Atraumatic high-volume dental evacuation tip

Abstract

The embodiment provides a high-volume evacuation tip perforated with round shape apertures covered by vent shells with upgraded capability of capturing escaping saliva and surgical debris during dental operation, as well as its total mass flow capability with soft silicone rubber nozzle. The high-volume suction tip for dental procedures has a cylinder or tubular-shaped, having two open ends. Forward-facing end has a soft silicone rubber nozzle is round in shape reducing patient pain and discomfort due to contact of hard plastic suction with soft tissue of patient with several vertical milling cutters to improve maximum effectiveness of fluid absorption, preventing clogging a surgical aspirator and prevent traumatic absorption of the patient tongue. Posterior end has vertical cutting shape. The suction tip has increase impact force compare to similar suction tips without the plurality of apertures or with few of them.

Claims

1. A high volume dental evacuation tip comprising: a proximal end and a distal end wherein an elongated body extends between said proximal end and said distal end along a longitudinal axis; said elongated body comprising an outer surface and a hollow interior; said proximal end is configured for connection to a suction device; said elongated body member including a plurality of functional apertures located along an entire length of said elongated body member, said apertures covered by vent shells; and a forward facing end of said distal end of the elongated body member further comprising a silicone wedges nozzle.

2. The high volume dental evacuation tip of claim 1 wherein said elongated body member has a circular cross section.

3. The high volume dental evacuation tip of claim 1 wherein each of said vent shells has spherical shape.

4. The high volume dental evacuation tip of claim 1 wherein said plurality of functional apertures are equally spaced around said entire length said elongated body member.

5. The high volume dental evacuation tip of claim 1 wherein said plurality of functional apertures are rounded in shape.

6. The high volume dental evacuation tip of claim 1 wherein said elongated body is made from one piece of a workable rigid plastic material such as high density polyethylene.

7. A method for evacuating dental fluid from a patient's mouth, the method comprising: connecting said proximal end of the high volume dental evacuation tip of claim 1 to a suction source; suctioning said dental fluid through said silicone wedges nozzle through said elongated body to the suction source; and increasing a suction pressure through said plurality of functional apertures.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein said elongated body member has a circular cross section.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein said vent shells has spherical shape.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein said plurality of functional apertures are equally spaced around said entire length said elongated body member.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein said plurality of functional apertures are rounded in shape.

12. The method of claim 7 wherein said high volume dental evacuation tip is made from one piece of a workable rigid plastic material such as high density polyethylene.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The patent or application file contains at least one drawing executed in color. Copies of this patent or patent application publication with color drawing(s) will be provided by the Office upon request and payment of the necessary fee.

(2) FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a high-volume dental evacuation tip that the present embodiment.

(3) FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the proximal portion of high-volume dental evacuation tip with present embodiment of FIG. 1.

(4) FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of high-volume dental evacuation tip of FIG. 1.

(5) FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a shell as a portion of the high-volume dental evacuation tip of FIG. 1.

(6) FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a portion of the high-volume dental evacuation tip of FIG. 1.

(7) FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the distal portion of tip of the high-volume dental evacuation tip of FIG. 1.

(8) FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the silicone wedges color of the of the high-volume dental evacuation tip of FIG. 1.

(9) FIG. 8A is a standard suction tip without aperturessuction capability at certain point of time: time 0.05 seconds.

(10) FIG. 8B is a standard suction tip without aperturessuction capability at certain point of time: time 0.1 seconds.

(11) FIG. 8C is a standard suction tip without aperturessuction capability at certain point of time: time 0.2 seconds.

(12) FIG. 8D is a standard suction tip without aperturessuction capability at certain point of time: 0.5 seconds.

(13) FIG. 8E is a standard suction tip without aperturessuction capability at certain point of time: 1 second.

(14) FIG. 8F is a standard suction tip without aperturessuction capability at certain point of time: 2 seconds.

(15) FIG. 9A is a standard suction tip with flat aperturessuction capability at certain point of time: 0.05 seconds.

(16) FIG. 9B is a standard suction tip with flat aperturessuction capability at certain point of time: 0.1 seconds.

(17) FIG. 9C is a standard suction tip with flat aperturessuction capability at certain point of time: 0.2 seconds.

(18) FIG. 9D is a standard suction tip with flat aperturessuction capability at certain point of time: 0.5 seconds.

(19) FIG. 9E is a standard suction tip with flat aperturessuction capability at certain point of time: 1 second.

(20) FIG. 9F is a standard suction tip with flat aperturessuction capability at certain point of time: 2 seconds.

(21) FIG. 10A is a current inventionsuction tip with apertures covered by vent shellssuction capability at certain point of time: 0.05 seconds.

(22) FIG. 10B is a current inventionsuction tip with apertures covered by vent shellssuction capability at certain point of time: 0.1 seconds.

(23) FIG. 10C is a current inventionsuction tip with apertures covered by vent shellssuction capability a certain point of time: 0.2 seconds.

(24) FIG. 10D is a current inventionsuction tip with apertures covered by vent shellssuction capability a certain point of time: 0.5 seconds.

(25) FIG. 10E is a current inventionsuction tip with apertures covered by vent shellssuction capability a certain point of time: 1 second.

(26) FIG. 10F is a current inventionsuction tip with apertures covered by vent shellssuction capability a certain point of time: 2 seconds.

(27) FIG. 11 is a chart of Mass Flow over time for No Holes, Flat Hole, and Cheese Grater embodiments.

DRAWINGSREFERENCE NUMERALS

(28) 10 High-volume dental evacuation suction tip 11 Forward-facing end 12 Proximal portion of tip 13 Longitudinal axis 14 Distal portion of tip 18 Posterior end 20 The apertures 21 The shell 22 The palatal wall of shell 23 The parietal wall of shell 24 Outer lip of shell 25 Outer wall of shell 26 Hollow interior 27 Outer surface 28 Inner surface 29 Outer wall of tip 30 Distal opening 35 Distal opening 50 The silicone wedges nozzle-color 51 Slotted openings 52 Silicone wedge

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

(29) An embodiment of a high-volume dental evacuation tip 10 of the present invention as shown in FIGS. 1-7. Referring specifically to FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7 the high-volume dental evacuation tip 10 includes a proximal portion of tip 12, a distal portion of tip 14 and forward-facing end 11. The proximal portion 12 and distal portion of tip 14 are preferably a cylinder or tubular-shaped in nature. In other embodiments, the cross section is rectangular, triangular, oval or circular. The proximal portion 12 includes a posterior end 18 with an opening and an outer wall of tip 29 having an outer surface 27 and an inner surface 28 (see FIG. 2). The proximal portion 12, and the entirety of the a high-volume evacuation tip has a substantially hollow interior 26 which allows passage of fluids such as saliva, water and surgical debris there through when suction device is applied to the tip 10. The plurality of apertures 20 cover by shells 21 extend radially outwardly from the outer surface 27 of the proximal portion 12 to the distal portion of the tip 14 (see FIGS. 1,3,4,5)

(30) As a shown in FIGS. 1,2,4,5 the outer wall 29 has an outer surface 27 that has a plurality of apertures 20 therein covered by vent shells 21, each of which extend from the outer surface 27, through wall 29, to distal portion of tip 14. The plurality of apertures 20 cover by shells 21 extend radially outwardly from the outer surface 27 of the proximal portion 12 to the distal portion of the tip 14 (see FIGS. 1,3,4,5).

(31) Preferably, a high-volume dental evacuation tip 10 contains at least 30 shell apertures. The apertures could be rectangular, oval, triangular, circular, or similar shaped.

(32) The distal portion 14 of the tube 10 is formed of at least one wall 29 which is connected to the proximal portion 12. Thus, the distal portion 14 is in fluid communication with the proximal portion 12. Distal portion 14 preferably has a distal opening 35 in FIG. 1.

(33) Also, preferably, the apertures are spaced circumferentially and longitudinally such that they are substantially evenly spaced over the distal portion 14 and proximal portion 12 of the tip. In addition preferably, the apertures 20 covered by vent shells 21 extending lengthwise along all proximal 12 and distal portions 14 of suction tip 10 (see FIGS. 1 and 3).

(34) It is desirable that each aperture 20 and vent shell 21 have the same size as the other apertures and shells. The apertures 20 are generally rounded in shape, which is, having a circular border (see FIGS. 4 and 5). It is preferable that each aperture 20 cover by vent shell 21. Each vent shell 21 has spherical shape. However, the vent shells can be oval, triangular, circular, etc., and different sizes, and include (created by) the palatal wall of vent shell 22 and outer wall of vent shell 25. Each shell covered the apertures and created the parietal wall of vent shell 23 in bottom and outer lip of vent shell 24 in the top (see FIGS. 4 and 5).

(35) As shown in FIGS. 1, 3, 6 and 7 the distal portion 14 of the tip 10 has a silicone silicon wedge nozzle 50 surrounding the forward-facing end 11 distal opening 35. The soft silicone rubber forming the silicone wedges nozzle 50 is preferably round in shape or can be oval, triangular, circular, etc. and smooth. This reduces or eliminates patient pain and discomfort due to contact of hard plastic suction with soft tissue of patient.

(36) The given nozzle 50 is formed due to silicone silicon wedges 52 and separated by several slotted openings 51. These slotted openings 51 has shape like vertical milling cutters and they have functions as to improve maximum effectiveness of fluid absorption at least 30 percent more than a similar evacuation tips made from the same material but having no nozzle with wedges and slotted openings, preventing dogging a surgical aspirator and totally removing traumatic absorption of the patient tongue.

(37) An addition silicone wedges 52 and slotted openings 51 located around hollow interior 26 and separated by spaces of outer wall of suction tip 29. The nozzle 50 preferably extends about the entire outer wall perimeter 29 of the distal opening 35.

(38) The dental tip 10 is preferably made as one piece and is can made of a workable rigid plastic material such as high density polyethylene or metal. An addition forward facing end 11 made of soft silicone rubber. The soft silicone rubber forming the silicone wedges color 50 (FIGS. 1, 3 and 7).

(39) The dental tip 10 gives the advantage of providing sufficient suction performance during dental procedures compare to different models in the market. The dental tube 10 is ergonomically designed to improve quality and function when used due to the shape of the apertures covered by shells.

(40) Although specific preferred embodiments of the invention have been disclosed in detail for illustrative purposes, it will be recognized that variations and modifications of the disclosed device, including the rearrangement of parts, lie within the scope of the present embodiment.

Suction Efficiency and Impact Force Testing of Comparative Examples

(41) The numerous previous designs were subjected to investigation and tested for suction efficiency and impact force. Analysis of a dental suction tips and its suction capability is investigated for this invention. The analysis was performed to determine the difference of functions in three different designs of dental suctions tips. Following three designs have been selected: standard dental suction tip without apertures, dental suction tip with flat apertures and current inventionwith apertures covered by vent shells.

(42) As a preliminary study, a simplified case has been analyzed to investigate the possibility of improving a traditional design. Simplifications include: two-dimensional geometry 100% air flow (rather than a mixture of air and saliva)

(43) The flow does not necessarily need to be fully accurate to the simulations. However, this report can be viewed as a comparative studyand the results relative to each other show a clear benefit of choosing the current invention with holes covered by vent shells.

(44) Benchmark studies have shown dental equipment reaching pressures between 12-75 kPa. For this simulation, we have assumed the use of an instrument capable of 12 kPa and normal room pressure of 101.3 kPa, creating a pressure difference of 89.3 kPa, which is the force-driven physics in this analysis.

(45) The briefest result of this report is that the current invention with apertures covered by vent shells design is clearly better in two ways; its capability of capturing escaping saliva during operation, as well as its total mass flow capability.

(46) For example: try putting the different evacuators in a glass of water and measure the time it takes to empty the glass. The current invention design would finish first, and the flat holes-design would finish last. This is not a trivial conclusion, since one would imagine the dental suction tip with flat holes-design being better than the standard dental suction tip without holes-design. (See FIG. 11).

(47) FIG. 1: Graph showing time-dependent results of mass flow through dental evacuator for different designs.

(48) One can clearly see how the flow is stabilizing after only a few fractions of a second. This is a reasonable behavior for our application.

(49) TABLE-US-00013 TABLE 1 Discrete results of mass flow for fully developed flow. Hole with No Hole Flat Hole Shell Mass flow 2.94 kg/s 2.71 kg/s 3.5 kg/s

(50) Results below show the suction capability at different time steps. One can see that the results vary a lot in the first half of a second, before stabilizing and reaching a steady flow. This can be compared with the flat section of the graph above. The color represents total velocity in meters per second, where red color is the highest velocity and blue color is the zero velocity.

(51) (See FIGS. 8A, 8B, 8C, 8D, 8E, 8F): The Standard suction tip without aperturessuction capability at different time steps:

(52) FIG. 8A: time=0.05 seconds

(53) FIG. 8B: time=0.1 seconds

(54) FIG. 8C: time=0.2 seconds

(55) FIG. 8D: time=0.5 seconds

(56) FIG. 8E: time=1 second

(57) FIG. 8F: time=2 seconds

(58) (See FIGS. 9A, 9B, 9C, 9D, 9E, 9F): The Standard suction tip with flat aperturessuction capability at different time steps:

(59) FIG. 9A: time=0.05 seconds

(60) FIG. 9B: time=0.1 seconds

(61) FIG. 9C: time=0.2 seconds

(62) FIG. 9D: time=0.5 seconds

(63) FIG. 9E: time=1 second

(64) FIG. 9F: time=2 seconds

(65) FIGS. 10A, 10B, 10C, 10D, 10E, 10F: The current inventionsuction tip with apertures covered by vent shellssuction capability at different time steps

(66) FIG. 10A: time=0.05 seconds

(67) FIG. 10B: time=0.1 seconds

(68) FIG. 10C: time=0.2 seconds

(69) FIG. 10D: time=0.5 seconds

(70) FIG. 10E: time=1 second

(71) FIG. 10F: time=2 seconds

(72) It can clearly that the current invention suction dental tip with apertures covered by vent shells and soft silicone wedge nozzle.

(73) to be analogous to the commercial design has more suction strong forces of at least 30% more than a similar suction tips made from same material but having no or few flat apertures without went shells.

(74) As noted above current invention providing mass flow for fully developed flow more effective up to 30 percent compared to suction tips without apertures and with limited number of flat apertures respectively.

(75) (See FIGS. 8A, 8B, 8C, 8D, 8E, 8F, 9A, 9B, 9C, 9D, 9E, 9F, 10A, 10B, 10C, 10D, 10E, 10F).