Cooling apparatus for dental anesthetization

Claim 1

IN APPARATUS FOR ANESTHETIZING TEETH AND ADJACENT TISSUES BY THE APPLICATION OF COLD; A DENTAL APPLICATOR COMPRISING A PAIR OF FINGERS EXTENDING FROM A CROSSOVER, ONE OF SIDE FINGERS BEING SHAPED TO FIT INSIDE THE MOUTH AND AGAINST THE BUCCAL GINGIVAL SUFACE ASSOCIATED WITH A ROW OF TEETH IN HEAT-TRANSFERRING RELATIONSHIP FOR A DISTANCE OF AT LEAST FOUR TEETH, THE OTHER OF SAID FINGERS BEING SHAPED TO FIT AGAINST THE CORRESPONDING LINGUAL GINGIVAL SURFACE IN HEAT-TRANSFERRING RELATIONSHIP, SAID CROSSOVER BEING SHAPED TO CROSS OVER THE ROW AND TEETH; SAID APPLICATOR HAVING A FLUID INLET AND FLUID OUTLET CONNECTED TO ITS BUCCAL SIDE, AND SAID FINGERS AND SAID CROSSOVER HAVING AT LEAST ONE DUCT IN FLUID COMMUNICATION THEREWITH SUCH THAT FLUID ENTERING SAID FLUID INLET CAN FLOW LONGITUDINALLY OF EACH OF SAID FINGERS AND RETURN TO SAID OUTLET; SAID APPLICATOR BEING SUFFICIENTLY FLEXIBLE TO BE CONFORTABLE TO BOTH SAID BUCCAL AND LINGUAL GINGIVAL SURFACES FOR AT LEAST SAID DISTANCE, THEREBY TO PERMIT SUFFICIENT HEAT TRANSFER BETWEEN SAID APPLICATOR AND SAID GINGIVAL SURFACES FOR DENTAL ANESTHETIZATION; AND SAID APPLICATOR BEING SUFFICIENTLY RIGID AT ANESTHETIZATION TEMPERATURES TO RETAIN ITS SHAPE AND REMAIN CONFORMED TO SAID GINGIVAL SURFACES IN HEAT-TRANSFERRING RELATIONSHIP AFTER BEING CONFORMED THERETO.