ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 26 -- United States Patent no. 12,257,120, issued on March 25, was assigned to Dentsply Sirona Inc. (York, Pa.).
"Multi port irrigation needle" was invented by Vincent W. Shotton (Broken Arrow, Okla.) and Kevin L. Wilkinson (Bixby, Okla.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A needle comprising a luer lock connection, an internal fluid delivery conduit, exit ports and an outer profile shaped to match a geometry created by a previous canal shaping instrument. A shape of the needle and features of the exit ports are configured to maximize the amount of shear wall stress and debridement created along the wall of a root canal to be irrigated."
The patent was filed on May 31, 2019...