Public Funding for Astek Innovations Limited

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.