JPH10165417A - Tongue protector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a tongue protector which can keep a patient's mouth open and control movement of the tongue easily without assistants and can clearly show a part to be treated and prevent a medical accident (such as swallowing a dangerous material) for dental and surgical treatment at the inner part of the oral cavity. SOLUTION: This tongue protector 1 consists of a tongue cover part and a rectangular parallelepiped block part 3. The tongue cover part is triangular on a plane adjusted to the shape of the tongue, and the block part 3 is detachably attached to the side of the tongue cover part. Sucking openings 26 for sucking liquid are formed at the edges on the tongue root side parts 23 of the tongue cover part. The liquid sucked from the openings 26 is sucked by a sucking device (not shown in Figure). Two strong magnetic plates 25, 25 are implanted on the upper surface of the tongue root side parts 23. The tongue is held down by the tongue cover part with the block part 3 clasped and fixed by molars.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tongue protector for preventing a tongue injury during dental treatment or oral surgery treatment.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the field of dental treatment, the treatment of the back teeth is more difficult than the treatment of the front teeth. Similarly, in the field of oral surgery treatment, it was difficult to treat the back of the mouth. One of the reasons was that the tongue hindered the treatment. In other words, the tongue can be moved to some extent by the person's will, but it is unexpectedly difficult to maintain a still state for a long time, and the tongue sometimes moves against the person's will. As a result, the tongue may move unexpectedly during the treatment, for example, the tongue may be shaved by a tooth-sharpening turbine. The tongue has many capillaries, and once injured, there is a risk of massive bleeding. Under such circumstances, unless the tongue movement was suppressed, the back teeth could not be safely treated. Since the treatment was performed with the patient lying on his back, the tongue fell into the back in this position, making the treatment more difficult.

[0003] Therefore, when treating the back teeth, conventionally, an assistant assists the patient's tongue with a spatula so as not to damage the tongue while illuminating the back teeth part of the affected part with an overhead spotlight. He held the base and kept it away from the back teeth he was treating.

[0004]

However, even if the assistant presses the tongue as hard as possible, the muscle of the tongue is so strong that the tongue may overcome the force and cause the injury by the turbine. Furthermore, during dental treatment, a turbine, a vacuum suction port for sucking water and saliva accumulated in the mouth, and a mirror with a handle that looks at the back side of the teeth in some cases can be inserted into the narrow oral cavity, so that the affected part can be externally inserted. There is also a problem that the light of the irradiation lamp illuminating from behind is shaded by those devices, making it difficult to see the affected part to be treated.

Further, when the mirror is inserted at a low room temperature, the mirror surface is dewed due to moisture in the mouth and a temperature difference between the inside and the outside, so that there is a problem that the affected part cannot be seen until the entire mirror surface is warmed. Furthermore, there has been a medical accident in the past in which when a thin stainless steel needle (file) for pulling out a tooth nerve is broken, it is swallowed and injured the internal organs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been proposed in view of the above problems, and has a state in which a patient's mouth is widely opened without the need of an assistant during dental and surgical treatment of the back part of the oral cavity. It is an object of the present invention to provide a tongue protector that controls the movement of the tongue while maintaining a comfortable posture, makes it easy to see the affected part, and prevents a medical accident (swallowing of dangerous substances).

[0007]

The invention according to claim 1 is
What is claimed is: 1. A tongue protector for protecting a tongue when an oral cavity is opened during dental treatment or oral surgery treatment. In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, a tongue cover portion covering an upper surface of the tongue, and a side portion of the tongue cover portion And a separation block portion which is interposed between the upper and lower teeth to separate the upper and lower teeth.

In the invention according to claim 2, the tongue cover of the tongue protector according to claim 1 has a fluid suction port at a portion near a base of the tongue or at a base end of the tongue, and a front end of the tongue. A suction port connected to a suction device was provided at each end, and the fluid suction port and the suction port were connected through a suction passage.
In the invention according to claim 3, claim 1 or 2
In the tongue protector according to the above, a metal attraction magnet is provided on at least a part of the tongue cover part and / or the separation block part.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, at least a part of the tongue cover portion and / or the separation block portion of the tongue protector according to any one of the first to third aspects is used for intraoral irradiation. Of light sources were provided. In the invention according to claim 5, a mirror for intraoral observation is provided on at least a part of the tongue cover portion and / or the separation block portion of the tongue protector according to any one of claims 1 to 3. Provided.

The light source for irradiation mentioned above means not only a light source for illumination but also a light source for sterilization.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A tongue protector according to the present invention will be described below.
The embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the tongue protector according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a view of the tongue protector of FIG. 1 as viewed from the direction A, and FIG. 3 is use of the tongue protector of FIG. FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. 3.

As shown in FIG. 1, a tongue protector 1 includes a tongue cover 2 having a triangular shape in a plan view and formed in accordance with the shape of the tongue.
And a rectangular parallelepiped block 3 that is detachably attached to either the left or right side of the tongue cover 2. The tongue protector 1 is partially made of metal, but is mostly formed of synthetic resin. 1 to 3
As can be seen from the above, three suction passages 21 are formed in the lengthwise direction at the center of the lower surface and both lower ends of the tongue cover 2, and open at the end of the tongue base side 23 as a suction port 26. 3
The suction passages 21, 21, 21 of the books are joined together at the tongue tip side 22, are united, and communicate with the suction port 27.
A suction hose 4 connected to a suction device (not shown) is attached to the suction port 27 having a circular cross section. The outer peripheral portion near the suction port 27 also serves as a handle of the tongue protector 1. On the upper surface of the tongue cover 2, an attachment portion 24 for attaching the block 3 is formed. Mounting part 24
In the figure, a part of the upper surface of the tongue cover 2 is raised and formed, and a long hole 24a is formed in the tongue cover 1 at right angles to the length direction of the tongue protector 1. Two strong plate magnets 25 are embedded on the upper surface of the tongue base 23 with the central suction passage 21 interposed therebetween.

The block portion 3 has a thin metal plate 31 having strong elasticity embedded on one side surface, and the front end of the metal plate 31 is inserted into and fixed to the long hole 24 a of the mounting portion 24, so that the block portion 3 is fixed. Is fixed to the side of the tongue cover 2. The height of the block portion 3 is formed to be about 2 cm in accordance with the interval between the upper and lower back teeth of an adult.

Next, how to use the tongue protector 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. When the patient sits on the treatment chair and the backrest is depressed, the patient's posture is obliquely upward and supine. The dentist inserts the tongue protector 1 into the mouth of the patient whose opening is wide open, starting from the base of the tongue base 23. When the tongue protector 1 is inserted all the way and the tongue cover 2 covers the patient's tongue, the user is told to close the mouth that has been widely opened, and the chin is released. Then, the upper back teeth and the lower back teeth strongly pinch the upper tooth contact surface 32 and the lower tooth contact surface 32 of the block 3, and the block 3 and the tongue cover 2 connected to the block 3 are connected. It is fixed at a predetermined position. At this time, the movement of the tongue 5 covered by the tongue cover 2 is suppressed, and at the same time, the upper surface is protected. The tip of the tongue base side portion 23 of the tongue cover 2 is located at the back of the throat.

Next, the mirror 6 shown in FIG. 5A is placed on the tongue base 23 so that the back side of the back teeth to be treated can be clearly seen. The mirror 6 is made of stainless steel and includes a mirror portion 61, a suction portion 62, and a support portion 63. Since the attracting portion 62 is made of a neodymium magnet and is adapted to be attracted according to the polarity of the magnet embedded in the tongue base side portion 23, the mirror 6 can be placed at a desired position with tweezers or the like, and the mirror 6 can be attached to the tongue cover portion. 2 is fixed on the upper surface. The support portion 63 is of a bellows type, and can maintain its posture even when bent. Next, the inclination and position of the mirror portion 61 are adjusted with tweezers or the like so that the treatment site of the back teeth can be seen well.

When the conventional spotlight is dark,
The spotlight 7 shown in FIG. The spotlight 7 attaches an attracting portion 72 made of a magnet to the tongue base 23 in the same manner as the mirror 6, and illuminates the affected part with the illuminating portion 71 brightly. Electric power is supplied from a power source to a light emitting unit 71 having a light-collecting light bulb attached to the tip thereof via a wire 74 to illuminate the light emitting unit 71. Similarly to the mirror 6, the spotlight 7 can freely change the optical axis direction of the irradiating section 71 by the bellows type supporting section 73.

A suction cup may be used as the above-mentioned suction means. Further, a plurality of small holes for fitting may be formed on the upper surface of the tongue cover part 2, and a mirror or a spotlight mounting shaft may be inserted into a small hole close to a desired position.

In this way, when treating the back teeth using the turbine, water for cooling and lubricating the teeth comes out of the turbine. Since the patient is lying on his back, the water discharged from the turbine accumulates in the back of the throat as shown in FIG. Conventionally, this water has been sucked up by the suction port of the vacuum held by the assistant, but in the tongue protection device 1, the water is sucked out from the suction port 26 at the end of the tongue cover 2. The sucked water passes through the suction passage 21, the suction port 27, and the vacuum hose 4, and is sucked by a suction device (not shown).

The tongue protector according to the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, the block portion may be formed integrally with the tongue cover portion or may be separately formed and fixed. Alternatively, the tongue cover may be formed of a metal having magnetic properties, for example, stainless steel having a low chromium content, and the mirror 6 or the spotlight 7 may be attached thereto. Further, a mirror or a spotlight may be attached to the block. If the spotlight has a built-in battery, the wires will not be in the way.

[0020]

According to the tongue protection device of the first aspect, the state in which the mouth of the patient is widely opened by the separation block portion is maintained without difficulty, and the tongue is protected by the tongue cover portion to suppress the movement of the tongue. Tongue injury can be prevented. Since the tongue protector according to the second aspect sucks the fluid accumulated in the oral cavity from the fluid suction port of the tongue cover through the suction passage, there is no need for an auxiliary person having a device for sucking the fluid.

In the tongue protector according to the third aspect, since the metal attraction magnet is provided on at least a part of the tongue cover and / or the separation block, the swallowing of a treatment instrument formed of a magnetic metal is possible. prevent. In the tongue protector according to the fourth aspect, since the light source for intraoral irradiation is provided on at least a part of the tongue cover and / or the separation block, the affected part can be brightly illuminated.

In the tongue protector according to the fifth aspect, since a mirror for intraoral observation is provided on at least a part of the tongue cover portion and / or the separation block portion, there is no need to take out and in during treatment, and the mirror surface is provided. Is no longer cloudy and the affected part is easy to see.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of an embodiment of a tongue protector according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view of the tongue protector shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the use state of the tongue protector of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a mirror and a spotlight attached to the tongue protector of FIG. 1;

[Description of Signs] 1 Tongue protector 2 Tongue cover 21 Suction passage 22 Tongue side 23 Tongue base (toward the base of tongue) 24 Mounting part 25 Magnet (magnet for metal attraction) 26 Suction port (fluid suction port) 27 Suction port 3 Block part (block part for separation) 4 Vacuum hose 5 Tongue 6 Spotlight (light source) 7 Mirror

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A tongue protector for protecting a tongue when an oral cavity is opened during a dental treatment or an oral surgery treatment, comprising: a tongue cover for covering an upper surface of the tongue; A tongue protector, comprising: a separating block portion sandwiched between upper and lower teeth to separate the upper and lower teeth. 2. A fluid suction port is provided at a portion of the tongue cover near the base of the tongue or at a base end of the tongue, and a suction port connected to a suction device is provided at a front end of the tongue. The tongue protector according to claim 1, wherein the suction port communicates with the suction port. 3. The tongue protection device according to claim 1, wherein a metal attraction magnet is provided on at least a part of the tongue cover portion and / or the separation block portion. 4. The tongue protection device according to claim 1, wherein a light source for irradiating the oral cavity is provided on at least a part of the tongue cover portion and / or the separation block portion. . 5. The tongue protector according to claim 1, wherein a mirror for intraoral observation is provided on at least a part of the tongue cover and / or the separation block. .