| CPC A61L 9/20 (2013.01) [C02F 1/325 (2013.01); G02B 5/0891 (2013.01); A61L 2209/12 (2013.01); C02F 2103/026 (2013.01); C02F 2201/3222 (2013.01); C02F 2201/3224 (2013.01); C02F 2201/3226 (2013.01); C02F 2201/3228 (2013.01); C02F 2303/04 (2013.01)] | 13 Claims |

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1. A disinfecting system, comprising:
a hand-held dental instrument including a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet nozzle, said fluid inlet being configured to receive fluid from a fluid source, and said fluid outlet nozzle being configured to discharge fluid from said hand-held dental instrument;
a disinfecting chamber housed within said hand-held dental instrument, coupled to receive fluid from said fluid inlet via a supply conduit, and coupled to provide disinfected fluid to said outlet nozzle via a discharge conduit, said disinfecting chamber having a generally rectangular first cross-section perpendicular to a direction of fluid flow through said disinfecting chamber, said first cross-section of said fluid disinfecting chamber being greater than a cross section of said supply conduit and greater than a cross-section of said discharge conduit;
a light source disposed within said disinfecting chamber and operative to emit ultraviolet light; and
optics disposed within said disinfecting chamber and configured to receive said ultraviolet light from said light source, to concentrate said ultraviolet light to form a flat beam, and to direct said flat beam across said disinfecting chamber, said flat beam completely saturating a second cross-section of said disinfecting chamber; and wherein
said light source and said optics are in thermal contact with said fluid thereby cooling said light source and said optics.
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