Abstract:
A device for holding small dental parts may include a bowl member having central recess defined by a recess wall that has an inner surface adapted to engage dental parts and an outer surface. A plurality of magnets may be arranged around the recess wall and may be position adjacent to the outer surface of the recess wall. Also, a magnetic bowl system, which provides a bowl member that is disposable to avoid cross contamination and a separate magnet holder member that is reusable.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    Many dental procedures require a dentist to use several different dental instruments and other small dental parts. For example, the procedure of crowning a tooth typically requires a dentist to use the following small dental parts: various carbide burs, diamond burs, mandrels, and disks, rubber points of various sizes, latch burs, finishing burs and finishing disks, mini micro brushes for peridex, etch, and bonding agents. For an implant procedure the following small parts are usually required: implant screws, implant abutments, transfer copings, and implant torque wrench and latch. Keeping such dental instruments and other small parts organized and readily available to the dentist, even with the help of a dental assistant, is an ongoing challenge. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0002]    A device for holding small dental parts is described. The device includes a bowl member having a central recess defined by a recess wall. The recess wall has an inner surface, which engages the small dental parts. The recess wall also has an outer surface with a plurality of magnets positioned adjacent to it and arranged around it. Magnetic force holds small dental parts made from magnetic material against the inner surface of the recess wall. 
         [0003]    The recess wall may have a flat bottom portion and a sloped sidewall portion. The sidewall portion is divided into a number of sections. The magnets may be positioned adjacent to several of the sections of the sidewall portion. The bowl member may also have a top rim surface with spaced apart teeth thereon that are adapted to receive and hold larger ones of the small dental parts. The teeth may be positioned adjacent to sections of the sidewall portion that do not have magnets near them. 
         [0004]    The magnets may be supported by a magnet holder member, which is separate from the bowl member. The magnet holder member may be constructed such that it is readily attachable to and detachable from the bowl member. Because a magnet holder member is attached to a surface of a bowl member that is on the side opposite to the side that receives the small dental parts, there is no risk of contaminating the support plate with the small dental parts so long as the bowl member remains attached to the magnet holder member. Thus, the magnet holder member may be reused. Since the bowl member receives the small dental parts, it must be sterilized or discarded after every use. For a typical dental practice, only a small number of the relatively expensive magnet holder members are needed as compared to the number of relatively inexpensive bowl members. The bowl members are designed with tapered walls and have a nesting configuration that allows a large number of bowl members to be stacked to conserve space. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0005]      FIG. 1  is a top isometric view of a bowl member of a device for holding small dental parts. 
           [0006]      FIG. 2  is a bottom isometric view of the bowl member of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0007]      FIG. 3  is a top isometric view of a magnet support plate. 
           [0008]      FIG. 4  as a top isometric view of the device of  FIG. 1  holding a plurality of small dental parts. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0009]    As used herein, spatial reference terms such as up, down, bottom, top, vertical, horizontal, lateral, left, right, etc., are used in a relative sense for establishing a frame of reference used for describing the spatial relationship between objects or various parts of an object. They are not used in an absolute sense that implies the orientation of an object in a field of gravity. Using the term “top” in this relative sense with a table that is described as having “a top surface that supports a computer” such surface would be correctly referred to as the “top surface” of the desk even if the desk were flipped upside down or resting on its side. 
         [0010]      FIG. 1  shows a bowl member  20  of a dental tool holder  10 ,  FIG. 4 . The bowl member  20  has a central recess  22  that is defined by a recess wall  24 . The recess wall  24  has an inner surface  25  and an outer surface  27 ,  FIG. 2 . The inner surface  25  has a downwardly and inwardly sloping portion  26  and a horizontally disposed portion  28 . The recess wall  24  may have a polygonal upper edge  30  and a corresponding polygonal bottom edge  32 . The distance between opposite sides of the octagonal bottom edge  32  may be about 27.7 mm. The downwardly and inwardly sloping wall portion  26  may comprise eight trapezoidal wall sections  34  extending between the upper and bottom edges  30 ,  32 . A plurality of upwardly extending rib pairs:  52 ,  54 ;  56 ,  58 ;  60 ,  62 ;  64 ,  66 ; and  68 ,  70 , are provided on wall sections  36 ,  40 ,  42 ,  44 , and  48 , respectively. These rib pairs may be provided to separate small dental parts or tools that lie against the inner surface  25  of the downwardly and inwardly sloping portion  26 . The ribs may each have a length of about 14.0 mm. A gap  72  may be provided between each pair of ribs e.g.  52 ,  54 . The gap distance of each gap  72  may be about 5.4 mm. A lower horizontal rim  73  may extend around the inner surface  27  near the bottom of each of the ribs  52 ,  54 , etc. 
         [0011]    A laterally extending bottom rib  76  may be provided on the inner surface  25  of the horizontally disposed bottom portion  28  of the recess wall  24 . The purposes of the rib  76  are described in detail below. 
         [0012]    An upper horizontally disposed wall  74  may be integrally formed at the top edge  30  of the recess wall  24 , as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . The upper horizontally disposed wall  74  may have an octagonal ring shaped configuration with a ring width about 2.5 mm. Wall  74  integrally connects the recess wall  24  to a generally downwardly and outwardly extending skirt shaped flange  80 . The flange  80  has a first surface  81 ,  FIG. 1 , and an opposite second service  83 ,  FIG. 2 . The flange  80  terminates in an octagonal bottom edge portion  85 , as best shown in  FIG. 2 . Edge portion  85  may lie in substantially the same plane as the outer surface  27  of the horizontally disposed portion  28  of the recess wall  24 . The flange  80  substantially increases the width of the bowl member  20 , increasing its stability. In one embodiment the length of each side of the octagonal bottom rim  85  may be about 27.7 mm. In one embodiment the entire bowl member  20  is constructed from a resilient plastic material such as a thermoforming grade of high impact polystyrene. 
         [0013]      FIG. 3  illustrates a magnet holder member  110 . The magnet holder member  110  includes a generally octagonal plate  112 . A plurality of magnet backing plates  114 ,  116 ,  118 ,  120 ,  122 ,  124  are mounted on the octagonal plate  112  and are inclined upwardly and outwardly at the same angle as the sidewalls of the trapezoidal wall sections  34 ,  36 ,  38 , etc., of the bowl member  20 . A pair of arcuate brackets  128  and  130  are attached to each backing plate  114 ,  116 , etc. Disc shaped magnets  132 ,  134 ,  136 ,  138 ,  140 ,  142 , are supported by each pair of brackets  128 ,  130 . In one embodiment each magnet has a diameter of about 10 mm and an axial length of about 4.3 mm. 
         [0014]    Ribs  144 ,  146  and  148  (only three of four are visible in  FIG. 3 ) are arranged around a peripheral portion of the octagonal plate  112 . Referring to  FIG. 2 , an inwardly extending peripheral lip  150  extends around the second surface  83  of skirt portion  80 . The ribs  144 ,  146 , etc.,  FIG. 3 , each have an upper edge portion that co-acts with the lip  150  to provide a snap-fit relationship. When the bowl member  20  is positioned above the octagonal magnet holder member  110  with the respective peripheries aligned, downward pressure on the bowl member  20  causes the ribs  144 ,  146 , etc., to snap into a locking relationship with the lip  150 . The bowl member  20  is thereby held in fixed relationship with the magnet holder member  110 . An integrally formed foot portion  152  extends laterally outwardly from the octagonal magnet holder member  110 . This foot portion  152  may be grasped to facilitate prying removal of the magnet holder member  110  from the bowl member  20 . 
         [0015]      FIG. 4  illustrates the small dental parts holding device  10  with a plurality of dental instruments  160  supported on the recess wall  24 . The dental instruments may include individual instruments  162 ,  164 ,  166 ,  168 ,  170 ,  172  supported on the inner surface  25  of recess wall  24  between the ribs  56 ,  58 , etc. Longer dental instruments, not shown, may be supported on the horizontal wall surface  74  between opposed upwardly projecting teeth  82 ,  84 ,  86 ,  88  on diametrically opposed sides of the bowl member upper horizontally disposed wall  74 . (In another embodiment, the teeth project downwardly rather than upwardly. In yet another embodiment the teeth are replaced by oppositely positioned, downwardly concave surfaces portions in the horizontal wall surface  74 .) A used drill bit  174  is positioned in the smaller section of the horizontally disposed portion  28  adjacent to rib  76 . Material removed from a patient&#39;s mouth, such as a crown (not shown) may be positioned on the other side of rib  76 . The rib  76  serves a number of purposes. One purpose is to separate burs. Some burs can be reused while others need to be discarded. The rib  76  separates the burs and organizes reusable burs. The rib  76  can also separate the central recess  22  into one side with adjacent magnets  132 ,  134 , etc., and a second side with no adjacent magnets. The magnets  132 ,  134 , etc., can be used to keep burs to be reused in a vertical stack for easy retrieval. The non-magnet side can be used to hold discarded burs. The rib  76  can also be used to separate implant screws from implant abutments. The purpose of the rib  76 , generally, is to create more options for better organization of small dental parts. 
         [0016]    It may be seen from  FIGS. 1 and 2  that the bowl member  20  has a stackable shape that allows a plurality of identical bowl members  20  to be nested together in a compact, space saving relationship. The two part construction of the device  10  enables a dentist to buy and keep on hand only a relatively few of the reusable and relatively expensive magnet support members  110 . This is because the magnet support members  110  ordinarily do not come into contact with the small dental Instruments  160  or dental artifacts from a patient&#39;s mouth. Such items are placed in the bowl members  20 , which are relatively inexpensive and may thus be discarded after use by each patient. 
         [0017]    While illustrative embodiments of a device for holding small dental parts have been described in detail herein, it is to be understood that the inventive concepts disclosed may be otherwise variously embodied and employed and that the appended claims are intended to be construed to include such variations except insofar as limited by the prior art.