Dental appliance and method for removing bodily and other fluids from a dental site
View Patent ↗According to a present invention embodiment, a dental appliance maintains a patient mouth in an open state, retracts tissue, and evacuates bodily and/or other fluids from a dental site. The dental appliance includes an elongated tube configured with a looped section. The elongated tube is flexible, where the looped section is adjustable and manipulated to enable the dental appliance to accommodate mouths of various dental patients. Further, the looped section is resilient in order to maintain the patient mouth in an open state for dental procedures. In addition, the elongated tube includes perforations to remove bodily or other fluids from the patient mouth. A vacuum or suction device is coupled to an end of the elongated tube, where suction is applied to the tube to draw bodily or other fluids from the patient mouth through the perforations and remove these fluids from a dental site.
1. A device to remove fluid from a dental site comprising:
an elongated tube including:
open proximal and distal ends with a channel defined within said elongated tube and extending between said open proximal and distal ends;
a looped section with openings defined therein to draw said fluid from said dental site into said channel via suction from a suction system, wherein a distal portion of said tube includes a plurality of apertures defined therein and a proximal portion of said tube is disposed through said apertures and blocks said channel to form said looped section, and wherein said proximal portion is slidably disposed through said apertures to adjust said looped section to accommodate various dental sites; and
a connector section formed by said proximal portion of said tube extending beyond said plurality of apertures of said distal portion to couple said looped section to said suction system.
2. The device of claim 1 , wherein said looped section includes a resilience sufficient to bias a jaw of a dental patient to an open state.
3. The device of claim 2 , wherein said resilience is capable of being overcome by said dental patient to close said jaw.
4. The device of claim 1 , wherein said openings are defined in said looped section in a pattern.
5. The device of claim 1 , wherein said openings comprise uniformly spaced openings along said looped section of said tube.
6. The device of claim 5 , wherein said uniformly spaced openings along said tube are spaced azimuthally to form a spiral pattern.
7. The device of claim 1 , wherein said openings have a diameter between ten and forty mils.
8. A method of removing fluid from a dental site via a device including an elongated tube with open proximal and distal ends, with a channel defined within said elongated tube and extending between said open proximal and distal ends, and a connector section and a looped section comprising:
(a) manipulating said looped section to conform to a curvature of a patient mouth, wherein said looped section includes openings defined therein, wherein a distal portion of said tube includes a plurality of apertures defined therein and a proximal portion of said tube is disposed through said apertures and blocks said channel to form said looped section, and wherein said proximal portion is slidably disposed through said apertures to adjust said looped section to accommodate various dental sites, wherein said connector section is formed by said proximal portion of said tube extending beyond said plurality of apertures of said distal portion to couple said looped section to a suction system, and;
(b) placing said manipulated looped section into said patient mouth; and
(c) drawing said fluid from said patient mouth through said openings and into said channel of said looped section via suction from said suction system to remove said fluid from said dental site.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein said looped section has a size and is adjustable, and step (a) further includes:
(a.1) adjusting said size of said looped section to accommodate said patient mouth.
10. The method of claim 8 , wherein step (b) further includes:
(b.1) retracting oral tissue to enable visibility of said dental site.
11. The method of claim 8 , wherein step (b) further includes:
(b.1) biasing said patient mouth in an open state via resilience of said looped section.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein step (b) further includes:
(b.2) flexing said looped section in response to overcoming said bias to enable said jaw to close.
13. The method of claim 8 , wherein said openings are defined in said looped section in a pattern.
14. The method of claim 8 , wherein step (a) further includes:
(a.1) coupling said connector section to a suction system.
15. The method of claim 8 , wherein step (b) further includes:
(b.3) placing a portion of said manipulated looped section within upper and lower labial vestibules of said patient mouth.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein step (b.1) further includes:
(b.3.1) retracting lips to enable visibility of said dental site.
17. The method of claim 8 , wherein said openings comprise uniformly spaced openings along said looped section of said tube.
18. The method of claim 17 , wherein said uniformly spaced openings along said tube are spaced azimuthally to form a spiral pattern.
19. The method of claim 8 , wherein said openings have a diameter between ten and forty mils.