JPH0340262Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to an improvement of a contact type laser female tip used in medical treatments such as dental treatment.

(Prior Art) In general, laser scalpels are widely used in medical applications in which a laser beam is introduced into the interior through a light guide or the like, and the laser beam is irradiated onto a biological diseased tissue or the like to treat the tissue or the like.

Since this laser scalpel irradiates the target area with a laser beam with powerful energy in an extremely short period of time, the tip of the grip of the laser scalpel and the living tissue to be treated are usually in a non-contact state. The treatment was performed by a medical doctor using a laser beam.

However, there is a problem in that it is not possible to feel the affected area during the treatment, making the treatment very difficult.
For this reason, for example, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 190310/1983 discloses a contact type laser medical tip that performs treatment by bringing the affected area into contact with the tip.

(Problem that the invention attempts to solve) However, the conventional contact type laser female chip
It is simply a piece of non-flexible material such as ceramics or quartz glass processed into a conical or cylindrical shape. Therefore, when a laser beam is irradiated from the tip of the chip, the thermal energy of the laser beam causes the laser beam to be concentrated. The tip of the product sometimes melted. Usually, a supply pipe for cooling gas or the like is formed for the purpose of cooling the heat generated due to the loss of light incident efficiency on the light incident surface of the chip.

In addition, it is necessary to appropriately supply a coolant to cool the diseased area that is irradiated with laser light and provided for treatment, but in this case, the above-mentioned coolant supply conduit outside the chip is also used. The coolant must be supplied to the diseased area, etc., so when cooling these areas, medical practitioners have been told that the presence of the coolant supply pipeline obstructs the line of sight and prevents the treatment from proceeding smoothly. Another problem is that only the chip portion facing the pipe is supplied with the coolant intensively, resulting in a small overall cooling effect.
In particular, it is difficult to inject cooling water into elongated cavities and complex-shaped areas such as teeth and their surroundings existing in the human oral cavity due to the above-mentioned structure, which has been a hurdle in treatment using laser light.

Therefore, the present invention has been developed to solve the problems of the conventional laser female chip as described above.
A coolant passage is provided so that the coolant supplied from the main body of the device is supplied through the passage to accurately cool the chip itself or the irradiated area that is irradiated with the laser beam. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a contact type laser female chip.

(Means for solving the problem) The structure of the present invention to achieve the above purpose is as follows:
To explain using FIGS. 1 and 2, which correspond to embodiments, the present invention receives a laser beam emitted from a light guide 20 installed in a device main body 10 such as a handpiece as shown in the figure, and In a contact type laser medical chip that appropriately irradiates the laser beam to the treatment area etc. from the front end, the chip C is made of a cylindrical part 2 and a conical part 1 which is made of a material having flexibility and pliability, for example, as shown in FIG. A coolant passage 5, through which the coolant supplied from the coolant supply pipe 55 on the device main body side passes, extends from the rear end of the chip C to the front end, and is aligned with the central axis of the chip C. It is formed into a shaft shape.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the chip C is formed into a conical shape, and a coolant passage 5 similar to that described above is provided inside the chip C.
and configure it.

(Function) The function of the present invention will be explained with reference to Fig. 1. As shown in the figure, the handpiece body has a laser female tip C, which is made up of a cylindrical part and a conical solid shape connected thereto, removably attached to its tip. A light guide 20 in the main body 10 of the device, for example, a light guide 2 made of an optical fiber.
The laser beam supplied from The coolant is introduced into a chip C having a coolant passage 5 therein extending from the rear end 2 to the front end 1. The laser beam received within this chip C has a large reflection angle due to the tapered surface in the direction of the front end of the chip C, and then advances from the tip of the chip C to a treatment target area such as a living tissue, such as a root canal area of a tooth. etc., but with this irradiation, the device main body 1
Coolant, for example air, from a coolant supply line 55 disposed in the chip C is supplied to the coolant passage 5 disposed in the chip C.
It is supplied to the treatment target area etc. through the chip C and cools the treatment target area etc.

(Example) An example of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

As mentioned above, C in the figure is the laser female chip according to the present invention, which has a conical or cylindrical shape as shown in the figure, and which continuously transmits the laser light supplied from the light guide etc. to the living body without loss. A flexible polymer material that can be used as a transmission medium that can be used as a transmission medium that can be used as a transmission medium that can be used as a transmission medium that can be used as a transmission medium that can be used as a transmission medium that can be used as a transmission medium that can be used as a transmission medium that can be used as a transmission medium that can be used as a transmission medium that can be used as a transmission medium that can be used as a transmission medium that can be used as a transmission medium that can be used as a transmission medium that can be used as a transmission medium that can be used as a transmission medium that can be irradiated with laser light and not deteriorated by laser light. A coolant passage 5 is formed coaxially with the central axis of the chip C from the rear end to the front end, and the front end 1 is connected to a treatment target site in living tissue, for example. It is constructed to have flexibility and pliability with a bending radius of at least 2 to 10 mm so that it can be bent according to the shape and location of the disease.

The chip fixing device 3 shown in the figure is, for example, divided into two parts, with one holder 3b holding the rear end side of the chip, and the other holder 3c being located in front of it and holding the approximately central part of the chip C. The rear end portion 2 of the chip C is held by the fixture 3 which is configured to hold the chip C in an integral manner by fitting and screwing its end into the front end portion of the one holder 3b.
Chip fitting opening 10 located at the tip of head 30 of 0
The light is supplied through the light guide 20 in the main body of the device, such as the hand piece 10 shown in FIG. The laser beam reflected and emitted by the reflector (mirror) 40 in the fixture 30 is introduced into the fixture through the opening 3a, and the laser beam is directly applied from the front end 1 in contact with the treatment area, etc. Alternatively, the front end portion 1 may be appropriately bent for irradiation. At this time, along with the laser beam irradiation, a coolant such as air is supplied from the device main body side such as the hand piece 10 through the coolant pipe line 55 and from the coolant passage 5 of the chip C, either continuously or intermittently depending on the treatment purpose. By supplying water to the tip C and cooling it through the coolant passage 5 provided on the central axis of the tip C, the tip C itself can be uniformly cooled, and the area to be treated, for example, can be cooled by water injection from the outside. The coolant can be easily supplied from the tip of the tip C to root canal sites such as teeth in the human oral cavity where it is difficult to supply air.

Further, another coolant, for example water, may be passed through another coolant pipe 51 and injected from the injection port 52 near the head section 30, or the coolant pipe 55 or the cooling The agent passage 5 may be a cooling water passage.

Therefore, since the coolant passage 5 is provided in the chip C on the central axis of the medical practitioner performing intraoral treatment, the doctor can see the root canal of the tooth without being obstructed in any way. Laser irradiation and coolant supply to small areas such as can be performed accurately in a natural posture, and heat conduction to the local surroundings during intraoral treatment, such as welding and molding of crown metal bodies, etc.
Alternatively, heat conduction to the teeth or periodontal region can be suppressed.

As a result, it is possible to eliminate diseases such as melting of the tip C of the tip C due to the thermal energy of the laser beam and burns of human tissue caused by contact with the heated tip itself, which were observed in conventional treatments.

When the laser chip C according to the present invention is constructed of a heat-resistant polymer material such as synthetic resin by installing the coolant passage 5, the chip C according to the present invention can withstand the thermal load of high-output laser energy. It will be durable enough.

Note that the coolant supply pipe 55 on the device main body 10 side
As shown in the figure, the main body 10 is a tubular space for air cooling that holds a light guide 20 such as an optical fiber.
If a pipe body etc. is arranged inside and installed, the light guide 2
0 can also be used for cooling the main body 1, but another conduit may also be provided.
0 and the light guide 20, and the main body 10.
If the and chip C are sealed, the main body 10 can be directly connected to the main body 10 without having to provide a conduit 55 or the like using the above-mentioned pipe body or the like.
A liquid coolant such as water is fed into the chip C through the coolant passage 5 of the chip C.
Then, it can be supplied to the target part.

Furthermore, the tip C according to the present invention is not limited to the device 10 such as the illustrated contra-type handpiece, but can be applied to various handpiece-type devices such as a straight-type handpiece.

The tip fixing device 3 is not limited to the above-mentioned split type, but may also be of a type that holds the rear end of the tip integrally, for example.

(Effects of the invention) As described above, since the contact type laser medic chip of the invention has a coolant passage on the internal central axis, it can
For example, the coolant can be accurately supplied to the root canal of a tooth with a narrow and complex shape that is irradiated with laser light, and the chip itself can also be cooled uniformly.

Therefore, it is possible to eliminate harmful effects such as burns caused by the tip heated by the laser beam and melting of the tip of the tip, and it is also possible for medical personnel to avoid using the coolant supply pipe installed separately outside the tip as in the past. This eliminates the problem of obstruction of the visual field, making treatment operations easier and making it possible to increase treatment effects that have not been seen before.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing the connection structure between the main body of the apparatus and the laser female chip according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing the configuration of the laser female chip. Explanation of symbols: 5...Coolant passage, 55...Coolant supply pipe line, C...Laser female chip.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] (1) A contact type laser female chip that receives laser light emitted from a light guide and irradiates the laser light from the front end of the light guide to a treatment area, etc., where the laser female chip has a conical shape. 1. A contact type laser female chip, characterized in that the laser female chip has a cylindrical shape or a cylindrical shape, and has a coolant passage formed coaxially with the central axis of the chip from the rear end to the front end. (2) The contact type laser female chip according to claim 1, wherein the laser female chip is made of a polymer material having flexibility and pliability.