84 results about "Dental region" patented technology

A method and system is provided for charting tooth decay to assist in caries management. Specifically, the invention provides a computer system, a Graphical User Interface(GUI), a method, and associated computer code for presenting an interactive tooth chart comprising selectable, anatomically correct tooth icons corresponding to a dental patient's teeth. The invention allows a user to select regions of each individual tooth icon to record the condition of the selected region. According to the invention, a dental patient is selected from a patient data base, the patent's teeth are examined, and the condition of each tooth region is recorded using selectable icons. The invention further provides automatic characterization of dental conditions based on standard values and previously recorded conditions to indicate progression of disease. In an alternative embodiment, the invention provides a recommended course of clinical management based on the information recorded. In another embodiment the invention automatically classifies patients into risk categories and provides suggested x-ray exam intervals. Thus, particular advantages of the current invention include ease of recording dental conditions, more accurate dental charting, and automatic analysis of recorded dental data, advantageously resulting in better patient care and more efficient use of a dental care provider's time.

The present invention comprises an endodontic irrigating system that is capable of using ultrasonic energy for the treatment of a root canal and other dental areas. The system comprises at least one and preferably multiple solution reservoirs. The reservoirs are connected to one or more handpieces, which have at least one fluid outlet. The handpiece has at least one control mechanism disposed upon the handpiece for selective delivery of fluids to the dental. Ultrasonic energy is available within the system to be used in connection with another handpiece or handpieces concurrently with fluid flow to the handpiece, such as flow of irrigating fluids.

An implant comprising an internal bore having an opening at one end of the implant is initially fixed within a patient's mouth. A support post on which a final artificial prosthesis will be mounted is attached to the implant by allowing a portion of the post to extend into and attach within the bore of the implant. The post generally extends supragingivally from a base at or beneath the gum surface and contains a retention bulb to assist in registering the axial orientation of an impression cap and the final prosthesis. The impression cap is then placed over the post to assist in taking an impression of the relevant dental region. The impression cap contains means to allow to the retention bulb to snap onto the impression cap. After the impression material is placed to surround the impression cap, post and implant, the impression material and impression cap are removed. A healing cap is placed on the post and acts as a temporary tooth able to last within the patient's mouth for several months.

A dental tool for retracting gingival tissue is provided that includes a shaft and a working end member, the working end member having an operative end including a first portion sufficiently narrow to retract tissue from a groove of a tooth and a second portion, adjacent the first portion, and being sufficiently wide to retract tissue from an area of the tooth adjacent the groove. A method for retracting gingival tissue is also disclosed.

A personal identification method using a digital image of teeth of a person to be identified including constructing a database by storing teeth images from a plurality of persons and at least one corresponding teeth characteristic element of each person; determining a position of an interline between an upper teeth portion and a lower teeth portion from an inner mouth area that is separated from a teeth image of the person to be identified, and isolating an upper teeth area and a lower teeth area based on the position of the interline; identifying one or more teeth characteristic elements from the upper and lower teeth areas; and searching the database based on the identified one or more teeth characteristic elements and determining identification pass or fail according to a similarity between the teeth image of the person to be identified and a teeth image retrieved from the database.

Intra-oral imaging apparatus and/or method embodiments can provide digital dental reflectance images used to identify selected areas of interest (AOI) within a dental region of interest (ROD having selected image characteristics for both hemo-globin's total concentration and oxygenation level. In one embodiment, reflectance images can determine relative total hemoglobin using at least a wavelength band that includes an isobestic wavelength for absorption coefficients of oxyhemoglobin (HbO₂) and deoxyhemoglobin (Hb). In one embodiment, intra-oral imaging apparatus and/or method embodiments can use reflectance images of a dental region at least at three wavelengths; a control logic processor for processing the reflectance images to determine relative tHb and its relative oxygenation level and/or identify disease areas having periodontal tissues condition; and a display for displaying periodontal tissues or a visual indication of the areas having selected imaging characteristic determined by the reflectance images.

An airflow intrusive nasal relief and snoring stopping device is applied in an oral cavity. The oral cavity includes an oral opening, an upper tooth, a tongue, a palate and a uvula. The nasal relief and snoring stopping device includes a tooth accommodating member accommodating the upper tooth, and an airflow intrusive member between the uvula and the oral opening The tooth accommodating member includes a left tooth region and a right tooth region that are symmetrical. The airflow intrusive member connects the left tooth region and the right tooth region, and extends from the tooth accommodating member towards the palate. With the airflow intrusive member intruding the airflow inhaled through oral opening, soft tissues in the oral cavity are prevented from the effect of the airflow and hence from vibrations that may cause snoring, thereby improving symptoms of nose congestion and allergies.

A kit for bonding to biological hard tissues, containing a phosphorylated polysaccharide, a polyvalent metal salt other than phosphates, and a solvent. The adhesive composition for biological hard tissues provided by the kit for bonding to biological hard tissues is suitably used in for medical uses, such as cement for bones or dental cement. In addition, since the adhesive composition has excellent bio-absorbability, it is useful as fusion materials for artificial joint prosthesis, fusion materials for spine fracture, fusion materials for extremity fracture, filling materials for bone tumors in the region of orthopedics, filling materials and restorative materials at dental caries-defective sites, luting materials for prosthetic restorative materials such as inlay and crown, pulp-capping and lining materials, implant surface treatment materials, periodontal disease therapeutic materials, hyperesthesia preventive materials, dental pulp capping materials, substrates for DDS, substrates for systems engineering, and tissue bonding materials in the dental region.

Method and/or apparatus embodiments for automatically identifying caries, executed at least in part on data processing hardware, can acquire, multiple reflectance images of a tooth, wherein each reflectance image includes at least red, green, and blue intensity values for a region of pixels corresponding to the tooth. Each reflectance image in the plurality of reflectance images is processed by (i) defining a tooth region within the reflectance image; and (ii) identifying caries within the defined tooth region for each reflectance image. The reflectance images are registered and the registered processed images are combined to form a result image that shows the identified caries. In one embodiment, multiple reflectance images of a tooth are taken from substantially the same camera position.