DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see “I. Amendments to Specification” and “II. Objection to the Drawings”, filed 04/06/2026, with respect to the “drawings” and “Specification” of the current application, have been fully considered and are persuasive. In light of the new amendments, the objection of the drawings has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see “III. Rejections Under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b)”, filed 04/06/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1-7 under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) have been fully considered and are persuasive. In light of the new amendments, the rejections Under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b) of claim(s) 1-7 has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see “IV. Rejections Under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(1)”, filed 04/06/2026, with respect to the rejection(s) of claim(s) 1 and 3 under 35 U.S.C. § 102(a)(1) have been fully considered and are persuasive. Therefore, the rejection has been withdrawn. However, upon further consideration, a new ground(s) of rejection is made in view of amendments to claim 1 filed 04/06/2026. The amendments of claim 1 necessitates new grounds of rejection with the introduction of new prior arts than were previously cited in the last Office Action mailed on 12/04/2025. Amended claim 1 includes claim limitations that changes the scope of the claim than previously presented in the claim filed 03/19/2024, thus necessitating a new search. Regarding claim 3, claim 3 is dependent on the amended claim 1 and thus incorporates all the limitations of the newly amended claim 1, therefore, encompassing new scopes than were previously considered.
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-7 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Regarding the amended claim 7, the amendments of claim 7 necessitates new grounds of rejection with the introduction of new prior arts than were previously cited in the last Office Action mailed on 12/04/2025. Amended claim 1 includes claim limitations that changes the scope of the claim than previously presented in the claim filed 03/19/2024, thus necessitating a new search.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jefferies et al. (US 5369916 A).
Regarding claim 1, Jefferies et al. discloses a dental polishing instrument (Fig. 3) comprising:
a plurality of whetstone layers (25 and 18 Fig. 3) including a first whetstone layer (18 Fig. 3) and a second whetstone layer (25 Fig. 3), wherein the first whetstone layer (18 (polishing element) Fig. 3) is stacked on the second whetstone layer (25 (finishing disc) Fig. 3) (Col. 5 lines 28-31: …a polishing element 18 in the form of a disc is attached to finishing disc 25 by means of pressure sensitive adhesive 26… Those skilled in the art would understand that attachment of element 18 to element 25 would result in element 18 being stacked on element 25; see Fig. 3 ), and
both the first whetstone layer and the second whetstone layer includes abrasive and a binder (Col. 2 lines 28-35: a method for polishing and finishing a resin including shaping the resin using an abrasive implement having an elastomeric polymer (a binder as interpreted by the examiner) impregnated by an abrasive of a mean particle size of about 300-0.025 microns and polishing the resin using a polishing element formed from felt, suede or other natural/synthetic fiber (binder for the polishing element as interpreted by the examiner) having a nap sufficient to hold and carry abrasive particles... Col. 2 lines 62-66: In an alternative embodiment of the polishing element (18 Fig. 3), the polishing element will be made of an elastomeric polymer (a binder as interpreted by the examiner) of the kind used to make a finishing implement (25 Fig. 3) and will have fine abrasive particles embedded therein.), and the first and second whetstone layers are manually separable from each other (Col. 5 lines 28-31: elements 25 and 18 are attached by a means of pressure adhesive.).
Jefferies et al. is silent regarding the dental polishing instrument, wherein the first and second whetstone layers are manually separable from each other.
Jefferies et al. further discloses an alternative embodiment of the dental polishing instrument (Fig. 8) comprising a plurality of whetstone layers (42 and 44 Fig. 8) including a first whetstone layer (42 Fig. 8) and a second whetstone layer (44 Fig. 8), wherein the first whetstone layer (42 (finishing element) Fig. 8) is stacked on the second whetstone layer (44 (polishing element) Fig. 8)). Regarding claim 1, Jefferies et al. further discloses the alternative embodiment of the dental polishing instrument (Fig. 8), wherein the first (42 Fig. 8) and second (44 Fig. 8) whetstone layers are manually separable from each other (Col. 7 lines 7-10: …if only light finishing is required, the practitioner may remove finishing implement 42 from the device to continue with the polishing procedure (i.e. to continue with element 44 which is the polishing element that would be used in the polishing procedure)).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the first embodiment of the device of Jefferies et al. to be configured such that the first and second whetstone layers are manually separable from each other, as taught by the alternate embodiment of the device of Jefferies et al., in order to provide the practitioner the option to remove the finishing implement if only light finishing is required thus, preventing the need for separate finishing or polishing implements.
Regarding claim 2, Jefferies et al. as modified by Jefferies et al. discloses the claimed invention substantially as set forth in claim 1. Jefferies et al. further disclose the dental polishing instrument (Fig. 3), wherein the binder of at least one whetstone layer of the first and second whetstone layers includes an elastomer material (Col. 2 lines 62-66: In an alternative embodiment of the polishing element (18 Fig. 3), the polishing element will be made of an elastomeric polymer (a binder as interpreted by the examiner) of the kind used to make a finishing implement (25 Fig. 3) and will have fine abrasive particles embedded therein.).
Regarding claim 5, Jefferies et al. as modified by Jefferies et al. discloses the claimed invention substantially as set forth in claim 1. Jefferies further discloses the dental polishing instrument (Fig. 3), wherein two adjacent whetstone layers (see that when elements 18 and 25 are attached by the means of pressure sensitive adhesive (26), they would be two adjacent whetstone layers (see Fig. 3)), among the plurality of whetstone layers (18/25 Fig. 3) are held together (elements 18 and 25 can be attached to each other. Col. 5 lines 28-31). Jefferies et al. is silent regarding the disclosed embodiment of the dental polishing instrument (Fig. 3), wherein the adjacent whetstone layers are held together by a physical fitting.
However, Jefferies et al. further discloses another embodiment of the dental polishing instrument (Fig. 7) comprising two adjacent layers (38/37 and the flat end of element 11 that engages element 38/37) which are held together by a physical fitting (40 Fig. 7) (Col. 6 lines 53-58: finishing or polishing element 37 may be made with a snap on ring 38 integrally connected therewith which can be used to attach the polishing element to a conventional mandrel 11 which has a snap attachment 40 used to hold prior art finishing implements and polishing elements).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the first embodiment of the dental polishing instrument (Fig. 3) disclosed by Jefferies et al. to be configured such that the adjacent whetstone layers are held together by a physical fitting, as taught by the second embodiment of the dental polishing instrument (Fig. 7), in order to create a dental polishing instrument that provide layers that can be easily substituted by snapping on or snapping off the layers.
Regarding claim 6, Jefferies et al. as modified by Jefferies et al. discloses the claimed invention substantially as set forth in claim 1. Jefferies et al. further disclose the dental polishing instrument (Fig. 3), wherein two adjacent whetstone layers (elements 25 and 18; Col. 5 lines 28-31), among the plurality of whetstone layers (elements 25 and 18; Col. 5 lines 28-31), are held together by an adhesive layer (26 Fig. 3) disposed between the two adjacent whetstone layers (see Fig. 3; Col. 5 lines 28-31).
Regarding claim 7, Jefferies et al. further disclose the dental polishing instrument (Fig. 3), comprising:
a plurality of whetstone layers (25 and 18 Fig. 3) including a first whetstone layer (18 Fig. 3) and a second whetstone layer (25 Fig. 3),
wherein the first whetstone layer (18 (polishing element) Fig. 3) is stacked on the second whetstone layer (25 (finishing disc) Fig. 3) (Col. 5 lines 28-31: …a polishing element 18 in the form of a disc is attached to finishing disc 25 by means of pressure sensitive adhesive 26… Those skilled in the art would understand that attachment of element 18 to element 25 would result in element 18 being stacked on element 25; see Fig. 3 ),
both the first whetstone layer and the second whetstone layer includes abrasive and a binder (Col. 2 lines 28-35: a method for polishing and finishing a resin including shaping the resin using an abrasive implement having an elastomeric polymer (a binder as interpreted by the examiner) impregnated by an abrasive of a mean particle size of about 300-0.025 microns and polishing the resin using a polishing element formed from felt, suede or other natural/synthetic fiber (binder for the polishing element as interpreted by the examiner) having a nap sufficient to hold and carry abrasive particles... Col. 2 lines 62-66: In an alternative embodiment of the polishing element (18 Fig. 3), the polishing element will be made of an elastomeric polymer (a binder as interpreted by the examiner) of the kind used to make a finishing implement (25 Fig. 3) and will have fine abrasive particles embedded therein.), and the first and second whetstone layers are separable from each other (Col. 5 lines 28-31: elements 25 and 18 are attached by a means of pressure adhesive. Those skilled in the art would understand that layers attached by a means of pressure adhesive would be separable from each other), and
wherein two adjacent whetstone layers (elements 25 and 18; Col. 5 lines 28-31), among the plurality of whetstone layers (elements 25 and 18; Col. 5 lines 28-31), are held together, with a separation agent layer (the layer comprising element 26 Fig. 3) disposed between the two adjacent whetstone layers (see Fig. 3; Col. 5 lines 28-31), the separation agent layer having a separation agent (pressure sensitive adhesive; Col. 5 lines 28-31) configured to facilitate a separation of the two adjacent whetstone layers from each other (Col. 5 lines 28-31: elements 25 and 18 are attached by a means of pressure adhesive. Those skilled in the art would understand that layers attached by a means of pressure sensitive adhesive would be separable from each other since pressure sensitive adhesives are generally configured to facilitate separation of held object when desired).
Claim(s) 3 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jefferies et al. (US 5369916 A) in view of Watson et al. (WO 2019034861 A1).
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Jefferies et al. as modified by Jefferies et al. discloses the claimed invention substantially as set forth in claim 1. Jefferies et al. further discloses that the dental polishing instrument may be in the form of a cone or a cylinder (Col. 4 lines 12-15). Jefferies et al. further discloses that the dental polishing instrument (Fig. 3) has a rotational axis (see the annotated Fig. 3). Regarding claim 3, Jefferies et al. is silent regarding the dental polishing instrument, wherein the first whetstone layer is stacked along an outer circumference of the second whetstone layer from a center of the rotational axis.
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Watson et al. teaches an analogous device (Fig. 1) comprising a first whetstone layer (12 Fig. 1) and a second whetstone layer (14 Fig. 1), wherein the first whetstone layer is stacked on the second whetstone layer (see Fig. 1), and the first whetstone layer and the second whetstone layer includes abrasive grains (bioactive glass particles; page 6 lines 30-32) and a binder (polymer; page 6 lines 30-32). Regarding claim 3, Watson et al. further teaches analogous device (Fig. 1), wherein the first whetstone layer is stacked along an outer circumference of the second whetstone layer from a center of the rotational axis (see annotated Fig. 1).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the dental device of Jefferies et al. to be configured such that the first whetstone layer is stacked along an outer circumference of the second whetstone layer from a center of the rotational axis, as taught by Watson et al., in order to make a dental polishing instrument with two whetstone layers with distinct abrasive characteristics in other to provide both excavatory and polishing functions when in use.
Claim(s) 4 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jefferies et al. (US 5369916 A) in view of Watson et al. (WO 2019034861 A1) and further in view of Ikushima et al. (US 7144253 B3).
Jefferies et al. as modified by Jefferies et al. and Watson et al. discloses the claimed invention substantially as set forth in claim 3. Jefferies further discloses the dental polishing instrument (Fig. 3), wherein one of the first and second whetstone layers is an outer one of the first and second whetstone layers (see Fig. 3: element 18 is interpreted by the examiner as the outer one of the first and second whetstone layers), and the other of the first and second whetstone layers is an inner one of the first and second whetstone layers (see Fig. 3: element 25 is interpreted by the examiner as the inner one of the first and second whetstone layers). Jefferies et al. is silent regarding the dental polishing instrument (Fig. 3), wherein the abrasive grains of the outer one of the first and second whetstone layers have a larger average particle diameter than an average particle diameter of the abrasive grains of the inner one of the first and second whetstone layers.
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Ikushima et al. teaches a dental bur wherein the abrasive grains of the outer one (diamond grains of the outer layer; see attached figure below) of the first and second whetstone layers (see attached Fig. below: the first and second whetstone layers are defined by a layer comprising a fluorine compound grains and another layer comprising diamond grains) have a larger average particle diameter than an average particle diameter of the inner one of the first and second whetstone layers (see attached figure below; A dental diamond bur having grains of diamond attached to a head of the bur body with a plated metal layer containing grains of a fluorine compound that are almost uniformly dispersed and have an average diameter smaller than that of the diamond (abstract); Col. 2 lines 51 - 57).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the dental polishing instrument disclosed by Jefferies et al. to be configured with an outer layer having abrasive grains with average particle diameter larger than the average particle diameter of the abrasive grains of the inner layer, as taught by Ikushima et al. One of ordinary skill in the art would be motivated to make this modification in order to improve the shaving or polishing of natural teeth and dental prosthesis by allowing varying degrees of abrasion depending on the layers as suggested by Ikushima et al.
Claim(s) 5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Jefferies et al. (US 5369916 A) in view of Gert (DE 102007019848 B4).
Jefferies et al. discloses the claimed invention substantially as set forth in claim 1. Jefferies further discloses the dental polishing instrument (Fig. 3), wherein two adjacent whetstone layers (see that when elements 18 and 25 are attached by the means of pressure sensitive adhesive (26), they would be two adjacent whetstone layers (see Fig. 3)), among the plurality of whetstone layers (18/25 Fig. 3) are held together (elements 18 and 25 can be attached to each other. Col. 5 lines 28-31). Jefferies et al. is silent regarding the disclosed the dental polishing instrument (Fig. 3), wherein the adjacent whetstone layers are held together by a physical fitting.
Gert teaches dental polishing instrument wherein two adjacent whetstone layers, among the plurality of whetstone layers are held together by a physical fitting (see Fig. 7; the abrasive attachment (4) engages with a carrier which has a contour (56) into which the feather key (32) of abrasive attachment (4) is fitted).
It would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the whetstone layers of the dental polishing instrument disclosed by Jefferies et al. to be held together by physical fitting as taught by Gert. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to make this modification in order to create a dental polishing instrument with whetstone layers that are efficiently engaged with each other to prevent idle rotation of the whetstone layers with respect to adjacent whetstone layers.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to CHIEMERIE C AZUBUOGU whose telephone number is (571)272-0664. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Thursday 8:00 AM - 6:00PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Eric Rosen can be reached at (571)270-7855. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/C.A./ Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3772 /ERIC J ROSEN/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3772
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