US2010281A - Dental x-ray film support - Google Patents

Description

Aug. .6, 1935. 1-1., VAN VALKENBURG 8 DENTAL X-RAY FILM SUPPORT Filed Jan. 11, 1934 INVENTOR Horace Van l/a/lemwy Patented Aug. 6, 1935 ;;UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE' Horace Van Valkenburg, Cleveland Heights, Ohio Application January 11, 1934, Serial No. 706,304

3 Claims.

This invention relates to dental X-ray film supports and particularly to that type of support which is fitted or provided with a portion to be gripped between the jaws of the patient for the purpose of firmly and immovably supportinga film package in place within the mouth cavity and behind the teeth during exposure to X-rays.

Films for dental X-ray work are commonly marketed in packet form, such as illustrated and described in Letters Patent No. 1,293,323, granted February 4, 1919 and No. 1,582,730, granted April 27, 1926 to Arthur A. Buck, the

packet consisting of one or more usually oblong rectangular films, superposed upon each other if duplicates are used, and enclosed in a wrapper or cover so that the packet as a whole is moisture proof and of rectangular wafer-like form. Such packets are frequently placed in position within the mouth cavity behind the teeth and are held by the pressure of the finger or thumb of the patient while the exposure is made. Again, such film packets are sometimes provided with the socalled bite wing, as described in Letters Patent No. 1,467,876, granted September 11, 1923 'to Howard R. Raper, but the last named bite wing packet, due to its special construction, is relatively expensive as compared with the standard simple wafer like'package free of bite wing at- I tachinents.

The present invention has for its object to provide an improved holder or support for such film packets capable of use with standard wafer-like film packages free of bite wing attachments, and of such form as to enable the same support or 'holderftobeused. overand over again with successive standard film packets, thereby taking advantage of the lower cost of the standard packet and avoiding extra charge and expense for bite wing attachments, but nevertheless with all of -the usual advantages of bite wing anchorage in the mouth. I

A further object of the invention is to provide a holder or support capable of repeated use and including a shield or guard opaque to X-rays and adapted to shield or protect, for example, one half of the film packet under exposure, as a result of which separate exposures can be made, first of the upper and then of the lower teeth, with more accurate representations or delineations thereof, as will more fully appear hereafter.

A further object of the invention is to provide a support or holder of the kind described, which is reinforced against loss of shape and for the purpose of increasing its durability, which is readily sterilized, and which enables accurate photographic impressions to be produced.

Further objects of the invention are in part obvious and in part will appear more in detail hereinafter. 1

In the drawing, Fig. 1 represents a perspective view of one form of holder embodying the invention; Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation on substantially the: line 2-2, Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a similar view, showing a modification, and illustrating the film packet in place; Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view of one form of the metal shield; Fig. 5 is a detail elevation from the right in Fig. 3; Fig. 6 is a similar view showing another form and shape of holder; and Fig. 7 is a sectional plan view on approximately the line 1-7, Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawing, the film packet is generally indicated at I. It may be any form of standard film packet, such, for example, as those illustrated and described in the patents to Buck hereinbefore referred to, including not only one or two superposed layers of film, but also the wrappers therefor, which may be either or both of paper, metal or the like. One face of the packet cover may include a layer of material opaque to X-rays, such as thin sheet lead, if desired. The details of the standard film packet form no part of the present invention and such packet is therefore illustrated more or less conventionally.

The-holder or support which constitutes my invention is generally marked 2. It comprises a body portion 3 of relatively thin or flat pouch-like form with a central cavity 4 opening through a mouth along one edge of the pouch and designed to receive or accept a portion of the standard film packet l, and more particularly approximately one-half of such film packet. These film packets, as before stated, are usually oblong, and as illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6, two supports or holders will usually be provided, one which is relatively long and narrow, as illustrated in Fig. 5, designed to receive the film packet with its longer dimension horizontal, and another, illustrated in Fig. 6, shaped and fitted to receive the film packet with its longer axis vertical. Otherwise, the holders shown in Figs. 5 and 6 may be of identical form.

The pouch-like body portion 3 may be made of any suitable material which exerts no harmful effect upon the mouth tissues or the teeth, which is agreeable to hold in the mouth and, of course, is tasteless, and which preferably is not damaged by use and may be sterilized and therefore used repeatedly. One suitable material for the purpose is rubber or some other slightly flexible but nevertheless fairly strong material. Bakelite or other phenolic condensation products may be used, but rubber or other materials are suitable for the purpose. ttached to the pouch and preferably extending along one of the lips or edges 5 of its mouth, is a bite wing member 6, which may be of a width substantially equal to the full length of the pouch mouth, but which is shown as narrower, in Figs. 5 and 6. This bite wing is adapted to be received and gripped or held between the teeth of the patient and should preferably be of a material which is slightly yielding or flexible, such as rubber, but with sufficient rigidity and resiliency to maintain its general shape and with sufficient strength to enable it to be pulled out when the holder is in place in the mouth so as to adjust the pouch and the film packet contained therein into close juxtaposition with the inner surfaces of the teeth. The wing, for example, may be made of rubber and be integral with the rubber of the pouch portion, although this is not essential. To strengthen the parts and prevent deformation, suitable reinforcement may be provided, such as a rolled or beaded portion l of the rubber extending around the lip of the pouch mouth, and, if desired, a stiff spring wire member 8 may be molded into the rubber, such wire extending in loop form clear around the pouch mouth and having its end portions bent to form arms 3a which are imbedded within the material of the wing. This metal reinforcement tends to hold the lips of the mouth close to each other and to avoid undesired bending or buckling of the film packet when in place, but nevertheless aids in conforming it to the teeth.

As stated, the pouch portion of the body is of a shape corresponding with approximately onehalf of the standard film packet with which it is to be used, so that only one-half of the packet and the films therein are within the pouch when in use. One purpose of this arrangement is to enable either the upper teeth alone or the lower teeth alone to be separately exposed, for which purpose the pouchlike body portion may be provided with a shield or guard opaque to X-rays. Such shield or guard may be made of any suitable material, such as thin sheet lead. For example, sheet lead may be bent or formed into substantially the shape shown in Fig. 4, by bending over its side edges, as at 9, and its lower edge as at iii, to form a skeleton metal pouch open on one side with narrow flanges around its edges. The rubber to form the pouch 3 may be molded upon or applied to the back or outer surface of the guard H, so that in the finished holder, as shown in Fig. 2, the lead guard forms the inner surface of that wall of the pouch to which the wing S is attached. Eowever, the shield opaque to X-rays may be made and formed as a part of the pouch in any desired manner. In Fig. 3, for example, the shield i2 is a simple rectangular sheet of thin lead molded within the wall of the pouch itself. The

only diiference between the guards I! and I2 is that the former is provided with the narrow flanges 9, l extending around the bends of the pouch and to some extent reinforcing them. In either case, when the holder is provided with a shield or guard such as described, and is laid in place in the mouth with the film packet inside the mouth cavity and behind the teeth and the bite wing clamped between the teeth, exposure to X-rays will cause an imprint or shadow of the teeth only upon that portion of the film which is not covered by the shield or guard. In the position shown in Fig. 3 the exposure will therefore be of the upper teeth, and if the holder is turned upside down with its pouch mouth at the bottom, the exposure will be of the lower teeth. As a consequence, it is possible for the operator to locate the target of his X-ray tube horizontally opposite the mid point of the teeth to be exposed, or somewhere along the dotted line A, Fig, 3, which considerably reduces distortion by divergence of the rays over the distortion when the X-ray tube target is in the plane of the bite of the teeth, as will be readily understood. More faithful shadow photographs are therefore produced.

Of course, it will be understood that the holder shown in Fig. 6 is usually used for the anterior teeth while that inFig. is used for posterior teeth, although they are not restricted to such use.

The holder described, after use, can be very readily sterilized in boiling water and is therefore capable of repeated use. Each photograph taken bears two separate exposures, one of the lower teeth and one o-i upper teeth, separated by nothing more than the shadow of the reinforcing wire 3 unless even it happens to be shielded from producing a shadow upon the film by the shield RE.

What I claim is:

l. A support or holder for standard dental X--ray film packets, comprising a pouch member shaped to removably receive a standard film packet, and a bite wing connected to said member, one of the walls of said member being provided with a shield or guard opaque to X-rays.

2. A support or holder for standard dental X-ray film packets, comprising a pouch member shaped to removably receive a standard film packet, and a bite wing connected to said member, that wall of the member to which the bite wing is connected being provided with a layer of material opaque to X-rays.

3. A holder or support for standard X-ray film packets for dental use, comprising a pouchlike body member shaped to remcvably receive substantially one-half of a standard wafer form film packet and provided with a bite wing extending outwardly from the edge of its mouth, that wall of the pouch to which the bite wing is connected being provided with a shield member opaque to X-rays.

HORACE VAN VALKENBURG.

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