 6 is provided between the lower half 1B and the upper half 1A, and the rotary joint 6 rotatably supports the lower half 1B. A light 7 is provided in the lower half 1B so that the affected part is exposed to light for observation. Incidentally, the light 7 may be structured to be built in the objective section 5.

The binocular unit 4 is used by a doctor to observe the condition of the affected part in the oral cavity projected by the objective unit 5 with the binocular. As an example of a mechanism for transmitting image information, the binocular unit is connected to the binocular unit by the glass fiber 8 from the objective unit 5. 4 directly transmits the image. In this case, it is preferable that the image processing mechanism 9 is provided in the endoscope 1 to enlarge or reduce the image. The image processing mechanism 9 is a device for processing images electronically.
It is fine.

The mechanism for transmitting the image of the affected part observed by the objective unit 5 to the binocular unit 4 is not limited to the above-described embodiment. For example, the image information of the affected part observed by the objective unit 5 is converted by a converter. Once converted to electronic information, this is converted to the binocular
A so-called digital converter may be used which transmits the image data to the image information and re-converts and outputs the image information.

A cutout 10 is provided below the spherical shell of the lower half 1B of the endoscope 1, so that the affected part can be directly observed by the objective unit 5 provided in the lower half 1B. The lower half 1B is fixed to the objective section 5 by stays 11. Thus, when the lower half 1B is rotated, the objective unit 5 is rotated, and the position of the objective unit 5 can be changed in rotation.

The operation of the thus configured oral endoscopic apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Patient P
Is laid down, and the doctor D sits toward the head of the patient P. The doctor D moves the endoscope 1 toward the oral cavity of the patient P. In this case, the joints 2A and 2B and the rotation support 2C
Thus, the endoscope 1 can be easily set at an arbitrary position. Thereafter, the position of the endoscope 1 is finely adjusted while looking through the binocular unit 4. Then, when the position of the endoscopic unit 1 is determined, the doctor D separates both hands from the endoscopic unit 1 to perform treatment as necessary.

[0018]

According to the present invention configured as described above, the following effects can be obtained. Compared with the conventional horizontal medical treatment, the doctor does not take an unnatural posture, and the physical fatigue of the doctor is reduced.

Further, since the observation is performed with the binocular, the method is the same as the method of directly observing the affected part, which gives a sense of realism and does not require a doctor to be skilled or trained.

Further, since the endoscope has a spherical shape, a soft atmosphere is provided, which gives the patient a sense of security. In addition, injuries due to collisions are eliminated, and safety is improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of an oral endoscopy apparatus for dental care according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged side view of an endoscope shown in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Endoscope 1A Upper half 1B Lower half 2 Arm 2A Joint 2B Joint 2C Rotation support 3 Mounting part 4 Binocular part 5 Objective part 6 Rotating joint 7 Light 8 Glass fiber 9 Image processing mechanism 10 Notch Mouth 11 Stay

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] A spherical endoscope is provided, and the endoscope is rotatably attached to the upper half of a hemispherical shell.
Was serves from the bottom half, binocular portion is provided on the upper half portion, the objective portion and the light is provided in the lower half,
Electronic image transmission means, the image transmitted by said image transmitting means for transmitting an image observed by the objective portion to binocular unit
An image processing mechanism that expands and contracts in an enlarged manner, a notch opening is provided at a lower end of the hemispherical shell portion of the lower half portion, and the endoscope can be moved to an arbitrary position. An endoscopic device for dental care, wherein an arm portion to be provided is provided in the endoscope portion and the arm portion is fixed at a predetermined position. 2. The oral endoscope for dental treatment according to claim 1, wherein said spherical shell is made of transparent plastic.