JP4837474B2 - Caries diagnostic device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention is an apparatus for measuring the minute adhesiveness received by a probe provided at the tip, and in particular, is a technique relating to a caries diagnostic apparatus for diagnosing the caries state of a tooth surface in dentistry.

Since the softened dentin is soft, the probe sticks into the dentin, and when the probe is pulled up, a force to pull down the probe is generated. The traction resistance that pulls down the probe is called Tug Back. The caries diagnostic device measures the strength of the tag back, determines whether there is soft dentin, and diagnoses the carious state. The caries diagnostic apparatus is capable of easily measuring a change in the hardness of a tooth to be ground in order to precisely carve a portion having a certain hardness when the carious tooth is shaved.

Conventionally, as a caries diagnostic device, a cylindrical handpiece is provided with a measurement section having a curved structure, a probe is provided at the tip of the measurement section, and the probe is pressed against the carious dentin. The force with which the probe is pulled by the dentin when it is pulled up is measured by a pressure sensor, and the size of the tag back measured by the pressure sensor is displayed on an oscillograph or the like. The presence or absence of soft dentin is determined by measuring the size of the tag back as needed (see Patent Document 1).

As another caries diagnostic device, a handpiece to be gripped by hand, a chuck holder attached to the tip of the handpiece, a cylindrical chuck fixed to the tip of the chuck holder, and a chuck inserted into the inner space of the chuck The chuck holder can be attached to the inner upper wall, and this chuck holder is rotatably supported by the shaft at the front end of the handpiece. Inside the chuck holder, the chuck holder is elastically pressed in the direction of the probe. It is known that a body, a switch that closes when the chuck holder rotates against the elastic force of the elastic body, a light emitting body, and a battery that illuminates when the switch is closed ( Patent Document 2).

From the viewpoint that what is necessary in grinding the dentin of a carious tooth is a binary selection of “continue” or “stop”, as in the caries diagnostic apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1. Instead of quantitatively measuring the size of the tag back, a binary decision is made based on the presence or absence of the tag back.

In order to make a binary determination of the presence or absence of this tag back, the chuck holder composed of a single metal rod has a flexible rubber attached to the rear end of the holder inserted into the handpiece, A contact piece is plated on the back, and a metal piece is fixed to the handpiece wall facing the contact piece. The metal piece is provided with a female screw hole into which a contact adjusting screw is screwed. A metal piece is provided on the handpiece wall facing the rubber, and a pressure adjusting screw is screwed into the female screw hole. The tip of the pressure adjustment screw is in contact with the rubber. The contact piece is separated from the contact adjusting screw in a state where the rubber and the pressure adjusting screw are in contact with each other.

When diagnosing caries, the operator inserts a chuck holder into the patient's mouth with the handpiece, inserts the probe into the carious teeth, and contacts the dentin. Apply force to the handpiece so that the probe holds down the dentin. The probe receives a reaction force and the chuck holder rotates slightly right about the axis. The rear end of the holder is lowered, and the rubber is pressed by the pressure adjusting screw to contract. When the probe exceeds a certain threshold value for pressing the dentin of the carious tooth, the contact piece comes into contact with the contact adjusting screw. When the contact piece contacts the contact adjusting screw, an LED (Light Emitting Diode) lights up.

  The surgeon looks up the LED and lifts the handpiece and raises the probe. The difference between the two states of whether the probe is within the sheath or the sheath is visually confirmed by the color coding on the side surface of the probe, and the presence or absence of the tag back is judged. (See the description of Patent Document 2, paragraphs 0085 to 0092).

JP 58-121944 A JP 2003-319950 A

  The caries diagnostic apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 displays the size of a tag back measured by a pressure sensor on an oscillograph or the like, and measures the size of the tag back as needed to determine the presence or absence of soft dentin. Since the determination is made, it is necessary for the surgeon to make a determination by viewing the display result of the size of the tag back, and there is a problem that the measurement is not convenient and the measurement is not simple.

Further, the caries diagnostic apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 2 visually confirms the fit of the sheath by color-coding the side surface of the probe, thereby determining the presence or absence of tag back, There was a problem that it was not suitable for determining the presence or absence of back.
In addition, since the size of the tag back is not quantitatively measured, but a binary judgment is made based on the presence or absence of the tag back, it is not caught by the dentin of the carious tooth, but is simply caught on the tooth surface. For this reason, it may be determined as if there is a tag back.

Further, since the pressure at which the probe is pressed against the tooth surface is adjusted with rubber to adjust the pressure at which the electrical contact enters, there is a problem that adjustment is difficult. That is, since the rubber placement position and the contact position are different, adjustment is required for each detection level, and the adjustment work is complicated.
Furthermore, because the pressure adjustment part (rubber and pressure adjustment screw part) and the electrical contact part (section and contact adjustment screw part were separated, it is necessary to provide each function component individually. Therefore, it was difficult to reduce the size.

  In order to respond to the above-mentioned problems and needs, the caries diagnostic apparatus of the present invention has an electrical contact and a pressure sensor arranged at the same position, and makes a logic determination on the presence or absence of tag back from the electrical contact and pressure sensor signals. An object of the present invention is to provide a small caries diagnostic apparatus capable of quantitatively measuring the minute pressure received by the probe in time series and detecting the presence or absence of tag back with high accuracy.

In order to achieve the above object, the caries diagnostic apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention is softened by measuring the presence or absence of a tag back that is generated when a probe is pushed up against a caries portion with a predetermined pressing force. In a handpiece type caries diagnostic apparatus that can determine the presence or absence of dentin,
An interlocking shaft with a tip attached to the tip, and
A handpiece that supports via a rotation fulcrum so that the interlocking shaft can form a seesaw motion;
An electrical contact portion provided at the rear portion of the rotation fulcrum and capable of detecting a state in which the interlocking shaft rotates in reverse by the tag back,
A pressure sensor for detecting the pressing force generated at the electrical contact part;
A tag back determination circuit unit capable of determining the presence or absence of tag back from the electrical signal output from the electrical contact unit and the pressure sensor unit;
A balancer section for maintaining the right and left mass balance from the rotation fulcrum of the interlocking shaft;
It is provided with.

  With the above configuration, it is possible to accurately determine the presence or absence of a tag back when the probe is pressed against the surface of the carious tooth and pulled away. That is, when the probe is pressed against the surface of the carious tooth, the interlocking shaft with the probe attached to the tip portion rotates forward (rotates right) about the rotation fulcrum. Then, the pressing force is applied to the pressure sensor via the electrical contact. When the tagback determination circuit unit reaches a predetermined measurement load, a buzzer sounds, and the operator pulls the probe away from the surface of the carious tooth. At this time, if the probe is pulled to the carious tooth surface side by the tag back, a reverse rotation (left rotation) moment is applied to the interlocking shaft, the electrical contact opens (the contact turns OFF), and the pressing force applied to the pressure sensor Becomes 0 (zero).

  The balancer portion for maintaining the right and left mass balance from the rotation fulcrum of the interlocking shaft is to zero balance the interlocking portion that performs the seesaw motion by adjusting the position thereof.

  Further, a caries diagnostic apparatus according to a third aspect of the present invention is the caries diagnostic apparatus according to the first aspect, further comprising a magnet portion for imparting a moment for positively rotating the interlocking shaft. Here, the magnet part that applies the moment to rotate the interlocking shaft in the forward direction makes the probe unstable at the tip in the zero balance state (rattle), so the unstable state is resolved and the interlocking shaft is rotated forward. It provides traction in the direction.

  The caries diagnostic apparatus according to the third aspect of the present invention is a tag back determination circuit unit in the caries diagnostic apparatus according to the first aspect or the second aspect. It is characterized in that it is determined that the tag back is present when the pressure becomes 0 after detecting the pressure equal to or higher than the pressure and then the state where the electrical signal from the electrical contact portion is turned off passes for a certain period of time.

When the probe is pulled to the surface side of the carious tooth by the tag back, a reverse rotation (left rotation) moment is applied to the interlocking shaft, the electrical contact opens (the contact turns OFF), and the pressing force applied to the pressure sensor is 0. (Zero). The tag back determination circuit unit configured as described above detects that the pressing force is applied immediately before the electrical contact is opened, and the pressing force applied to the pressure sensor is 0 (zero) for a certain period of time after the electrical contact is opened. ) Is detected and it is determined that there is a tag back.
If the tagback is not a factor and the probe gets caught on the carious tooth surface, there is no pressing force just before the electrical contact opens, or there is a momentary catch after the electrical contact opens. These cases can be eliminated because it is in a state of being able to be taken or being caught for a longer time than usual.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a caries diagnostic apparatus, wherein the tag back determination circuit unit in the caries diagnostic apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects includes a sound generating means and a display means, and has a tag back. For example, a sound output means or a buzzer sound is output as sound generation means, and at the same time, the display means is displayed by a liquid crystal panel or a light emitting diode.

  With the configuration described above, the operator can be notified of the tagback determination result visually and audibly. Here, there are at least two types of buzzer sounds, and there are timbres for determination of presence of tag back and timbres for determination of abnormal pressure.

  The caries diagnostic apparatus according to the fifth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the tag back determination circuit unit in the caries diagnostic apparatus according to the third aspect has a pressure equal to or higher than a predetermined pressing force by an electric signal from the pressure sensor unit. When the alarm is detected, a warning sound is output from the buzzer part.

  The reason for providing an abnormally pressurized buzzer sound is to notify the buzzer sound in order to protect the device when a pressing force far exceeding the normal pressing force is applied. For example, an excess pressure of about 20% is set in advance as an abnormal pressure as a logic parameter of the tag back determination circuit unit.

  Moreover, the caries diagnostic apparatus of the sixth aspect of the present invention is a case where a part of the side surface portion of the handpiece part in the caries diagnostic apparatus of the first aspect exhibits a flat surface portion, and the flat surface portion is the bottom surface. The tip of the probe is directed upward.

  This is because the handpiece part of a conventional caries diagnostic apparatus has a cylindrical shape and rolls when placed on a table, thereby protecting the probe from contamination and damage.

  Moreover, the caries diagnostic apparatus according to the seventh aspect of the present invention is such that the handpiece portion in the caries diagnostic apparatus according to the first aspect is provided with a charging coil and a rechargeable battery inside, and is made a power cordless. It is characterized by.

  In the case of a conventional caries diagnostic apparatus, the handpiece unit and the control unit are separated, and the control unit performs power supply and tag back determination display on the handpiece unit. The caries diagnostic apparatus of the present invention includes a tag back determination circuit that logically determines the presence / absence of tag back from electrical contact and pressure sensor signals by disposing electrical contacts and pressure sensors at the same position inside the handpiece. Since the device is provided, the apparatus can be reduced in size, and the charging coil and the rechargeable battery are provided inside the handpiece portion in the secured space.

  Further, a caries diagnostic apparatus according to an eighth aspect of the present invention includes an interlocking shaft front stage portion provided with a probe in an interlocking shaft having a probe attached to the tip of the caries diagnostic apparatus according to the first aspect, The interlocking shaft rear stage portion having the rotation fulcrum can be detachably fitted.

  With the above configuration, when replacing the probe, it is not necessary to operate the portion to which the probe is attached, and the burden on the operator is reduced. For example, a convex part is provided in the front part of the interlocking shaft provided with the probe, and a concave part is provided in the rear part of the interlocking shaft provided with the rotation fulcrum so that it can be detachably fitted.

According to the caries diagnostic apparatus of the present invention, the presence or absence of tag back is logically determined from the signals of the electrical contact and the pressure sensor arranged in series at the same position, and the minute pressure received by the probe is quantitatively analyzed in time series. It is possible to accurately detect the presence or absence of tag back.
In addition, since the electrical contact and the pressure sensor are arranged in series at the same position and the tag back determination circuit unit is provided, the apparatus can be reduced in size and weight, and the operator's workability can be improved.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the illustrated examples.

  FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration diagram of an embodiment of a caries diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention. The caries diagnostic apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment includes an interlocking shaft 3 having a probe 2 attached to the tip thereof, and a handpiece portion 4 supported via a rotation fulcrum 5 so that the interlocking shaft 3 can form a seesaw motion. And an electrical contact portion 9 provided at the rear portion of the rotation fulcrum 5 and capable of detecting a state in which the interlocking shaft 3 is reversely rotated by the tag back, and a pressure sensor portion 7 for detecting a pressing force generated at the electrical contact portion 9. The tag back determination circuit unit 11 that can determine the presence or absence of tag back from the electrical signals output from the electrical contact unit 9 and the pressure sensor unit 7 and the mass balance between the left and right from the rotation fulcrum 5 of the interlocking shaft 3. The balancer unit 10 for holding and the magnet unit 6 for imparting a moment to rotate the interlocking shaft in the forward direction are measured, and the presence or absence of tag back that occurs when the probe is pushed up and pulled up to the caries portion with a predetermined pressing force is measured. By softening And it has a function capable of determining the presence or absence of Kibashitsu.

Here, the electrical contact portion 9 has a conductive screw attached to the interlocking portion 3, and the screw tip passes through the interlocking portion 3 to constitute a contact portion. A pressure sensor portion 7 is fixed in series with the electrical contact portion 9. In the pressure sensor unit 7, when the interlocking shaft rotates clockwise in FIG. 1 (at the time of forward rotation), a force is applied and a pressure value is detected.
From this detected pressure value, the moment value with the rotation fulcrum 5 as the center of rotation is known, and the pressing force applied to the probe 2 can be calculated.

FIG. 2-1 shows a conceptual diagram of the tag back detection mechanism of the caries diagnostic apparatus of the present invention, and FIG. 2-2 shows an equivalent circuit diagram of the tag back detection mechanism.
The pressure sensor unit 7 is connected in series with the electrical contact unit 9, and the switch (electrical contact unit 9) and the variable resistor (pressure sensor unit 7) are connected in series as shown in FIG. Therefore, a circuit equivalent to the above is constructed.
Then, by measuring the voltage value between the terminals A and B and the voltage value between the terminals B and C, the ON / OFF state of the switch (electrical contact portion 9), the variable resistance (pressure sensor portion 7) It is possible to know the resistance value (pressure value when converted). These measured values are input to the tag back determination circuit unit 11 to perform tag back determination.

The tag back determination logic will be described in detail with reference to FIG. The graph of (a) schematically shows the amount of change between the terminals B-C in the variable resistor (pressure sensor unit 7), and (b) schematically shows the amount of change between the terminals A-B in the switch (electrical contact portion 9). It is shown.
In the tag back determination circuit unit, it is possible to detect that the pressure becomes 0 after detecting a pressure equal to or higher than a predetermined pressing force by a signal (voltage value) between the terminals B and C in the pressure sensor unit 7. In addition, after the pressure becomes zero due to the signal between the terminals A and B in the electrical contact portion 9, the state in which the signal from the electrical contact portion 9 is OFF has elapsed for a certain period of time ("T" on the graph). It is determined that there is a tag back.

If the fixed time of the state where the signal from the electrical contact portion 9 in the caries diagnostic apparatus of the first embodiment is OFF is between 0.15 and 0.8 seconds, it is determined that the tag back has been detected. This time can be changed by adjustment. If the fixed time in which the signal between the terminals A and B of the electrical contact portion 9 is OFF is shorter than 0.15 seconds, it can be determined that the surface of the tooth is healthy, and the terminals A and B of the electrical contact portion 9 can be determined. If the fixed time in which the signal is OFF is longer than 0.8 seconds, there is a high possibility of misdiagnosis, and thus a detection abnormality has occurred.
When it is determined that the tag back has been detected, the LED display unit 12 is turned on and a buzzer unit (not shown) is sounded.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing a state in which the probe faces upward when a part of the side surface portion of the handpiece portion of the caries diagnostic apparatus is a flat portion.
The handpiece part of a conventional caries diagnostic apparatus is almost cylindrical and rolls when placed on a table, thereby avoiding damage to the tip of the probe. Also, rolling on the table is not sanitary.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, in the interlocking shaft 3 with the probe 2 attached to the tip, the front part of the interlocking shaft 3 including the probe and the rear part of the interlocking shaft 3 including the rotation fulcrum 5 are detachable. It is supposed to be able to be fitted to.

In Example 2, a caries diagnostic system using the caries diagnostic apparatus 1 of Example 1 will be described. In the caries diagnosis system of the second embodiment, the information terminal device 22 can collect data on tag bag determination data inside the caries diagnosis device 1 via the network communication circuit 20 and the network 21.
Thereby, the tag bag determination result can be managed by the information terminal device 22, and screen display and form output are possible.

  The caries diagnostic apparatus of the present invention can be used as an apparatus that can easily measure the change in the hardness of the tooth to be ground in order to accurately carve the carious tooth to a certain hardness.

The schematic block diagram of one Example of the caries diagnostic apparatus of this invention is shown. The conceptual diagram of the tag back detection mechanism of the caries diagnostic apparatus of this invention is shown. An equivalent circuit diagram of the tag back detection mechanism is shown. It is explanatory drawing of a tag back determination logic, (a) shows the variation | change_quantity between terminal BC in FIGS. 2-1 and 2-2, (b) is the terminal in FIGS. 2-1 and 2-2. The amount of change between A and B is shown. It is the schematic diagram which showed a mode that a probe pointed upwards, when a part of side part of the handpiece part of a caries diagnostic apparatus was a plane part. 1 shows a schematic system configuration diagram of a caries diagnostic apparatus system of the present invention. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Caries diagnostic apparatus of Example 1 2 Probe 3 Interlocking shaft 4 Handpiece part 5 Rotating fulcrum 6 Magnet part 7 Pressure sensor part 8 Magnetized part 9 Electrical contact part 10 Balancer part 11 Tag back determination circuit part 12 LED display Part 13 Battery 14 Coil part 15 Probe holder 16 Fitting part 20 Network communication circuit 21 Communication network 22 Information terminal device

Claims (9)

In the handpiece type caries diagnostic apparatus that can determine the presence or absence of soft dentin by measuring the presence or absence of tag back that occurs when the probe is pushed up against the caries part with a predetermined pressing force,
An interlocking shaft with a tip attached to the tip, and
A handpiece part that supports via a rotation fulcrum so that the interlocking shaft can form a seesaw motion;
An electrical contact portion provided at a rear portion of the rotation fulcrum and capable of detecting a state in which the interlocking shaft rotates in reverse by a tag back;
A pressure sensor unit for detecting a pressing force generated at the electrical contact unit;
A tag back determination circuit unit capable of determining the presence or absence of tag back from the electrical signals output from the electrical contact unit and the pressure sensor unit;
A balancer portion for maintaining mass balance on the left and right from the rotation fulcrum of the interlocking shaft;
A caries diagnostic apparatus comprising: The caries diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a magnet unit that applies a moment for positively rotating the interlocking shaft.   In the tag back determination circuit unit, the pressure becomes 0 after detecting a pressure equal to or higher than a predetermined pressing force by the electrical signal from the pressure sensor unit, and then the state in which the electrical signal from the electrical contact unit is turned off is constant. The caries diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when time passes, it is determined that there is a tag back.   The tag back determination circuit unit includes a sound generation unit and a display unit, and outputs a buzzer sound from the buzzer unit and emits light from the LED display unit when it is determined that there is a tag back. The caries diagnostic apparatus according to any one of Items 1 to 3. 4. The caries according to claim 3, wherein the tag back determination circuit unit outputs a warning sound from the buzzer unit when a pressure equal to or higher than a predetermined pressing force is detected by an electric signal from the pressure sensor unit. 5. Diagnostic device.
  The needle tip of the probe is directed upward when a part of the side surface portion of the handpiece portion has a flat surface portion and the flat surface portion is a bottom surface. Caries diagnosis device.   The caries diagnosis apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the handpiece part is provided with a charging coil and a rechargeable battery inside, and is made power cordless.   The interlocking shaft having a tip attached to a tip portion, wherein the interlocking shaft front stage portion including the probe and the interlocking shaft rear stage portion including the rotation fulcrum can be detachably fitted. The caries diagnostic apparatus according to 1. 6. A caries diagnosis system using the caries diagnosis apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the tag back determination circuit unit is provided with a wired or wireless network communication circuit and connected to a network. A caries diagnosis system characterized by being able to perform data communication with the device.