JP2000189252A - Toothbrush - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a toothbrush which has a high cleaning effect to the hardly removable dental plaque accumulating between the teeth and the teeth, at the boundaries between the teeth and the gingiva, etc., and is soft in contact with the gingiva and excellent in the feel of use. SOLUTION: Monofilaments having curled shapes at the front ends are used as synthetic monofilaments 5 flocked on the flocking surface 2 of a head part 1. The curling length of a curling parts 5a is set within 20% of the overall length of a brush and the respective synthetic monofilaments 5 are so flocked that the curling directions thereof are made random within the same bristle bundles. Further, tips of the synthetic monofilaments 5 are tapered at need. Then, the toothbrush has the curling shapes locally at the ends of the bristles and, therefore, the contact of the bristle tips is extremely soft and is good in touch and since the curling directions of the bristles are random, the bristle tips are easily accessible even to the points, such as the interdental parts, the boundaries between the teeth and the gingiva and the recessed parts by tooth misalignment, which are ordinary hardly brushable. The brush cleaning of all the corners in the oral cavity is thus possible.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention has a high cleaning effect on hard-to-removal plaque accumulated between teeth and on the boundary between teeth and gums. Regarding an excellent toothbrush.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art It is important to remove plaque with a toothbrush in order to prevent two major dental diseases such as periodontal disease and dental caries. In recent years, a plaque such as a scrub method or a bath method has been used. It has been found to be effective for removal.

[0003] Toothbrushes that are widely used at present are generally made by implanting brushes of synthetic filaments. In a toothbrush using this synthetic filament brush, if a thick, hard brush toothbrush is used to improve the brushing effect, the brushing power is excellent, but the contact of the bristle tip with the gums may increase. is there. On the other hand, when using a toothbrush with a fine and soft brush to reduce contact with the gums, there is a soft feeling, but the bristle is weak, the power to scrape plaque is insufficient, and the durability is also low There was a disadvantage of being low.

On the other hand, in order to eliminate the above problems,
Toothbrushes using brushes with variously processed and treated bristles are also known. One of these is a toothbrush in which the tip of the hair is polished in a tapered shape so that the tip of the hair can easily enter a concave portion such as a boundary between the tooth and the gum, but the length of the tapered portion is at most at most. Since it was as short as about 1 mm, the cleaning effect and the soft feeling did not improve as expected, and there was almost no difference from a regular round brush.

Further, a toothbrush using a brush in which a synthetic filament has a tapered portion longer and sharpened by a chemical treatment (Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 15834/1993), and a toothbrush using a brush in which a bristled portion is bent (Japanese Utility Model Application) 61-12682
No. 3) is also known.

[0006]

As described above, even in the conventional toothbrush, various contrivances have been made such as making the tip of the brush a round shape, a tapered shape, and a spherical shape. Is a linear shape, and the bristle tips come into direct contact with the teeth and gums, and thus have various problems as described below.

(1) For example, when the brush diameter is large or the tip of the bristles is spherically shaped, the contact with the teeth and gums is strong, so that the user penetrates the tips into the details in the oral cavity. I can't. On the other hand, when the brush diameter is small, the "hip" of the bristle is weakened, and the brush tip brushing effect is greatly reduced.

(2) In the case of a sharpened tapered shape, it is easy to enter an interdental area, a periodontal pocket, and an interdental triangular area. People may feel uncomfortable. In addition, if the tapered shape is not appropriate and is too long or too thin, the gingival massage effect will be reduced.

(3) In a toothbrush having a non-linear brush as a whole (Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 60-39631), if the tip of the brush is linear, the same problems as those described above will occur. Problems arise.

(4) Some conventional toothbrushes having a brush tip bent (for example, Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 61-126823) do not have an appropriate shape. If the length of the bent portion is too large, there arises a problem that neither a soft feeling of use as a toothbrush nor a brushing effect can be obtained.

(5) Further, a toothbrush having a bent direction only in a predetermined direction (for example, a real toothbrush
In the case of −118441, for example, a specific brushing method suitable for the toothbrush is required in order to produce the expected effect, which is very difficult for ordinary users to use.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and has a high cleaning effect on hard-to-removal plaque accumulated between teeth and between teeth and gums. Another object of the present invention is to provide a toothbrush that has a soft touch to the gums and is excellent in usability.

[0013]

To achieve the above object, a toothbrush according to claim 1 is a toothbrush in which synthetic monofilaments are bundled into a hair bundle, and the hair bundle is planted on a planted surface of a head portion. Using a monofilament having a curl shape at the tip, the curl length of the curl portion is within 20% of the total length of the brush, and
It is characterized in that the hairs are implanted such that the curl direction of each synthetic monofilament is random within the same hair bundle.

A toothbrush according to a second aspect of the present invention is a toothbrush in which synthetic monofilaments are bundled to form a hair bundle, and the hair bundle is planted on a flocked surface of a head portion. Use
The curl length of the curled portion is within 20% of the total length of the brush, and the curl direction of each synthetic monofilament is the same direction within the same hair bundle, but the direction is random between the hair bundles. It is characterized by being planted in the hair.

Further, a toothbrush according to a third aspect of the present invention is the toothbrush according to the first or second aspect, wherein the tip of the synthetic monofilament is tapered.

In the case of the above configuration, since the curl shape is locally provided at the end of the brush, the contact of the bristle tip with the intraoral tissue during the brushing operation is very soft and the feel is particularly good. It can give good stimulation to the gingiva. In addition, the curl direction of the brush as a whole is random, so even during normal tooth brushing operation, the bristles may be in places that are usually difficult to brush, such as interdental parts, boundaries between teeth and gums, concave parts due to incorrect tooth row Can be easily reached, and it is possible to easily clean every corner of the oral cavity.

Furthermore, since the cleaning efficiency is enhanced by the effect of scraping the curly hair tips, food residues and plaque can be effectively removed. Furthermore, since the excessive force applied to the brush during brushing can be absorbed by the curl shape, the spread of the brush due to use can be prevented, and the durability of the toothbrush itself can be enhanced.

In addition, when the tip of the synthetic monofilament is tapered, the tip easily enters the interdental portions, periodontal pockets, and interdental triangular portions, and the cleaning effect is further enhanced while maintaining a soft feeling of use. be able to.

[0019]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 and 1 show one embodiment of a toothbrush according to the present invention. FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of the embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view.

In the drawing, 1 is a head portion, 2 is a flocked surface,
3 is a flocked hole, 4 is a handle, and the toothbrush of the present invention is:
A synthetic monofilament 5 is used as a brush for a bristle bundle to be implanted in the flocking hole 3, and the tip of the synthetic monofilament 5 is curled to a predetermined length to form a curled portion 5a. And 20% or less, and the hairs are implanted such that the curling direction of the curled portion 5a of each synthetic monofilament 5 is in a random direction within the same hair bundle.

More specifically, referring to the schematic enlarged views of FIGS. 3 and 5, the shape of the curled portion 5a formed at the tip of the synthetic monofilament 5 will be described in more detail. When the total length (length of the brush) of the brush composed of the synthetic monofilament 5 from the flocked surface 2 is L, the curl length C is expressed by the following formula: C = a · L (a: parameter, 0 <a ≦ 0.2) It is the specified length.

The total length L of the brush made of the synthetic monofilament 5 is about 6 to 13 mm as in a normal toothbrush. Therefore, the maximum value of the curl length C of the curl portion 5a is about 1.2 mm to 2.6 mm.

As the synthetic monofilament 5, synthetic resins such as polyester, polyamide and polyolefin can be used. The curled portion 5a can be formed at the end of the synthetic monofilament 5 by performing a chemical treatment with a chemical, a physical treatment with heat, or a combination thereof. As shown in FIG. 5 or FIG. 6, if the curled portion 5a is formed on at least one end of the synthetic monofilament 5, the desired effect can be obtained.

Regarding the height of the tip of the brush, if all are at the same height, the feeling of hitting the tissue in the oral cavity becomes very good. The effect of the present invention can be obtained in any case because the feeling of reaching the tissue is further increased.
Also, depending on which effect is made stronger, it is possible to change the height of the tip of the brush for each hair bundle or within the hair bundle.

It is preferable that the degree of curling of the curled portion 5a formed at the end of the synthetic monofilament 5 be changed in accordance with the appealing function as a brush. For example, to obtain a softer feel, it is preferable to curl tightly as shown in FIG. 7, and to obtain a feeling of reaching the tip of the hair, loosen it as shown in FIG. 8 or FIG. It is preferable to curl.

In order to achieve a plurality of effects with the same toothbrush, a plurality of types of synthetic monofilaments 5 having different curls may be implanted on the same implanted surface.
As shown in FIG. 13, synthetic monofilaments 5 having different curls at both ends of one filament may be implanted.

The maximum diameter of the synthetic monofilament is
It may be about 0.15 to 0.28 mm, and in addition to the above-described curl shape, a round (FIG. 10), spherical (FIG. 11), tapered by a chemical treatment or a physical treatment is formed at the tip of the curl portion 5a. It is more preferable to apply a bristle tip such as a shape (FIG. 12), because effects derived from each shape are expected in addition to the effects of the present invention. In particular, when the synthetic monofilament 5 having a tapered tip shown in FIG. 12 is used, the tip becomes easy to enter the interdental portion, the periodontal pocket, and the interdental triangular portion, so that a soft feeling of use is maintained. Meanwhile, the cleaning effect can be further enhanced.

As a handle material including the head portion 1 and the handle portion 4, a polypropylene resin, an acrylonitrile / styrene resin (AS resin), or the like can be used.

As described above, when the brush is composed of the synthetic monofilament 5 having the curled portion 5a at the tip, the synthetic monofilament 5 having the curled portion 5a alone is not only 100% implanted but also the curled portion. 50% synthetic monofilament with 5a
%, If it is implanted in a mixture with brushes of other shapes, the contact with the gums etc. will be soft and a soft feeling will be obtained, and at the same time it will be difficult to remove accumulated at the boundary between teeth and gums Effectively scrapes plaque.

As a method of making such a toothbrush,
There is no particular limitation, as long as the bristle bundle is firmly fixed to the head portion. For example, a method of driving a brush into a flocked hole using a metal piece called a flat wire,
Conventionally known methods, such as an injection molding method as indicated by a symbol, can be used.

In the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the curled portion 5a of the synthetic monofilament 5
In the above example, the curling direction of the curled portion 5a of the synthetic monofilament 5 is the same in the same hair bundle as shown in FIG. Alternatively, the hair bundles may be implanted so that their peeling becomes random.

[0032]

EXAMPLE Table 1 shows the results of evaluation on the feeling of use when the relationship between the curl length C and the total length L of the brush was changed in the toothbrush having the structure shown in FIG. As is evident from the results in Table 1, it was confirmed that the effect was most effective when the curl length C was within 20% of the total length L of the brush.

[0033]

[Table 1]

[0034]

As described above, claims 1 and 2
According to the invention according to the invention, a synthetic monofilament having a curl shape at the tip is used, and the curl length of the curled portion is within 20% of the total length of the brush, and the curl direction of each synthetic monofilament is the same. In order to make it random within the bundle, or the curl direction of each synthetic monofilament is the same direction in the same hair bundle, but the direction is random between the hair bundles, so when brushing teeth In addition, the contact of the bristles with the oral tissue becomes very soft, and in particular, it becomes possible to give good stimulation to the gingiva. In addition, since the curl direction of the brush is random, even during normal tooth brushing operation, the brush tip can easily reach areas that are usually difficult to brush, such as interdental parts, boundaries between teeth and gums, concave parts due to incorrect tooth row, etc. It can be easily brushed down to every corner.

Further, the cleaning efficiency is enhanced by the effect of scraping the curly hair tips, so that the hair transplant residue and plaque can be effectively removed. Furthermore, since the excessive force applied to the brush during brushing can be absorbed by the curl shape, the spread of the brush due to use can be prevented, and the durability of the toothbrush itself can be increased.

According to the third aspect of the present invention,
Since the tip of the synthetic monofilament is tapered, it is easier for the tip to enter the interdental areas, periodontal pockets, and interdental triangular areas. Can be enhanced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing an embodiment of a toothbrush according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of the toothbrush of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged side view of a synthetic monofilament showing a flocking state.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged side view of a curl portion.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged side view showing an example of a synthetic monofilament having curled portions at both ends.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged side view showing an example of a synthetic monofilament having a curled portion only at one end.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged side view showing an example of a curled portion that is tightly curled.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged side view showing an example of a curl portion that is curled loosely.

FIG. 9 is an enlarged side view showing an example of a curled portion slightly curled.

FIG. 10 is an enlarged side view showing an example of a curled portion having a rounded tip.

FIG. 11 is an enlarged side view showing an example of a curled portion having a spherical tip.

FIG. 12 is an enlarged side view showing an example of a curled portion having a tapered tip portion.

FIG. 13 is an enlarged side view showing an example of a synthetic monofilament having curled portions having different shapes at both ends.

FIG. 14 is a schematic perspective view showing another embodiment of the toothbrush according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Head part 2 Flooding surface 3 Flooding hole 4 Handle part 5 Synthetic monofilament (brush) 5a Curl part

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A toothbrush in which a synthetic monofilament is bundled to form a hair bundle, and the hair bundle is planted on a flocked surface of a head portion, wherein the synthetic monofilament having a curled shape at a tip is used, and the curl length of the curled portion is used. A toothbrush characterized in that its length is within 20% of the entire length of the brush, and that the hairs are implanted such that the curl direction of each synthetic monofilament is random within the same bristle bundle. 2. A toothbrush in which synthetic monofilaments are bundled to form a hair bundle, and the hair bundle is planted on a flocked surface of a head portion, wherein the synthetic monofilament having a curled shape at a tip thereof is used, and the curl length of the curled portion is used. Is within 20% of the total length of the brush, and the curl direction of each synthetic monofilament is the same direction within the same hair bundle, but the hair bundles are implanted such that the direction is random. A toothbrush characterized by the following. 3. The toothbrush according to claim 1, wherein the tip of the synthetic monofilament is tapered.