U.S. patent application number 10/986309 was filed with the patent office on 2005-05-26 for toothbrush with contoured head.
Invention is credited to Shunock, Michael.
Application Number | 20050108842 10/986309 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 34573023 |
Filed Date | 2005-05-26 |
United States Patent
Application |
20050108842 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Shunock, Michael |
May 26, 2005 |
Toothbrush with contoured head
Abstract
A toothbrush is described having a contoured head that is
suitable for cleaning teeth with orthodontic brackets. The
toothbrush head has a ridge located a direction transverse to the
longitudinal axis of the toothbrush. Bristles may be attached to
the surface of the contoured head and ridge to extend outwardly
therefrom. The bristles target the gingival margin, interproximal
areas and the surfaces of the orthodontic bracket base as well as
the remaining exposed surfaces of the tooth for cleaning.
Inventors: |
Shunock, Michael; (Toronto,
CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
MCCARTHY TETRAULT LLP
SUITE 4900, P.O. BOX 48
66 WELLINGTON ST. WEST
TORONTO
ON
M5K 1E6
CA
|
Family ID: |
34573023 |
Appl. No.: |
10/986309 |
Filed: |
November 12, 2004 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
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60519612 |
Nov 14, 2003 |
|
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Current U.S.
Class: |
15/167.1 ;
15/167.2 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A46B 9/045 20130101;
A46B 2200/1066 20130101; A46B 9/026 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
015/167.1 ;
015/167.2 |
International
Class: |
A46B 009/04 |
Claims
I claim:
1. A toothbrush having an elongated body with a longitudinal axis
running lengthwise through the toothbrush, said toothbrush
comprising: a toothbrush head located towards a lateral end of said
elongated body; and a ridge extending upwardly from an undersurface
of said head, the ridge being transverse to said longitudinal axis
and having a set of bristles projecting outwardly therefrom.
2. The toothbrush of claim 1, further comprising a second ridge
extending upwardly from said undersurface transverse to said
longitudinal axis, said second ridge being in spaced relationship
with said ridge and having a second set of bristles projecting
outwardly therefrom.
3. The toothbrush of claim 2, further comprising a third ridge
extending upwardly from said undersurface transversely of said
ridge, said third ridge located on one longitudinal side of said
longitudinal axis and extending generally along said longitudinal
axis, said third ridge having a first lateral end located near a
lateral end of said ridge located on said one longitudinal side of
said longitudinal axis and a second lateral end located near a
lateral end of said second ridge located on said one longitudinal
side of said longitudinal axis, said third ridge having a third set
of bristles projecting outwardly therefrom.
4. The toothbrush of claim 3, further comprising a fourth ridge
extending upwardly from said undersurface transversely of said
ridge, said fourth ridge located on another longitudinal side of
said longitudinal axis and extending generally along said
longitudinal axis, said fourth ridge having a first lateral end
located near another lateral end of said ridge located on said
another longitudinal side of said longitudinal axis and a second
lateral end located near another lateral end of said second ridge
located on said another longitudinal side of said longitudinal
axis, said fourth ridge having a fourth set of bristles projecting
outwardly therefrom.
5. The toothbrush of claim 4, wherein said undersurface has a fifth
set of bristles projecting outwardly therefrom.
6. The toothbrush of claim 5, wherein said ridge, second ridge,
third ridge and fourth ridge are spaced to form a continuous rim
around said undersurface.
7. The toothbrush of claim 6, wherein said undersurface is
concave.
8. The toothbrush of claim 7, wherein said undersurface is smoothly
curved.
9. The toothbrush of claim 8, wherein each of said ridge, second
ridge, third ridge and fourth ridge are smoothly curved.
10. The toothbrush of claim 9, wherein said rim is oval in
shape.
11. The toothbrush of claim 9, wherein said rim is circular in
shape.
12. The toothbrush of claim 11, wherein said ridge, second ridge,
third ridge, fourth ridge and undersurface are mounted on a
rotatable body for rotating in an angular direction about said
rim.
13. The toothbrush of claim 12, wherein said fifth set of bristles
project orthogonally from said undersurface.
14. A replaceable toothbrush head for attachment to a toothbrush,
said toothbrush having a longitudinal axis running lengthwise
through the toothbrush, said toothbrush head comprising: a ridge
extending upwardly from an undersurface of said head, said ridge
being transverse to said longitudinal axis and having a set of
bristles projecting outwardly therefrom.
15. The toothbrush head of claim 14, further comprising a second
ridge extending upwardly from said undersurface transverse to said
longitudinal axis, said second ridge being in spaced relationship
with said ridge and having a second set of bristles projecting
outwardly thereform.
16. The toothbrush head of claim 14, further comprising a third
ridge extending upwardly from said undersurface transversely of
said ridge, said third ridge located on one longitudinal side of
said longitudinal axis and extending generally along said
longitudinal axis, said third ridge having a first lateral end
located near a lateral end of said ridge located on said one
longitudinal side of said longitudinal axis and a second lateral
end located near a lateral end of said second ridge located on said
one longitudinal side of said longitudinal axis, said third ridge
having a third set of bristles projecting outwardly therefrom.
17. The toothbrush head of claim 16, further comprising a fourth
ridge extending upwardly from said undersurface transversely of
said ridge, said fourth ridge located on another longitudinal side
of said longitudinal axis and extending generally along said
longitudinal axis, said fourth ridge having a first lateral end
located near another lateral end of said ridge located on said
another longitudinal side of said longitudinal axis and a second
lateral end located near another lateral end of said second ridge
located on said another longitudinal side of said longitudinal
axis, said fourth ridge having a fourth set of bristles projecting
outwardly therefrom.
18. The toothbrush head of claim 17, wherein: said undersurface has
a fifth set of bristles projecting outwardly therefrom; said ridge,
second ridge, third ridge and fourth ridge are spaced to form a
continuous rim around said undersurface; and said undersurface is
concave.
19. The toothbrush head of claim 19, wherein said rim is cicular in
shape.
20. The toothbrush head of claim 19, wherein said ridge, second
ridge, third ridge, fourth ridge and undersurface are mounted on a
rotatable body for rotating in an angular direction about said rim.
Description
[0001] This application claims the benefit U.S. Provisional
Application No. 60/519,612, filed Nov. 14, 2003.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates to toothbrushes.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
[0003] To effectively clean teeth, various areas should be targeted
to properly remove plaque, debris and bacteria. Orthodontic
patients whose teeth have orthodontic brackets attached to them
(commonly known as "braces") have cleaning areas where plaque
removal is particularly challenging. These areas are the gingival
margin which is the area of the tooth along the gum line, the
bracket base around the periphery of the orthodontic bracket and
the interproximal areas which are the spaces between contiguous
teeth.
[0004] Human teeth have a curvature to them in two directions.
These are the occlusogingival direction which is the up-and-down
direction and the mesiodistal direction which is the side-to-side
direction. With the attachment of an orthodontic bracket in the
case of an orthodontic patient, properly cleaning all the necessary
areas becomes quite difficult. It has been proposed by dental
practitioners for their patients to use a modified brushing
technique to clean teeth and orthodontic brackets using several
brush angulations.
[0005] Generally a toothbrush includes a substantially planar head
with bristles attached to the head and projecting outward. The
modified technique proposed by dental practitioners as discussed
above is based upon this toothbrush structure. In prior art
toothbrushes, the bristles have been created with various profiles
with the intention of improving the cleaning efficiency of the
toothbrush. The substantially planar shape of the toothbrush head
does not properly take into account the occlusogingival and
mesiodistal curvatures of the tooth and with this design, a
modified brushing technique is needed to clean the areas around an
orthodontic bracket.
[0006] Prior art toothbrushes have attempted to alter the shape of
the toothbrush's head to achieve improved cleaning coverage. A "V"
or "U" shaped head has been used to angle the bristles in such a
way as to target both sides of the tooth at the same time. U.S.
Pat. No. 4,137,593 to Porper and U.S. Pat. No. 4,131,967 to
Northemann are both examples of a toothbrush with a twin-banked,
"V" shaped head. This design is intended to reach the inner and
outer surfaces of the tooth simultaneously. With the presence of an
orthodontic bracket, the bristles targeting the outer surface of
the tooth would be impeded and may result in ineffective cleaning.
The orientation of the bristles as a result of this design would
not be able to effectively clean the mesial and distal wings (the
left and right edges) of the orthodontic bracket. Furthermore, due
to the presence of a bracket, the bristles are prevented from
reaching the gingival margin or the upper surface of the bracket
base. A complete cleaning would require a modified technique and
the additional bank of bristles could become awkward. Similarly,
U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,357 to DeMartino uses a "U" shaped head that is
one continuous piece as opposed to a "V" shaped twin-bank design.
Again, this design fails to target the mesial and distal wings of
an orthodontic bracket and would not be effective in cleaning the
gingival margin due to the orientation of the bristles.
[0007] U.S. Pat. No. 5,230,118 to Chamma teaches a "U" shaped
channel on the posterior side of the toothbrush head intended to
surround an orthodontic bracket. Bristles are arranged to target
the outwardly facing surface and the top and bottom edges of the
bracket base with auxiliary bristles positioned outside of the
channel to target the remaining tooth surface and gingival margin.
This design as before fails to target the mesial and distal wings
of the bracket and furthermore the "U" shaped channel is fixed in
size and therefore may not accommodate the various sizes of
orthodontic brackets available. There is additionally a risk of
inadvertent contact between the toothbrush's "U" shaped channel and
the bracket due to the surrounding fit which could cause undesired
de-bonding of the bracket from the tooth.
[0008] Alternatively there exists prior art toothbrushes which
angle the bristles in a particular manner so as to improve the
cleaning efficiency of the toothbrush. U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,322 to
Nicolas discloses an orthodontic toothbrush using inclined groups
of bristles to specifically target the upper and lower edges as
well as the outwardly facing surface of the orthodontic bracket.
The outwardly inclined bristles would also target the gingival
margin and remaining surface of the tooth. However this design
fails to target the mesial and distal wings of the bracket and
furthermore would not properly clean the interproximal areas
between contiguous teeth with the head arrangement given and
subsequently, an auxiliary instrument would be required.
[0009] It is therefore an object of the present invention to
obviate or mitigate at least one of the above mentioned
disadvantages.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0010] In one embodiment, a toothbrush has a head, shank and
handle, the head being contoured in both the transverse and
longitudinal directions. The contoured head has bristles
orthogonally attached to its surface so that the orientation and
inclination of the bristles is dictated by the contour of the head.
These bristles are inclined and oriented to follow the natural
curvature of the human tooth, clean the periphery of an orthodontic
bracket attached to the tooth and target the gingival margin and
interproximal areas.
[0011] In one aspect, a toothbrush having an elongated body with a
longitudinal axis running lengthwise through the toothbrush is
provided. The toothbrush comprises a toothbrush head located
towards a lateral end of the elongated body, and a ridge extending
upwardly from an undersurface of the head. The ridge is transverse
to the longitudinal axis and has a set of bristles projecting
outwardly therefrom.
[0012] The toothbrush may include a second ridge extending upwardly
from the undersurface transverse to the longitudinal axis. The
second ridge may be in spaced relationship with the ridge and have
a second set of bristles projecting outwardly therefrom.
[0013] The toothbrush may further include a third ridge extending
upwardly from the undersurface transversely of the ridge. The third
ridge may be located on one longitudinal side of the longitudinal
axis and extend generally along the longitudinal axis. The third
ridge may have a first lateral end located near a lateral end of
the ridge located on the one longitudinal side of the longitudinal
axis and a second lateral end located near a lateral end of the
second ridge located on the one longitudinal side of the
longitudinal axis. The third ridge may have a third set of bristles
projecting outwardly therefrom.
[0014] The toothbrush may further include a fourth ridge extending
upwardly from the undersurface transversely of the ridge. The
fourth ridge may be located on another longitudinal side of the
longitudinal axis and extend generally along the longitudinal axis.
The fourth ridge may have a first lateral end located near another
lateral end of the ridge located on the another longitudinal side
of the longitudinal axis and a second lateral end located near
another lateral end of the second ridge located on the another
longitudinal side of the longitudinal axis. The fourth ridge may
have a fourth set of bristles projecting outwardly therefrom.
[0015] The undersurface of the toothbrush may have a fifth set of
bristles projecting outwardly therefrom. The ridge, second ridge,
third ridge and fourth ridge may be spaced to form a continuous rim
around the undersurface. The undersurface may be concave, and may
be smoothly curved. Each of the ridge, second ridge, third ridge
and fourth ridge may be smoothly curved. The rim may be oval or
circular in shape.
[0016] The ridge, second ridge, third ridge, fourth ridge and
undersurface of the toothbrush may be mounted on a rotatable body
for rotating in an angular direction about the rim.
[0017] The fifth set of bristles of the toothbrush may project
orthogonally from the undersurface.
[0018] In another aspect, a replaceable toothbrush head for
attachment to a toothbrush is provided. The toothbrush has a
longitudinal axis running lengthwise through the toothbrush, and
the toothbrush head comprises a ridge extending upwardly from an
undersurface of the head. The ridge is transverse to the
longitudinal axis and has a set of bristles projecting outwardly
therefrom.
[0019] The toothbrush head may further comprise a second ridge
extending upwardly from the undersurface transverse to the
longitudinal axis. The second ridge may be in spaced relationship
with the ridge and have a second set of bristles projecting
outwardly thereform.
[0020] The toothbrush head may further comprise a third ridge
extending upwardly from the undersurface transversely of the ridge.
The third ridge may be located on one longitudinal side of the
longitudinal axis and extend generally along the longitudinal axis.
The third ridge may have a first lateral end located near a lateral
end of the ridge located on the one longitudinal side of the
longitudinal axis and a second lateral end located near a lateral
end of the second ridge located on the one longitudinal side of the
longitudinal axis. The third ridge may have a third set of bristles
projecting outwardly therefrom.
[0021] The toothbrush head may further comprise a fourth ridge
extending upwardly from the undersurface transversely of the ridge.
The fourth ridge may be located on another longitudinal side of the
longitudinal axis and extending generally along the longitudinal
axis. The fourth ridge may have a first lateral end located near
another lateral end of the ridge located on the another
longitudinal side of the longitudinal axis and a second lateral end
located near another lateral end of the second ridge located on the
another longitudinal side of the longitudinal axis. The fourth
ridge may have a fourth set of bristles projecting outwardly
therefrom.
[0022] The undersurface of the toothbrush head may include a fifth
set of bristles projecting outwardly therefrom. The ridge, second
ridge, third ridge and fourth ridge may be spaced to form a
continuous rim around the undersurface. The undersurface may
concave, and the rim may be cicular in shape.
[0023] The ridge, second ridge, third ridge, fourth ridge and
undersurface of the toothbrush head may be mounted on a rotatable
body for rotating in an angular direction about the rim.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0024] These and other features of the preferred embodiments of the
invention will become more apparent in the following detailed
description in which reference is made to the appended drawings
wherein:
[0025] FIG. 1 is an oblique view of a toothbrush relating to an
embodiment;
[0026] FIG. 2 is a view of the toothbrush of FIG. 1 from one
side;
[0027] FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the toothbrush of FIG. 2 along
line A-A;
[0028] FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the toothbrush of FIG. 2 along
line B-B;
[0029] FIG. 5 is a partial front view of a human mouth with a tooth
including an orthodontic bracket;
[0030] FIG. 6 is a partial oblique view of a human mouth showing
the curvature of the tooth of FIG. 5 without the orthodontic
bracket;
[0031] FIG. 7 is a side view of the orthodontic bracket attached to
the tooth of FIG. 5 during cleaning;
[0032] FIG. 8 is a top view of the attached orthodontic bracket of
FIG. 7 during cleaning;
[0033] FIG. 9 is an oblique view of an electric toothbrush with
contoured cup-head relating to another embodiment;
[0034] FIG. 10 is a top view of the electric toothbrush of FIG. 9
with a contoured cup-head;
[0035] FIG. 11 is a sectional view of the toothbrush of FIG. 10
along line C-C.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0036] In the preferred embodiment, a manual toothbrush 10, as
shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, includes a shank 14, a handle 16 and a head
12. Head 12 is contoured in both the longitudinal and the
transverse directions to define a concave undersurface 18. The
plurality of bristles 19 project from the undersurface 18 which in
their orientation and inclination define a concavity generally
complementary to the recess 18.
[0037] The curvature of the head 12 can best be seen in reference
to both FIG. 3 and FIG. 4. The head 12 has a "C" shaped transverse
and longitudinal curvature having a uniform thickness with the
undersurface 18 terminating at an upstanding smoothly curved rim 20
that extends about the periphery of the undersurface 18 and forms a
perimeter for a cavity formed within head 12 by undersurface 18.
When head 12 is viewed from the top (see FIG. 2), surface 18 may
also be seen as a top surface of a cavity formed within head 12 by
rim 20 upwardly extending around the perimeter of surface 18. For
consistency, surface 18 will be referred to as "undersurface" 18
throughout this description.
[0038] Rim 20 may be seen to have different sections or ridges
extending upwardly from the undersurface 18, such as transverse
ridges 20a and 20b, longitudinal ridges 20c and 20d. Transverse and
longitudinal is in relation to a longitudinal axis 55, such axis 55
generally extending lengthwise along the elongated body, including
handle 16 and shank 14, of toothbrush 10. As ridges 20a, 20b, 20c
and 20d may be curved, "tansverse" refers to a direction that
crosses longitudinal axis 55, and "longitudinal" refers to a
direction that does not cross axis 55.
[0039] A ridge may simply be a section of rim 20. For the
embodiment, ridges 20a to 20d are arranged to be continuous to form
rim 20, with each ridge being a section of rim 20. It will be
appreciated that in other embodiments, ridges 20a to 20d need not
be continuous and may be spaced apart with lateral ends of a ridge
located near a lateral end of another ridge, or that a toothbrush
head will only have ridges 20a or 20b in combination with one or
more other ridges.
[0040] A set of the bristles 19e are attached to extend outwardly
from the undersurface 18 of the head 12, and sets of bristles 19a
to 19d project outwardly, or radially in case of a generally
smoothly curved ridge, from each of ridge 20a to 20d of the rim 20.
In a preferred embodiment, the set of bristles 19e extends
substantially orthogonally from undersurface 18. This arrangement
allows the transverse and longitudinal curvature of the head 12 to
determine the inclination of the bristles in the transverse plane.
It is appreciated that the views given in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 are
exaggerated to illustrate the effect that the curvature of the
toothbrush head 12 imposes on the brush profile. It may also be
appreciated that the number of bristles shown in either view does
not represent the actual number of bristles that would be used. The
bristles are intentionally enlarged and exaggerated to illustrate
the bristle arrangement and overall brush profile.
[0041] A partial view of a human mouth 24 is shown in FIG. 5. A
tooth 25 within the mouth 24 has fixed to it, an orthodontic
bracket 27. The orthodontic bracket 27 includes a front face 42 and
a base which is more specifically defined by a gingival surface 26,
a incisal or occlusal surface 32, a distal surface 30 and a mesial
surface 28. The mesial surface 28 and the distal surface 30 are
defined as such assuming in the preferred embodiment that the
toothbrush 10 will travel across the mouth 24 from left to right
(right to left on the page) as operated by a human which is
right-handed. It is appreciated that the mesial surface 28 and
distal surface 30 may be defined in the opposite sense in the case
that the toothbrush 10 is travelling from right to left across the
mouth.
[0042] The important areas to be cleaned around an orthodontic
bracket 27 include the four surfaces defined by the bracket base
26, 28, 30 and 32, the front face 42, the gingival margin 36 and
the interproximal areas 34. The difficulty in targeting the
important areas to be cleaned with a prior art toothbrush is
increased due to the natural curvature of the human tooth 25. As
can been seen more clearly in FIG. 6, the tooth 25 has curvature in
both the occlusogingival direction 38 and the mesiodistal direction
40. The benefit of both the transverse and longitudinal curvature
of the undersurface 18 of toothbrush head 12 is that the bristles
19 will follow the natural curvatures of the tooth 25 while
targeting the areas around the orthodontic bracket 27, the gingival
margin 36 and the interproximal areas 34. The concavity of the
bristles is provided by the curvature of the undersurface 18 by the
substantially orthogonal attachment of the individual bristles to
the curved toothbrush head 12.
[0043] To illustrate the operation of the toothbrush 10, reference
is now made to FIG. 7. In FIG. 7, it is evident that the curvature
of the toothbrush head 12 is beneficial in allowing the bristles 19
to follow the occlusogingival direction 38 of the tooth. It can
also be seen that the orthogonally attached bristles positioned on
undersurface 18 and rim 20 are effective at targeting the gingival
surface 26 and the incisal/occlusal surface 32 of the bracket base
as well as the gingival margin 36 and the exposed lower surface 41
of the tooth 25. The bristles 19 attached along the innermost
surface of the undersurface 18 create a substantially flat profile
and it is evident that this bank of bristles 19 is effective in
cleaning the front surface 42 of the orthodontic bracket 27.
[0044] To further illustrate the operation of the toothbrush 10,
reference is now made to FIG. 8. FIG. 8 shows a top view of the
toothbrush 10 while cleaning around an orthodontic bracket 27. It
is evident from this view that the longitudinal curvature of the
brush head 12 is beneficial in allowing the longitudinal brush
profile to follow the mesiodistal curvature 40 of the tooth 25. The
bristles 19 orthogonally attached to the fore and after limits of
the longitudinal head 12 are effectively angled towards the mesial
surface 28 and the distal surface 30 of the bracket base as well as
the interproximal areas 34 and remaining exposed marginal surfaces
43 of the tooth 25. It can also be seen in this view that the
substantially flat bank of bristles located on the innermost
surface of the longitudinal curvature 22 is effective in targeting
the front surface 42 of the orthodontic bracket 27.
[0045] In another embodiment of the present invention, an electric
toothbrush 44 is shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. The electric toothbrush
44 primarily consists of a head 46, a shank 48 and a handle 50. The
handle 50 contains the required battery powered components (not
shown) to circularly rotate the head 46 at a suitable speed. The
handle 50 additionally may include a switch 52 to put the electric
toothbrush 44 in an "ON" or "OFF" position. Since the head 46 has a
circular profile as seen from above, the top portion of the head 46
is symmetrically concave to form a "cup" shaped contour or cavity.
The circular, symmetrical shape is preferred to facilitate a
circular rotation of the toothbrush head 46. Similar to head 12
described earlier, head 46 can be seen to have a rim 56 that frames
the perimeter of an undersurface 57 of head 46. There exists a
plurality of bristles attached to the "cup" shaped contour head 46
extending outwardly from undersurface 57 and rim 56 to define a
brush profile 54. This brush profile 54 is three dimensional due to
the "cup" shape defined by the upper portion of the head 46. In a
preferred embodiment, the plurality of bristles are substantially
orthogonal to the surface from which they project.
[0046] For the embodiment, rim 56 may also be divided into
sections, or ridges 56a, 56b, 56c and 56d that may be described in
relation to a longitudinal axis 58 of toothbrush 44. As head 46 is
circular, each of ridges 56a-56d is a quadrant of the circumference
of a circle. As shown in FIG. 10 when head 46 is not in motion,
ridges 56a and 56b are transverse relative to axis 58 as they cross
the longitudinal axis 58, and ridges 56c and 56d are longitudinal
relative to axis 58 as they do not cross axis 58. It will be
appreciated that in other embodiments ridges 56a to 56d may not
continuous and have a lateral end of one ridge located near a
lateral end of another ridge, or that in other embodiments ridges
56a to 56d may not be curved, or that rim 56 may not contain the
full complement of four ridges.
[0047] Reference is now made to FIG. 11 showing a cross-sectional
view of line C-C of FIG. 10. Similar to the manual toothbrush 10,
the bristles of the electric toothbrush 44 are dictated by the
curvature of the head 46, effectively targeting the exposed areas
of the tooth 25, the gingival margin 36, the interproximal areas 34
and the surfaces of the base 26, 28, 30 and 32 of an orthodontic
bracket 27 as mentioned in reference to the manual toothbrush 10.
It is understood that the angled nature of the bristles will target
areas similar to that of the manual toothbrush 10. The electric
toothbrush 44 is beneficial in that it will rotate around the base
of the orthodontic bracket 27 at a suitable speed and can clean the
areas targeted by the bristles at an increased rate. The circular
"cup" shaped head 46 will surround the orthodontic bracket 27 and
the bristles located on the outer surface of the curved head 46
will target the remaining desired areas similar to that
accomplished by the manual toothbrush 10.
[0048] In further embodiments, it is understood that the "C" shape
defining the curvature of the head 12 may be modified to suit teeth
25 which do not have orthodontic brackets 27 attached thereto. A
modification of the bristle length and a flattening of the "C"
shape would allow the head 12 to clean the entire outer surface of
the tooth 25. This would allow the brush profile 18 to follow the
occlusogingival curvature 38 and mesiodistal curvature 40 of the
tooth 25 while continuing to clean the gingival margin 36 and the
interproximal areas 34. In still further embodiments, it will be
appreciated that toothbrush heads 12 or 46 may be detachable from
toothbrush 10 or 44, respectively, to facilitate replacement of
heads 12 or 46 as bristles are worn out.
[0049] Although the invention has been described with reference to
certain specific embodiments, various modifications thereof will be
apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the
spirit and scope of the invention as outlined in the claims
appended hereto.
* * * * *