Abstract: A hand-held dental instrument for intraoral abrading of teeth includes a light-weight body made from a high temperature material and having internal bores or passageways for permitting fluid flow through the body. A rotatable nozzle assembly having internal fluid conduits therein is coupled to a distal end of the body such that a chamber is formed between the nozzle and the body. The chamber maintains fluid communication between an internal bore which is radially offset from a central axis bore of the body and an internal conduit of the nozzle assembly such that the nozzle can be rotated a full 360 degrees with respect to the body. The nozzle assembly includes a primary discharge port for directing flow of the air/abrasive material mixture and a secondary discharge port for directing a stream of liquid to a surface to be abraded.

Abstract: A hand-held dental instrument for intraoral abrading of teeth includes a light-weight body made from a high temperature material and having internal bores or passageways for permitting fluid flow through the body. A rotatable nozzle assembly having internal fluid conduits therein is coupled to a distal end of the body such that a chamber is formed between the nozzle and the body. The chamber maintains fluid communication between an internal bore which is radially offset from a central axis bore of the body and an internal conduit of the nozzle assembly such that the nozzle can be rotated a full 360 degrees with respect to the body. The nozzle assembly includes a primary discharge port for directing flow of the air/abrasive material mixture and a secondary discharge port for directing a stream of liquid to a surface to be abraded.

Abstract: An ultrasonic dental scaler for use with a dental scaler insert having a resonant frequency associated therewith includes a handpiece adapted for removably receiving the dental scaler insert, an energizing coil mounted on the handpiece, whereby the energizing coil substantially surrounds the dental scaler insert. The ultrasonic dental scaler includes a selectively tunable oscillator circuit coupled to the energizing coil and which generates a control signal having an oscillation frequency associated therewith for vibrating the dental scaler insert in response thereto. Specifically, the selectively tunable oscillator circuit includes an automatic tuner for automatically altering the oscillation frequency associated with the control signal to be substantially equivalent to the resonant frequency associated with the dental scaler insert in response to the control signal being fed back thereto.