JPH08214947A - Brush to take care of tooth and body - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a toothbrush in which the action faces of bristle bundles are most suitably fitted to the dental arch contour and the tooth contour regardless of brush technology. SOLUTION: At least two bristle bundles 8 are arranged on the face of the bristle supporting body with the max. 6 mm<2> and end parts of a plurality of bristles 9 of individual bristle bundle 8 or end parts of mutually adjoining bristle are positioned on at least two planes 10, 11 and 12 being different from each other.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a brush for caring for teeth and a body, the brush having a bristle carrier and a bristle bundle fixed to the bristle carrier, and an end portion of the bristles. But,
The present invention relates to a type which is located in at least two different planes at right angles to the bristle extending direction.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various factors influence the effect of a toothbrush. Such factors are due to pure geometrical dimensions such as bristle diameter, bristle length, and bristle area surface,
It leads to the density of the bristles, as well as the bristle material, strength properties such as bending and realignment capabilities, and even the placement of the bristles within the bristles.

It has previously been known that a flat working surface, ie a flat envelope surface surrounding the bristle ends, leads to inadequate cleaning, especially in the interdental space. This is because the bristles bend in almost the same direction during brushing movement, that is, in the direction opposite to the movement direction, and do not sufficiently enter the interdental space. A similar problem area is the neck in the gingival transition area. A further problem is that the outer tooth row of the teeth in the front tooth range is convex and the inner tooth row is concave, respectively. Therefore, it is difficult to effectively clean the inside of the front teeth.

The individual teeth also have different curved surfaces on the outer side and the inner side, and in the molar region the chewing surface also has a different shape than the outer or inner surface of the tooth. The inadequate cleaning effect of the toothbrush with a flat work surface and a dense flocked part is mainly due to the following. That is, the mutual support of the bristles leads to a displacement of the bristles in a direction opposite to the direction of movement, respectively, and that the working surface is not well adapted to different tooth profiles or tooth profiles. to cause.

As a solution to this, it has been attempted, for example, that the bristle bundles have different lengths and / or different angular positions. US Pat. No. 4,010,509 has a configuration in which a bristle bundle arranged at the center in the longitudinal direction of a bristle carrier is formed shorter than a bristle bundle arranged on both sides at a predetermined angle in an edge range. Is known from However, in terms of the displacement of the bristles, in this case the same can be said for the individual bristles as for the toothbrushes already mentioned. Bristle bundles of the same length are usually also displaced in one direction, i.e. in the direction opposite to the direction of movement.

The same applies to US Pat. No. 3,722,020.
It is also possible to refer to another toothbrush known from the specification. In this case, the ends of the tufts of bristles are located in all three working planes, the level of these working planes rising outwards from the central longitudinal axis. In this way, it is intended to obtain a substantially convex working surface. Such a working surface is
Only effective for the outside of the teeth in the anterior region.

In another arrangement known from US Pat. No. 4,979,782, the bristles of each bristle bundle are of different lengths to form a concave or convex working surface, and The bristle bundles also have two different lengths, the bristle bundles in the front area of the toothbrush being longer than the bristle bundles in the rear area. Furthermore, it is known from EP 0449655 that bristle bundles are arranged in groups with different bristle bundle diameters and different lengths. In this case, the working surface of the bristle end lies in two different planes, which planes extend substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal length of the bristle carrier. When the shorter bristle bundle is located in front of the longer bristle bundle in the direction of movement, it is necessarily effective only in one direction of movement. During movement in the opposite direction, the curved long bristle tuft covers the short bristle tuft, which renders the short tuft bristle ineffective.

Furthermore, a configuration in which the bristles have different lengths within a bundle of bristles is described in EP 047312.
It is known from the specification. However, this measure serves to provide a thickened portion at the bristle ends without spreading the bristle bundle. This inevitably applies when the thickened portions are provided in one plane. Even in this case, the bristles are supported by each other through the thick portion, and as a result, all the bristles are displaced during cleaning.

Due to the extremely high density of bristles with the smallest possible diameter in the toothbrush, the mutual support of the bristles within the individual bristles in any known embodiment ensures that the bristles support one another during cleaning. Can be said to prevent sufficient displacement of the individual bristles of.

This is not compensated for by various dentally recommended toothbrushing techniques, such as moving the toothbrush from the gums to the teeth, or by the vibration of known mechanically driven toothbrushes. On the contrary, in the dental survey, attachment loss due to excessive brush pressure and damage to the teeth themselves have been confirmed. Such high brush pressure inevitably occurs when the user tries to reach the hard-to-reach range of the brush effect.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the invention to improve a brush of the type mentioned at the beginning such that, regardless of the brush technique used, the working surface of the bristle tufts has dentition and tooth contours. It is to provide a toothbrush that is optimally adapted.

[0012]

In order to solve this problem, in the arrangement according to the invention, at least two bristle bundles are arranged on a bristle carrier surface of at most 6 mm ² , and a plurality of individual bristle bundles are arranged. The ends of the bristles or the ends of the bristles that are adjacent to each other are located in at least two different planes.

[0013]

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION At least two bristle bundles have a maximum of 6 mm.
^Due to the fact that they are arranged in ^two faces, first of all the possibility is obtained that the working surface obtained by the ends of each bristle bundle is minimized. That is, the entire working surface of the flocking part is divided into the smallest possible surface elements despite the close arrangement of the surface elements. A further measure according to the invention is based on the fact that the bristle ends of the individual bristle bundles or the bristle ends of adjacent bristle bundles are arranged in at least two different planes, on the one hand of the work surface. Since the contour is divided into a plurality of minimal working surfaces of different levels, the contour of the working surface has different penetration depths in the dentition contour, while on the other hand the mutual support of the bristles is reduced. As such, the contour of the work surface better fits the curve. That is, longer bristles are easily displaced and shorter bristles work better.

In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the bristle ends of the individual bristle bundles or the bristle ends of three adjacent bristle bundles lie in three different planes.

In this case, the ends of the bristles of a bundle of bristles can lie in a plurality of planes that are concentric to one another,
Alternatively, the same level planes of the plurality of bristle bundles can extend along the bristle carrier or transverse to the bristle carrier. The orientation of these planes within the longitudinal length of the bristle support can be varied.

According to a further advantageous development of the invention, the bristles with their ends lying in the same plane have equal diameters with respect to one another, which in turn makes the ends lying in another plane. Different from the diameter of the bristles provided.

In this way, the rigidity of the bristles having the ends located on the common working surface is different from the rigidity of the bristles having the ends located on another plane. .

Furthermore, a plurality of bristles with ends lying in one plane have the same material, surface, color, etc. features that are the same as one another. It differs from the feature of multiple bristles with parts.

[0019]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

First, FIG. 17 will be described. FIG. 17 shows a partial view of a bristle carrier with a bristle implant.
25 with a diameter of 0.6 mm each in an area of 36 mm ^2.
There are four individual bristle bundles, and each bristle bundle is likewise spaced 0.6 mm from each other, so that there are four bristle bundles arranged at approximately 6 mm ² . Such an arrangement can be realized by utilizing the latest manufacturing technology.

FIG. 1 is a partial view of a toothbrush having a general bristle arrangement or a bristle bundle arrangement manufactured by the manufacturing technique as described above. This toothbrush has a bristle support 1
And a plurality of bristles 2 and these bristles 2
Are each formed from a plurality of bristles 3. Since each bristle bundle 2 has the same length, the ends of the bristle bundle 2 are
Located on one flat envelope forming the working surface 4.

FIG. 2 schematically shows a dentition in the front tooth range with front teeth 5 and a first molar 6 following the front tooth range. When the cleaning movement is performed, the end of the bristle bundle 2 bends in the direction opposite to the movement direction, as can be seen from the bristle bundle 2 shown at the left end. The bristle bundle 2 in the middle is expanded, but the bristle bundle 2
The ends of do not play a significant role. Bristles bundle 2 shown at the right end
Remains unaffected. In particular, it can be seen that the bristles penetrate into the interdental space either completely or very poorly.

FIG. 3 shows a toothbrush according to the invention. In this case as well, the bristle support 7 has
The bristles 8 are fixed in the arrangement shown in FIG. The bristles 9 or groups of bristles of each bristle bundle 8 are formed in different lengths, the ends of these bristles 9 being stepped in three steps in the illustrated embodiment.
It is located in.

FIG. 4 shows the toothbrush shown in FIG. 3 in a normal use position in which it is applied to the outside of the dentition during cleaning. Also in this case, the front tooth 5 and the first molar 6 are still visible. When the bristles 9 are pressed, the bristles 9 are displaced in various ways during the cleaning movement, as is clear from comparison with FIGS. 1 and 2. The bristle bundle 8 located on the left bends completely in one direction (opposite the direction of movement), in which case this bristle bundle 8 is applied to the outer contour of the tooth on the basis of the stepped working surface of the individual bristles 9. . At this time, in the other bristle tufts, the bristles 9 of each bristle tuft are displaced in different directions, thereby partially entering the interdental space sufficiently. In this case, other bristles of the same set of bristles or bristles of an adjacent set of bristles become effective on the tooth surface. The same goes for FIG.
As can be seen from the above, it can be said that the inner surface of the tooth is polished. The bristles thus optimally fit the contours of the surface to be cleaned, including the interdental space. This optimal fit likewise occurs on the chewing surface as shown in FIG.

In the case of the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, each bristle bundle 1
0 has central bristles 11 and groups of bristles 13, 14 arranged on either side of this central bristles 11.
The ends of the central bristles 11 are located on the working surface 12, and the ends of the bristles 13, 14 on both sides are also located on the two different working surfaces 15, 16. The effect of such a configuration is apparent from FIG.

FIG. 9 shows a single bristle bundle 2 corresponding to the arrangement shown in FIG. Each of the bristles 3 of such a bristle bundle 2 has a substantially circular shape as shown, and has the same length.

FIG. 10 shows a single bristle bundle 8 corresponding to the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 3 to 6. The ends of the bristles of such a bristle bundle 8 are stepped in three planes in the lateral direction with respect to the bristle bundle extending direction. Located next to the section with the longest bristle tufts 17 is the section with the intermediate length bristle tufts 18, and next to this section is the section with the shortest bristle tufts 19.

FIG. 11 illustrates an annular step on the working surface of the bristles of one bristle bundle 20. That is, this bristles bundle 2
0 is a group of bristles 21 having the shortest length provided on the outermost side, a group of bristles 22 having an intermediate length provided in the middle, and a group of bristles 23 having the longest length provided on the center. have.

In the case of the embodiment shown in FIG. 12, the bristle tufts 24 are arranged opposite to the embodiment shown in FIG. That is, the bristle bundle 24 comprises a group of bristles 25 of the shortest length provided at the center and the bristles 25.
A group of intermediate length bristles 26 concentrically surrounding the group of b) and the outermost longest bristles 2
It has 7 groups.

Instead of stepping the working surfaces of the individual bristle bundles, in the arrangement shown in FIG. 17, the working surfaces of the adjacent bristle bundles can also be arranged at a level with respect to each other. .

FIG. 13 shows two bristle bundles 28, 29 adjacent to each other, the cross section of which is a circular segment, in which case the bristle bundle 28 is shown.
The bristles are formed to be longer than the length of the bristles bundle 29.

In the case of the embodiment shown in FIG. 14, three bristle bundles having a circular cross section are formed with different lengths in the arrangement shown in FIG. In this case, the bristles of the bristles 30 have the longest length, and the bristles of the bristles 31 have an intermediate length.
The bristles of the bristle bundle 32 each have the shortest length.

Further, as shown in FIG. 15, the bristles of the bristles 33, 34, 35 which are adjacent to each other may have different bristles, or may be adjacent to each other as shown in FIG. It is also possible for the bristles of the interstitial bristles 36, 37 to have different properties, for example of different materials or different surface properties.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial view of a general-purpose toothbrush.

FIG. 2 is a view showing the toothbrush shown in FIG. 1 in a use state.

FIG. 3 is a partial view of the toothbrush according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a state where the outside of the tooth row is being brushed by the toothbrush shown in FIG.

5 is a view showing a state where the inside of a tooth row is being brushed by the toothbrush shown in FIG.

6 is a diagram showing a state in which the masticatory surface is being polished with the toothbrush shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a partial view of a toothbrush according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the toothbrush shown in FIG. 7 in a used state.

FIG. 9 is a view showing a general bristle bundle.

FIG. 10 is a view showing a first example of a bristle bundle including stepped bristles.

FIG. 11 is a view showing a second example of a bristle bundle having stepped bristles.

FIG. 12 shows a third embodiment of a bristle bundle having stepped bristles.

FIG. 13 shows two bristle tufts adjacent to each other with a stepped working surface.

FIG. 14 shows three bristle tufts adjacent to each other with a stepped work surface.

FIG. 15 shows an embodiment corresponding to FIG. 14 with different bristle bundles.

FIG. 16 shows an example corresponding to FIG. 13 with different bristle bundles.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing geometrical dimensions of a partial area of a tooth-implanted portion of a toothbrush.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 bristle support, 2 bristles, 3 bristles, 4 working surface, 5 front teeth, 6 molars, 7 bristle support, 8
Bristles bundle, 9 bristles, 10, 11, 12 working surface,
13,14 Bristles, 15,16 Working surface, 17,1
8,19 Bristle bundles, 20 Bristle bundles, 21,22,23
Bristles, 24 bristles, 25, 26, 27 bristles,
28,29 bristle bundles, 30,31,32 bristle bundles

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A tooth and body care brush comprising a bristle support and a bristle bundle fixed to the bristle support, the ends of the bristles extending in a bristle extending direction. At least two bristle bundles (8) are arranged on a bristle carrier surface of at most 6 mm ² in a type which is at right angles to at least two mutually different surfaces,
The ends of the plurality of bristles (9) of the individual bristles (8) or the ends of the bristles (28, 29) adjacent to each other are located in at least two different planes (10, 11, 12). A brush for the care of teeth and body characterized by the presence of 2. A plurality of bristles (9) of an individual bristle bundle (8)
Of three bristles (33, 34,
35) the ends of the bristles have three planes (1
The brush according to claim 1, which is located at 0, 11, 12). 3. A plurality of bristles (2) of a set (20) of bristles.
Brush according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the ends of (1, 22, 23) lie in a plurality of concentric planes. 4. A plurality of equal level planes (10, 11, 12) of a plurality of bristle bundles (8) along or transverse to the bristle support (7). A brush according to any one of claims 1 to 3, which extends into the. 5. A plurality of bristles with ends lying in the same plane have equal diameters with each other, and this diameter is the diameter of bristles with ends lying in another plane. A brush according to any one of claims 1 to 4, which is different. 6. A plurality of bristles with ends lying in the same plane have the same material, surface, color, etc. characteristics as to each other, which features are in the ends lying in another plane. Different from the features of a plurality of bristles with.
The brush according to claim 1.