Patent ID: 7435398

Claim:
An apparatus for sterilizing dental hand pieces, comprising a housing having a pressure resistant treating chamber with internal holding stub means for receiving a socket for one or more dental hand pieces, and comprising: a removable lid for closing an entrance opening of the chamber, a carrier block having a first surface connected to a surface of the lid, the carrier block being provided with the internal holding stub means, a distribution plate having a first surface connected to a lower side of the lid, and supporting said internal holding stub means, first conduit means to connect said holding stub means to an exterior treatment fluid source to enable a through-flushing of treatment fluid through channels in said hand pieces from the socket end to a tip end of said hand pieces, said first conduit means comprising channels provided in said distribution plate, each channel running from a common central opening outwardly towards a periphery of the distribution plate, and an orifice at an outer end of each channel to establish a back pressure many times higher than the back pressure of the instruments to ensure that the apparatus will function in the same way whether or not instruments are arranged at all holding stubs, each orifice having a substantially smaller dimension than the cross-section of each of the channels, second conduit means to connect a steam generator with said treatment chamber having one or more outlet openings for steam, and outlet valve means which are arranged in said conduits and which connect said holding stub means to the exterior atmosphere so as to enable back-flushing of pressurized steam from said treating chamber from the tip end through the channel to the socket end thereof.