Patent ID: 8221117

Claim:
An endodontic probe having an elongate body sized to fit within a root canal passage, the elongate body including a body proximal region, a body distal region and a body longitudinal axis extending between the body proximal region and the body distal region, the endodontic probe comprising: (a) an electromagnetic radiation emitting fiber optic tip disposed at the body distal region, the fiber optic tip having a distal end and a radiation emitting region disposed proximally of the distal end, the radiation emitting region being structured to emit a peak concentration of radiation along a line that is not parallel to the body longitudinal axis; and (b) a porous structure characterized by one or more of (i) encompassing a region of the fiber optic tip excluding the radiation emitting region and (ii) comprising a material that is transparent to a wavelength of energy carried by the electromagnetic radiation emitting fiber optic tip, the porous structure comprising pores that are loaded with a biofluid or biopowder, the biofluid or biopowder comprising one or more of biologically-active particles, cleaning particles, biologically-active agents, and cleaning agents that are structured to be delivered from the porous structure onto tissue.