Titanium Dental Drill Tip Grooves for Better Bone Cutting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Dental drills made from titanium or titanium alloys face challenges in achieving adequate cutting ability to efficiently drill into bone due to the softer nature of these materials, as they cannot be hardened or ground like stainless steel drills.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates a flute portion with multiple flutes and lands, a central solid web, and a drill point with radially inwardly tapering flanks and cutting edges, featuring grooves that 'cut off' the distal ends of the flanks to prevent dead metal and enhance cutting efficiency, allowing the drill to effectively penetrate bone.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If dental drills are made from titanium or titanium alloys, then corrosion resistance and biocompatibility are improved, but cutting ability to drill into bone deteriorates due to softer material properties
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the geometric parameters of the drill point by forming grooves in the web that extend radially inwardly, creating sharp edges and removing dead metal. This modifies the physical structure of the cutting point to compensate for the softer titanium material, enabling adequate cutting ability while maintaining the material's inherent corrosion resistance and biocompatibility
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by creating grooves only in specific regions of the web at the drill point, rather than modifying the entire drill structure. This localized modification creates sharp cutting edges where needed while preserving the overall structural integrity and material properties of the titanium drill body
2Adaptability or versatility
If titanium or titanium alloy is used instead of stainless steel, then anodization for color coding and laser marking become possible, but the ability to grind and harden the material is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent compensates for the inability to harden and grind titanium by changing the geometric parameters of the cutting point through groove formation. This creates sharp edges through subtractive geometry rather than material hardening, adapting the manufacturing approach to suit titanium's properties while enabling the desired color coding and marking capabilities
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the problematic dead metal from the drill point by forming grooves that remove material extending to or near the central axis. This eliminates the non-cutting portion that would otherwise hinder performance, creating a optimized geometry suitable for titanium that cannot be achieved through traditional hardening and grinding processes
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to a dental drill (10) formed of titanium or a titanium alloy having a hardness greater than pure titanium, said drill extending along a central axis (A) from a proximal end (14) to a distal end (16). The drill comprises a shank (12) arranged in a proximal end region of the drill (10) and extending along the central axis (A), a flute portion (20) arranged distally to and running coaxially with the shank (12), said flute portion (20) comprising two or more flutes (22a, 22b, 22c) extending along the flute portion (20) and being interposed by lands (24a, 24b, 24c), the flute portion further comprising a central solid web and a drill tip (26) directly adjoining the distal end (28) of the flute portion (20) and comprising two or more flanks (25a, 25b, 25c) which taper radially inwardly from the distal end of each land in the distal direction toward the central axis (A), each flank (25a, 25b, 25c) comprising a cutting edge (30a, 30b, 30c). According to the invention, at the distal end of the drill point (26) at least one groove (32, 33a, 33c) is formed in the web such that the distal most end (36a, 36b, 37b, 37c) of at least one of the flanks (25a, 25b, 25c) is located radially remote from the central axis (A).