Intraoral dental products with reduced infection risk

The project aims to reduce cross infection by developing a range of dental products which are
low enough in cost to allow dentists to destroy them at the end of each patient’s treatment
session.
This range includes single-use, disposable versions of …
…The usually large and heavy dental safety syringe for administering local anaesthetic from
cartridges; and
…a new matrix band containing the flexible stainless steel band for confining filling material
around the teeth; and
…A high velocity version of our existing Pro-Tip nozzles for administering compressed air
and water to clean debris out of cavities.
By introducing a range of disposable products we hope to make this the norm, so reducing the
real risk cross infection occurring when dentists place fillings, as well as allowing dentists to
promote their practice by assuring patients that they are not going to pick up an infection.
All the products are based around the advantage which a disposable product has, in that it
does not have to withstand repeated sterilization. Thus whereas a reusable product has to be
made of metal, a disposable one can be made of low-cost materials such as injection moulded
plastics. In fact, the research and design work we have done already, has shown that the use of
plastics allows novel solutions to the problems which these products have to solve, which may
actually improve performance when compared to a metal product.
Thus for example, our design for the syringe, although it is low cost, and disposable, has a
safety sleeve which the dentist can temporarily lock in position to protect the needle between
injections, but can then permanently lock it when treatment is finished and the syringe needs
to be disposed of. Our design for the matrix band has a unique arrangement for switching
between the upper/lower and left/right hand sides of the mouth. Lastly, we think that the can
improve the air velocity from the new pro-tip by correct design of parts of the plastic nozzle.