Patent ID: 7371066

Claim:
An illumination assembly for an intraoral dental examination instrument, said illumination assembly comprising: a compact housing having an interior that retains at least one LED; a heat sick disposed in the interior of said housing; an electrical contact at a proximal end of said housing, to enable electrical coupling of said at least one retained LED with a power supply of said examination instrument; at least one circuit board disposed in said interior of said housing in relation to said at least one retained LED; and a protective reflector cap attached to a distal end of said housing, said reflector cap having a through opening and further including an interior surface that surrounds a lens envelope of said at least one LED so as to focus light from said at least one LED onto an attached transmissive mirror and protects said at least one LED from damage, said interior surface tapering inwardly from a first diameter adjacent said at least one LED to a second diameter at said through opening, said second diameter being smaller than said first diameter, said illumination assembly being entirely contained within said compact housing, wherein said housing is solely and selectively insertable into and removable from the interior of said examination instrument without having to remove any other components from the interior of said instrument, wherein said at least one circuit board includes an opening for receiving a projecting portion of said heat sink.