Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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TITLE: AN ODONTOSCOPE AND THE RELATED EQUIPMENT THEREOF
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION:
The present invention relates to an odontoscope and the related
eguipment thereof, and more particularly to an odontoscope that are
p5 provided with means to effectively clean mist, saliva, and ground
or drilled tooth debris from a reflecting mirror on the odonto-
scope, so that a dentist may efficiently utilize the reflecting
mirror to visual examine a patient's teeth and do correct diagnosis
and treatment.
people use their teeth to eat everyday and tend to suffer from
different dental diseases including periodontitis, carious teeth,
etc., and grinding toothache, if they did not well protect their
teeth through good dental hygiene. Dental diseases and toothache
require examination and treatment by a dentist. The dentist would
normally visually examine and treat the patient's oral cavity and
teeth with the help of an odontoscope. The odontoscope includes a
reflecting mirror, Reflection in the mirror enables the dentist to
explore and correctly judge the conditions in the patient's oral
cavity before doing any suitable diagnosis and treatment.
Fig. 1 is a perspective of a conventional odontoscope (1Q) that
generally includes a solid handle (11}, a mirror frame (12} fixedly
connected to a front end of the solid handle (11}, and a reflecting
mirror (13) fitted in the mirror frame (12). When the dentist
extends the reflecting mirror (13) of the odantoscope (10} into the
patient's oral cavity for the purpose of examining the patient's
teeth, the reflecting mirror (13} tends to be quickly covered with
a thin layer of mist due to the patient's breath and becomes vague
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that would obviously adversely atiect the dentist's diagnosis and
treatment. And, when the dentist treats the patient's teeth by,
for example, grinding or drilling the teeth with some grinder or
drill; tooth debris (A) from such grinding and drilling as well as
~5 a large amount of Saliva would constantly accumulate on the reflec-
ting mirror (13) to cover the same and seriously prevent the
dentist from examining or treating the teeth successfully. To cope
with this problem; the dentist must repeatedly remove the reflecting
mirror (13) of the Qdontoscope (10) from the patient's oral cavity
to clean out the mist, saliva and tooth debris on the reflecting
mirror (13). This is, of course; very inconvenient to the dentist
and would even result in interrupted, inefficient and incorrect
diagnosis and treatment. Meanwhile, such interrupted treatment
also makes the patient nervous.
To eliminate the above-mentioned disadvantages in the conven-
tional odontoscope (10), another odontoscope (20) as shown in Fig.2
was developed. The odontoscope (20) also includes Substantially a
handle (21) and a mirror holder (22} connected to a front end of
the handle (21). The mirror holder (22) is provided with a recess
(24) into which heat-absorbing substance (23} is the form of
granules are packed. The heat-absorbing Substance (23) may be
zeolite, caustic lime, active aluminum oxide, slaked Lime; etc. A
cover (25) and a Sealing die (26) are fixedly provided at a bottom
of the recess (24), end a reflecting mirror (27) is fitted on a top
of the mirror holder (22} with a backside of the mirror (27}
directly contacting with the heat-absorbing granules (23). Whereby,
any mist formed on the reflecting mirror (27) can be c9mpletely
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absorbed by the heat-absorbing granules (23) to avoid a vague
reflecting mirror (27) and therefore facilitate smooth and correct
diagnosis and treatment by the dentist. A disadvantage of this
type of conventional odontoscope (20) is that it is effective only
05 in removing mist and saliva on the reflecting mirror (27), but not
the ground or drilled tooth debris that would still cause problems
in the effective use of the odontoscope (20).
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION:
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to
provide an odontoscope that is provided with means to effectively
clean out any mist, saliva, and ground or drilled tooth debris
accumulated on the reflecting mirror of the odontoscope at any
time, so that diagnosis and treatment done by a dentist with the
odontoscope would not be adversely affected.
To achieve the above and other object, the present invention
mainly includes an odontoscope, a flexible tube, and an external
air compressor. The odontoscope includes a hollow long handle and
a mirror frame that is connected to a front end of the hollow long
handle with a reflecting mirror firmly fitted therein. The hallow
Iong handle defines a tubular space therein and having an air
jetting part provided close to the front end thereof to supply
jetted air toward the reflecting mirror at an angle of 235 degrees.
A rear end of the hollow long handle is connected to the flexible
tube that is in turn connected to the air compressor. When the air
compressor is started to run, a~ airflow is sugplied from it to
pass the tube and the hollow long handle to jet from the air
jetting port, so that any residuum, including mist, saliva and
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ground or drilled tooth debris, on said reflecting mirror can be
quickly cleaned out.
BRIEF DESGRIPTIQN OF THE DRAWINGS:
The structure and the technical means adopted by the present
Q5 invention to achieve the above arid other objects can be best under
stood by referring to the following detailed descrigtion of the
preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein
Fig. 1 is a perspective of a first conventional odontoscope;
Fig. 2 is a side sectional view of another conventional
odontoscope;
Fig. ~ shows an odontoscope and the related equipment thereof
according to the present invention; and
Fig. 4 is a side sectional view of the odontoscope of Fig. 3
showing the operation thereof.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION QF THE PREFERRED EMBdDIMENTS:
Please refer to Fig. 3 in which an odontoscape (30) and the
related equipment thereof according to the present invention are
shown. The equipment related to the odantoscope (~0) mainly
includes a tube (4Q) and an air compressor (~0) that are externally
2p connected to the odontoscope (30) for supplying air to the latter.
The air compressor (~G) may be one that has been originally
included in a dental unit (not Shawn) and it is not necessary to
separately or additionally purchase and mount an air compressor for
the operation of the odontoscope (30) of the present invention.
~5 Please now refer to Figs.3 and 4 at the same time. The odonto-
scope (30) mainly includes a hollow long handle (31) and a mirror
frame (~3) that is connected to a front end of the hollow long
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handle (31) with a reflecting mirror (34) firmly fitted in the
mirror frame (33). The hallow long handle (31) defines a tubular
space (B) therein. A rear end of the hollow long handle (31}
opposite to the front end having the reflecting mirror (34) defines
05 an air inlet (32). And, an air jetting port (35) is grovided close
to the front end of the hollow long handle (31) to face a top
surface of the reflecting mirror (34). The air jetting port (35)
is so oriented that air is jetted from the port (35} toward the
reflecting mirror (34} at an angle of 135 degrees relative to the
reflecting mirror (34}.
The tube (40) is a flexible tube made of a material with
sufficient elasticity and rigidity. An end of the tube (40} is
connected to the air inlet (32) at the rear end of the hollow long
handle (31), and the other end of the tube (40} is connected to an
air outlet (51) provided on the air compressor (50).
To use the odontoscope (30) of the present invention in a
dental surgery or tooth treatment, first connect a predetermined
end of the tube (40) to the air inlet (32) at the rear end of the
hollow long handle (31) and another and of the tube (40) to the air
outlet (51) of the air compressor (50). When the air compressor
(50) is started to run, an airflow (F) is supplied from the air
compressor (50) to flow through the tube (40) and into the tubular
space (B) of the hallow long handle (31). The airflow (F} is
finally jetted from the air jetting port (35) close to the front
end of the hollow long handle (31} to powerfully blow against the
reflecting mirror (34} at an angle of 135 degrees relative to the
reflecting mirror (34). This angle of 135 degrees is an optimum
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.r
refracting angle for the airflow blown against the reflecting
mirror (34) to quickly clean out any residuum (A) on the reflecting
mirror (34), such as mist, saliva, and debris of ground or drilled
teeth, so that the dental surgery would not be undesirably stopped.
05 The air compressor (50) may be provided with an automatic timer
(52) that could be set or Controlled by the dentist to decide
duration and interval of supplying jetted airflow from the air
compressor (50) to the reflecting mirror (34) via the air jetting
port (35).
The odontoscope (30) of the present invention and the related
equipment thereof have simple structure but they do help a dentist
complete the tooth diagnosis and treatment efficiently and
conveniently and are therefore practical and improved medical
equipment for use.
