POWERED SURGICAL DRILL WITH INTEGRAL DEPTH GAUGE THAT INCLUDES A PROBE THAT SLIDES OVER THE DRILL BIT

摘要

A surgical drill for actuating a drill bit is presented. The surgical drill includes a housing formed with a distally directed face; a motor disposed in the housing; a coupling assembly disposed in the housing adapted to releasable couple a drill bit configured to form a bore in living tissue to the motor so that the drill bit rotates upon actuation of the motor; a probe slidably mounted to the housing so as to extend forward from the housing, the probe having a distal end adapted for placement against tissue or against an implant; and a transducer assembly mounted to the housing for producing a signal representative of the distance the housing moves relative to the distal end of the probe when the drill bit is advanced into tissue. The housing is formed so that there is an opening in the distally directed face of the housing. Moreover, the coupling assembly is positioned to hold the drill bit to the housing so that drill bit extends forward from the opening in the distally directed face of the housing. The probe is slidably mounted to the housing so as to extend out of the opening in the distal directed face of the housing through which the drill bit extends forward from the housing. The opening through which the drill bit and the probe extend is an opening formed in the transducer assembly.