Abstract: A dentinal retention pin and dental tool for inserting the retention pin into the healthy dentine portion of a tooth. A cylindrical hole with a beveled top is predrilled in the tooth to receive a threaded end portion of the pin such that the threads cut into the dentine to secure the pin. A chamfered stop is positioned above the threaded portion, which seats against the beveled top of the hole to limit penetration of the pin into the tooth. The pin is dimensioned to stop before the threaded portion engages the bottom of the hole. A supra-coronal portion of the pin pertrudes above the stop and provides a surface for securely attaching a reconstructed coronal portion to the tooth. A manipulating section of the pin attaches to the supra-coronal section by a frangible link. The manipulating section comprises a cylindrical extension of the pin having a flat engagement surface in a plane approximately along the diameter of the pin.

Abstract: A system of modular components for making dental restorative bridges, and a new method of making dental restorative bridges, using bars and fittings for fixing them between abutments, and prefabricated modules which provided pontic incisal and occlusal portions in a wide variety of shapes, shades, sizes and constructions. These modules are on substructures which are precision fitted to the bars. The soft-tissue oriented portion of each pontic is affixed to the gingival aspects of the bar and the module, after occlusal adjustment of the module has been made.

Abstract: A dental restorative pin is provided in three sequential sections, the first intended to penetrate into and to engage in a dentinal pin-hole having a hemispherical indentation surrounding its opening, a second section having a sealing surface curved on a hemispherical locus for mating with the hemispherical indentation when the first section penetrates into said pin-hole, to seal the opening, and to limit penetration of the first section into the pinhole, and the third section extending supragingivally from the second and being embeddable in a surrounding body of restorative material. Means is provided to form an annular open zone surrounding the junction of the first and second sections when the first section is engaged in the pin-hole and the sealing surface of the second section is mated to the hemispherical indentation.

Abstract: A prefabricated abutment of precise size, shape and dimensions is fixed in a patient's jawbone, as the supragingival part of an endodontic post, or an implant, for example. The post is used in combination with a prefabricated sleeve-like coping which is telescopically mated to the post with a high degree of dimensional precision. A finished crown is fixed rigidly to such a coping, or replicates its internal dimensions, so as to use the post as its support.

Abstract: A carrier for introducing bite registration material between occlusal surfaces of teeth, comprising a frangible film weakened to minimize its ability to stimulate the proprioceptive neuromuscular mechanism associated with jaw motions.

Abstract: A rigid tubular housing having a shaft alley and transverse to it at one end a dental tool chamber, has a telescopically-fitted cover which in one position gives access to the tool chamber via diametrically-opposed apertures one of which is always open and the other of which moves to open and close an access opening to the tool chamber. Locks for the cover fill both openings when the cover is closed over the access opening, as when a tool is in place in the chamber.

Abstract: The invention achieves its purposes with a grommet thimble incorporating a bore sleeve which may be fitted with retainer means for a sanitary dam. When this thimble is fitted into the specially-prepared entrance portion of a root canal, the retainer means extends from the tooth for holding a dam of rubber or the like without injury to surrounding gingiva during placement of a clamp for the rubber dam. The root canal can be prepared with the sleeve and dam in place, the sleeve and dam serving to facilitate the establishment and maintenance of a sterile field of operation without creation of unnecessary lacerations on the surrounding gingiva. After completion of the desired preparation procedure, or of partial completion, a temporary plug can be removably fitted into the sleeve protection of the work done or in process. For completion of a restoration several options are available. The retainer means can be left in place and used to anchor a core with or without a post. Alternatively a post can be fastened (e.

Abstract: An ultrasonically vibrated dental scaling apparatus with liquid feed through the scaling tool, in which the tool is mounted to one end of a tuned coupler having a piezoelectric transducer at the other end, and the liquid feed is through the member which drives the tool.

Abstract: A dental hand-piece of the type known as "contra-angle" uses a pair of helical gears on shafts that rotate on respective axes which pass by each other but do not intersect. The gears, one set of which is on a tool driver and the other set of which may be formed in the shaft of a dental tool, engage in respective pitch circles, the diameters of which are smaller than their respective outer diameters.

Abstract: A dental contra-angle which supports a tool socket for combined motion consisting of two oscillatory movements simultaneously, one motion being a linear reciprocating motion parallel to the axis of rotation, and the other motion being an oscillatory motion around the axis of rotation. A tool receiving aperture opens through one end of the socket and extends along the axis toward the other end. A tool for treating a root canal, when installed in the socket, will be given a combined motion consisting simultaneously of a linear reciprocating motion in the axis of the root canal, and an angular oscillatory motion around the axis of the root canal. The resulting motion of such a tool is one of dipping with simultaneous partial rotation.

Abstract: A contra-angle housing made in two parts hinged together at one end encloses a drive shaft with drive gears at one end, and a geared hub for a dental tool or the like supported in apertures in or through the housing parts transverse to the drive shaft. A latch mechanism can be manually operated to release the two housing parts so that they can be opened to change tools, clutches or the like with integral gear hubs. When the housing parts are closed the gears on the hub automatically mesh with the drive shaft gears. Reinforced gears which can be made of molded plastic make possible low-cost interchangeable tools with integral gears.

Abstract: Parapulpal dental restorative pins for use with all forms of dental restorative materials, including impression-taking materials, modeling waxes and the like, as well as amalgams, gold and other materials used for constructing a superstructure on a natural tooth, have heads to anchor the pins in such materials, and means on the head to prevent the head from rotating around the longitudinal axis of the pin in the restorative material. A constricted neck between the head and the principal body of the pin allows the head to be oriented into a plane that is not perpendicular to the pin axis. The heads can take various shapes and configurations. A composite pin, having a principal body made of one material and a head made of another is shown.

Abstract: A rigid tubular housing provides separate enclosures for a drive shaft and a dental tool that are rotatable on axes that are angularly related. A wall separating the two enclosures provides bearing support for tool-driving gears in one of the enclosures and connection to a driving shaft in the other. A latching mechanism envelops the housing and covers it smoothly. The latching mechanism is movable on the longitudinal axis of the tubular housing for controlling access to the enclosure for a dental tool.

Abstract: The hand tool is used as a cosmetic dental trimmer for restorative material of the composite resin type to remove any excess of such material to more perfectly contour the restorative material to match the natural contour of the original tooth surface. The tool includes an elongated handle connected by a tapering shank to the trimming (shaving) blade which has a hard metal layer, such as tunsten carbide, having the property that it will not discolor the composite resin material. The blade is preferably formed, in one embodiment, by a very slightly concaved face defining the blade along an arcuate (concave) edge thereof. Preferably, a pair of tools are used with oppositely arranged blades. Alternate embodiments include a tool having an excavator blade and one constructed as a composite shaver or shaper.

Abstract: A thin articulating film which is susceptible of folding, wrinkling, crimping and the like is held taut in a generally U-shaped frame to which the film is permanently affixed at a part of its periphery. The edge of the film spanning the ends of the arms of the frame is unframed. The frame can be integral with the film. Devices for full-arch, anterior-arch and quadrant occlusal adjustment, and for contact adjustment between two adjacent teeth in one arch or another where one tooth or both may be a restoration, are described.

Abstract: Novel tool operating apparatus is exemplified in a dental treatment device capable of driving alternatively at least a first tool and a second tool, each tool being intended to execute a different form of motion, with a single tool driving means to which each of several different tools can be removably coupled. The driving means includes a rotatable drive shaft fitted with tool engagement means in the form of a disc affixed to the shaft and lying in a plane that makes an acute angle with the rotational axis of the shaft. One tool can be fitted over the shaft to engage the disc so as to rotate the tool with the shaft. A second tool can be fitted over the shaft so that the shaft can rotate within the tool, but the tool will not rotate with the shaft. The second tool has means for cooperating with the shaft so as to execute an oscillatory motion relative to the shaft axis.