Method of dental tissue injection using an array of micro-needles

Abstract

Methods for injecting a local anesthetic into dental tissues, such as tough, dense ligamentary tissue adjacent to a patient's tooth. According to one embodiment, the method involves puncturing a patient's gingival tissue adjacent a selected tooth with an array of micro-needles having a length so that the micro-needles penetrate into ligamentary tissue adjacent to the tooth. A local anesthetic is then injected through the micro-needles so as to deliver the local anesthetic to the tissue surrounding the tooth. The micro-needles may be short to limit penetration through tissue and of narrow diameter to minimize pain and discomfort to the patient.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit of the following: U.S. Provisional Application No. 61 / 035,977, filed Mar. 12, 2008, and entitled “METHOD OF DENTAL INTRALIGAMENTARY INJECTION USING AN ARRAY OF MICRO-NEEDLES” and U.S. Provisional Application No. 61 / 035,967, filed Mar. 12, 2008, and entitled “DENTAL INTRALIGAMENTARY INJECTION NEEDLES AND RELATED METHODS OF MANUFACTURE”. The disclosures of the foregoing applications are incorporated herein in their entirety.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. The Field of the Invention[0003]The present invention relates to methods for injecting a local anesthetic into the body of a patient for local infiltration, particularly for injecting a local anesthetic into dental tissues, such as the gums and / or tough, dense ligamentary tissue surrounding a tooth or teeth prior to work by a dental practitioner (e.g., extraction of a tooth, cleaning of a root canal, or other oral procedure).[0004]2. The Related Tech...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010]According to one embodiment, each micro-needle may advantageously be relatively short in length (e.g., less than about 10 mm, preferably less than about 3 mm, more preferably less than about 2 mm). Such a short length limits the depth of penetration of the micro-needles into the tissue. Because each micro-needle can be relatively short, and the maximum outside diameter of each micro-needle can be very small (e.g., between about 30 to 60 gauge, preferably between about 34 to 45 gauge), pain and discomfort to the patient is minimized during injection of the local anesthetic. Moreover, the success rate of providing anesthesia is greatly increased as the local anesthetic can be easily injected in a diffuse manner without special training.

[0011]The relatively short length of the micro-needles is also advantageous as it prevents individual micro-needles from bending or buckling tends to result when using significantly longer micro-needles, particularly those with very small diameters. Such an advantage is particularly pronounced when employing embodiments of micro-needles in which the micro-needle length is no more than about 3 mm, more preferably no more than about 2 mm.

[0012]The use of a plurality of micro-needles provides for more diffuse injection over a wider area as compared to injection using a single needle. For example, when using a single needle, it may be necessary to perform multiple injections in a general area to be anesthetized. In contrast, a local anesthetic can be injected in one step using a plurality of spaced-apart (e.g., an array) of micro-needles that work together to provide local anesthesia over a relatively wide area. Also, the local anesthetic can be delivered at higher rates as compared to the use of a single small needle, as the use of multiple micro-needles can deliver the drug in parallel at multiple points underneath the tissue surface, thereby significantly increasing the rate of delivery.

Problems solved by technology

Such a short length limits the depth of penetration of the micro-needles into the tissue.

Images