Abstract:
Device for intraoral suctioning including a mouth suctioning tube releasably connected to a suctioning tube that is in turn releasably connected to a suctioning unit, and a pivotable, rotatable, and bendable swan-neck hollow tube is fixable to a dental treatment unit with a holding device. The suctioning tube is guidable through the hollow tube. The suctioning unit is releasably connected to the suctioning tube on the side of the holding device, the mouth suctioning tube being releasably connected on the free end of the suctioning tube.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application is a continuation of application no. Pct/EP2004/007817, filed Jul. 15, 2004, which claims the priority of German application no. 103 37 648.8, filed Aug. 16, 2003, and each of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     The invention concerns a device for intraoral suctioning, whereby an oral suctioning tube is releasably connected to a suctioning hose that is releasably connected to a suctioning unit.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     Prior art dental suctioning technology is characterized by the manual guidance of the suctioning tube into the patient&#39;s mouth. Intraoral suctioning, both with and without an assistant, is an established procedure in dental practice. Treatment without an assistant, which is appealing from an economic standpoint, offers limited protection to the soft tissue from rotating dental instruments, and complete suctioning is not ensured. In addition, certain areas of surgery can be very difficult for the dentist, for anatomical reasons.  
         [0004]     Furthermore, there are no known measures and means in the dental market and trade press for suppressing the broadband, generally characteristic white noise, at the site of origin that occurs during suctioning, which can fatigue and damage the cilia of human auditory cells. Instead, passive or active hearing protection, as offered as special equipment by hearing aid designers for example, is recommended.  
         [0005]     Another problem is the known bite wedges used when the patient&#39;s mouth must remain open for a long time. Bite wedges made of hard rubber are used to keep the patient&#39;s mouth open for extended periods to counteract tiredness and the reflex to close the mouth. If the patient intentionally or accidentally briefly opens his or her mouth wider when such a bite wedge is used, this tool will slip and must be realigned in relation to the dental arches. This tool is also perceived as unpleasant as the patient is usually forced to passively keep his or her mouth open very wide when blocking it from closing.  
         [0006]     The use of an adjustable dental surgical light to illuminate the oral cavity is also known. A major disadvantage of such lights is that they frequently have to be readjusted to the work area. In connection with magnifying glasses, headlamps have become common, and optimally illuminate the visual field of the dentist without manipulation. Another attempt to bring light to the surgical site is made by connecting highly flexible, thin fiberoptic conductors to dental oral mirrors or suctioning tubes. However, these must be continuously manipulated by the dentist or assistants.  
         [0007]     In addition, flexible metal hoses with ball ring elements are known for supplying drilling oil for machining; these are presented in a brochure by MZT Falkenreck, Bielefeld: “Snap-Loc, Flexible Kuehlwasserschlaeuche.” They consist of a plastic starting element having a connecting thread and do not last in long-term use. The term SNAPLOC® is a registered trademark of Böllhoff &amp; Co. Montagefabrik GmbH &amp; Co. KG, Bielefeld. SNAPLOC® may be understood to be a tubular push-fit mating ball element detachably connectable with a mating tubular ball-coupling element.  
       OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0008]     An object of the invention is to create an improved suctioning device which optimally protects oral soft tissue from rotating dental instruments without using assistants, ensures optimum suctioning without assistance, avoids manual suctioning errors, in the form of painful pressure from resting on the periosteum, from tired personnel, and enables the reduction or elimination of the described problems.  
         [0009]     The solution according to the invention includes attaching a swingable, rotatable, and bendable gooseneck hollow tube to a dental operative assembly with a holder A suctioning hose is guided through the hollow tube, and the suctioning unit is releasably connected to the suctioning hose on the holder side, and the oral suctioning tube is releasably connected to the free end of the oral suctioning tube.  
         [0010]     The invention further includes additional advantageous embodiments within the scope of the invention asset forth below.  
         [0011]     The use of the new suctioning tube holder relieves the assistant from holding the tool from one side in an orthopedically problematic manner. The assistant can restrict his or her to occasionally readjusting the aspirator and is freed of additional activities.  
         [0012]     In an advantageous embodiment, the gooseneck hollow system, which fulfills the specific dental requirements of hygiene and functionality, is attachable as an assistant-free tool to a standard operative assembly with a minimum amount of effort. In another embodiment according to the invention, the flexible sheathing of the gooseneck suctioning tube continually dampens the suctioning noise at the site of origin. The noise level is therefore substantially lower than standard suctioning systems.  
         [0013]     In particular, several different types of sheath layers may be used.  
         [0014]     By combining the use of different types of overlapping hollow tubes, hoses, and wound silicone tape, flexibility is retained, the design is adjustable, and the sound is muffled. This effect directly reduces noise in the dental examination room, and no suctioning noise penetrates into adjacent rooms.  
         [0015]     The gooseneck suctioning tube is advantageously affixed to a bite wedge provided with a fitting cutout. When a suitably configured suctioning tube is attached there, suctioning positions can be adjusted from a sagittal direction, which assistants cannot accomplish by purely manual means, or cannot hold for a long time for spatial reasons.  
         [0016]     Fixing the bite wedge with a sagittal hole by shoving on the gooseneck suctioning tube enables the bite wedge to be secured against normal slipping in the mouth. This design allows a new suctioning position from a sagittal direction extending across the dental arches, which enables the bite wedge to be independently secured in position against sliding. In addition, this device allows the patient to control closing his or her mouth by shoving the device away if needed. Ensuring patient autonomy increases patient acceptance of blocking mouth closure with the bite wedge, which is desirable in treatment.  
         [0017]     In another advantageous embodiment of the device, a fiberoptic conductor, either directly on the gooseneck suctioning tube or independent from it, is guided into another flexible, shape-retaining gooseneck, for a perioral or intraoral cold light outlet which is on, or in the oral cavity.  
         [0018]     Associating the fiberoptic conductor system with the advantages of the invention, as set forth herein, allows for the aspirated and surgical areas to be precisely illuminated without an assistant in a self-holding manner.  
         [0019]     Relative terms such as left, right, up, and down are for convenience only and are not intended to be limiting.  
         [0020]     Advantageous embodiments according to the invention are shown in  FIG. 1  to  7 . 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0021]      FIG. 1  shows a plan view of a holder for gooseneck tubes according to the invention;  
         [0022]      FIG. 2  shows a side view of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0023]      FIG. 3  shows a section of a suctioning hose connector;  
         [0024]      FIG. 4  shows a section of an oral suctioning tube connector;  
         [0025]      FIG. 5  shows a partial cutaway section of an inner gooseneck hollow tube;  
         [0026]      FIG. 6  shows a cross-section of a gooseneck with a sheath;  
         [0027]      FIG. 7  shows the entire device with a fiberoptic conductor. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0028]     An embodiment of the holder according to the invention is shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2  in which the gooseneck connects with a type A-Dec Cascade operative assembly.  
         [0029]     To install the holder  1 , the patient headrest is first pulled out. The backrest cushion is removed to gain access to the chair-side fastening element of the headrest. The top nuts are removed on the left and right, the holder  1  is then mounted with the cutout  11  and attached to the clips  10  with the available screws on the headrest element. The top spacing screws of the backrest must be screwed out as far as possible so that the nuts can grip the backrest with about 1-2 turns. The cushion slides past the holder  1  into its original position without being damaged. The headrest is shoved back on.  
         [0030]     The threaded hole  12  in the holder  1 , outside on the left in  FIG. 1 , serves to receive a hollow sleeve. For example,  38  commercially available SNAPLOC elements  44  as shown in  FIG. 5  are pressed sequentially on to this hollow sleeve. The hollow sleeve  40  may be, in particular, made of metal.  
         [0031]     The length of goose neck articulated tube  4  in  FIG. 7  may be sufficiently long at 90 cm for the described operative assembly, and through which, as shown in  FIG. 6 , a commercially available dental hose is guided. To withstand daily loads, SNAPLOC elements  44  are additionally stabilized by applying heat-shrink tubing  51 . SNAPLOC elements  44 , toward the holder  1 , are additionally coated with several layers of shorter pieces of heat-shrink tubing  51  to counteract the various types of leverage in the gooseneck system  5  that could overload and quickly wear out the bottommost SNAPLOC elements. To ensure the flexibility and soundproofing of the gooseneck hollow system  5 , a layer of silicone tape  52  is wound under each heat-shrink tubing layer  51 .  
         [0032]     To further increase soundproofing and provide an aesthetic and hygienically optimized overall configuration and, indeed, design, this flexible structure is also covered with a hose  53  of normal dental quality. Fitting connectors for the suctioning tube, and an A-Dec suctioning tube holder, join the hose ends of the hose and hollow element arrangement between the standard elements of the standard suctioning setup.  
         [0033]     In  FIG. 1 , the two holes  13  in the holder  1  serve to temporarily receive a large or small dummy plug that is used to turn off the suctioning system at the conventional A-Dec assistant element. Another variation of the holder is portrayed in a dashed line, and a small suctioning hose passage  12 A and a passage  14  for a separate fiberoptic conductor are provided therein.  
         [0034]     Several borehole seats  12 ,  12 A, and dummy plug borehole seats  13 ,  13 A having different dimensions may be provided in the metal plate.  
         [0035]     By adapting the dimensions to a known, small suctioning unit, the other embodiments allow one to also work with two parallel, self-fixing, gooseneck hollow systems with different cross-sections, and, in the same manner as the light source, may be maneuvered independent of each other.  
         [0036]     A section of a connector  2  that fits a normal suctioning hose or preferably an A-DEC suctioning hose holder is shown in  FIG. 3 . The connector  2  may consist of polyethylene (in white); however, it is preferably manufactured of a light metal to last longer. The other suctioning hose of the suctioning unit is shoved onto a single, slightly conical connection end  20  together with the suctioning tube holder, and the thinner inner hose  50  is shoved onto the bottom, stepped shoulder  21 , and the wider outer hose  53  on the ribbed shoulder  22 , that ends in an axial ring groove  23 , whose groove width N is adapted to the thickness of the material of the outer hose  53 .  
         [0037]     The dimensions, in the example, are approximately 15 mm in diameter at the unit-side connection end  20 , 14 mm in diameter for shoulder  21  of the inner hose  50 , 40 mm in diameter at the shoulder  22  for the outer hose  53 , and a 2 mm groove width N is matched to the width of the hose wall.  
         [0038]      FIG. 4  shows a connector  3  for a conventional oral suctioning tube that is insertable in a sleeve-like recess  30 . On the other hand, the oral tube connector  3  has a concentric outer hose shoulder  32  with a retention profile and an annular groove  33  for the outer hose  53 , a tube seat shoulder  34  for the last SNAPLOC element, and an inner hose shoulder  31  for the inner hose  50 . This connector also consists of plastic but is preferably made of light metal. Its diameter fits the connectable elements; for example: a 15 mm inner diameter for sleeve  30 ; a 40 mm outside diameter for the outer hose shoulder  32 ; a 23 mm outside diameter for the SNAPLOC element; and a14 mm outer diameter for the inner hose shoulder. The groove width N is 2 mm.  
         [0039]     If an elastic bite wedge  60  is used, the oral tube connector  3  runs close to it, and a straight or bent intermediate tube  35  runs from the oral tube sleeve  30  into the bite wedge  60  from which the insertable oral tube exits on the other side of the passage  62 .  
         [0040]     A one-sided axial section of a known gooseneck hollow tube  4  is shown in  FIG. 5 . On the other end, an annular ball section  42  is shaped onto the sleeve-like start element  40  with a thread  41  on the end. This ball section is partially enclosed by a tightly-fitting, annular ball socket section  43  that is formed on a first tube element  44  of a chain of additional, tube-like elements that also have an internally fitting ball section  42  on the other end. The interlocking ball sections allow the element chain to flex and twist; however, the assumed shape resists minor external force from the friction in the tight ball seats even after frequent use. This makes them particularly suited for the objects set forth herein.  
         [0041]      FIG. 6  shows the cross-section VI-VI of a gooseneck  5  of  FIG. 4 . From the inside to the outside, the following items surround each other: 
        An inner hose  50 , such as a dental hose for major suctioning with a 19 mm diameter;     A gooseneck element  44 , such as a SNAPLOC® gooseneck element;     Silicone tape  52 ;     Heat-shrink tubing  51 , such as DSG-Canusa CPX55 heat-shrink tubing;     Another winding of silicone tape  52 ;     More heat-shrink tubing  51 ; and     An outer hose  53 , such as Dürr-Dental hose with an inner diameter of 40 mm.          
         [0049]     There can be a single layer or plurality of layers of silicone tape  52  and heat-shrink tubing  51 . The heat-shrink tubing  51  is axially divided into short sections to provide sufficient mobility. This is another reason why the inner flexible silicone tape  52  only lies on the ball seats and not on the areas of movement of the ball elements.  
         [0050]     The inner hose  50  has a gap in relation to the tube element  44 , and the outer hose  53  is also somewhat wider than the widest heat-shrink hose so as not to restrict adjustability.  
         [0051]      FIG. 7  shows a schematic drawing of the entire device. Proceeding from a suctioning unit  63 , a suctioning hose  66  (that is shown shorter than it actually is and that ends in an original A-DEC suctioning tube holder  67 ) extends to the intermediate hose  54  that preferably extends to the holder  1 , and includes a double, noise-suppressing hose system, similar to the gooseneck  5 , reinforced with the SNAPLOC elements, and ends in the connectors  2 ,  3  like the gooseneck. The length of the flexible intermediate hose is, for example, 40 cm to allow easy handling when attaching and removing the suctioning tube holder  67 . A dummy plug  65  may likewise be provided.  
         [0052]     Proceeding from the holder  1 , the gooseneck tube  5  screwed to the holder extends to the oral tube connector  3 . A fiberoptic conductor  6  runs independently or parallel from a cold-light source  68  through the holder  1 . Both are held on the bite wedge  60  in a passage  62  or channel  61 , respectively. The oral tube is connected to the oral tube connector  3  or the bite wedge  60 .  
         [0053]     The suctioning hose  66  preferably also has a connector  2 A. From that point, it is enclosed by a soundproofing sheath and an outer hose  53 A.  
         [0054]     The passages  61 ,  62  preferably open on the side with a narrow fit so that the fiberoptic conductor or suctioning hose can be easily inserted and removed. The bite wedge enables an appropriate suctioning tube to assume a sagittal suctioning position which cannot be (continuously) accessed for spatial reasons by the dentist or an assistant using purely manual means.  
         [0055]     The new system meets specific dental requirements in regard to hygiene and functionality as an assistant-free additional tool on a standard operative assembly, which does not have to be altered. All connections steps can be easily done manually. Existing screws are used.  
         [0056]     While this invention has been described as having a preferred design, it is understood that it is capable of further modifications, and uses and/or adaptations of the invention and following in general the principle of the invention and including such departures from the present disclosure as come within the known or customary practice in the art to which the invention pertains, and as may be applied to the central features hereinbefore set forth, and fall within the scope of the invention or limits of the claims appended hereto.