FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a combined toothbrush and tongue cleaner which is aimed at facilitating the cleaning of one's teeth and, as may be required, cleaning one's tongue at roughly one and the same time.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION A number of different proposals have been made to provide a combination toothbrush with associated means for cleaning one's tongue. However, as far as applicant is aware, the combinations have been rather unwieldy ; not particularly convenient to use; and certainly less convenient than using a simple toothbrush.

Thus, for example, United States patent No 5,842,247 describes a toothbrush in which the handle has at its end opposite the toothbrush head, an arcuate brush having short bristles for cleaning one's tongue. The combination results in a rather long and unwieldy handle which needs to be reversed in order to clean the tongue subsequent to cleaning the teeth.

Similarly, United States patent No 4,455,704 describes a combination toothbrush and tongue cleaner in which the tongue cleaner assumes the form of a scraper carried at the end of the toothbrush opposite the head. The same type of unwieldy structure results which also needs to be reversed. As a result of the fact that they need to be reversed these combinations also tend to be messy.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION It is an object of this invention to provide a combination toothbrush and tongue cleaner which is more compact and convenient to use than those outlined above.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with this invention there is provided a combination toothbrush and tongue cleaner comprising a handle with a head at one end thereof and wherein the head has on one side thereof a multitude of toothbrush bristles extending in a common general direction to define a toothbrush, the combination toothbrush and tongue cleaner being characterized in that the head has, on the side thereof opposite that from which the toothbrush bristles extend, a tongue cleaner.

Further features of the invention provide for the tongue cleaner to assume the form of an abrasive surface extending over an area corresponding roughly to the area covered by the multitude of toothbrush bristles on the opposite side of the head; for the abrasive surface to be defined by a multitude of relatively short tongue cleaning bristles extending from the head in substantially the opposite direction to that of the toothbrush bristles ; for the toothbrush bristles to have a substantially standard length of about 10 mm with the length of the tongue cleaning bristles being from about 1 to about 5 mm, preferably about 3 mm ; and for the tongue cleaning bristles and toothbrush bristles to each be installed in a series of blind sockets formed in the head during an injection moulding process in the usual manner.

The invention will be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the accompanying drawings :- Figure 1 is a perspective illustration of a combination toothbrush and tongue cleaner according to the invention ; and, Figure 2 is a sectional elevation of the head thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION WITH REFERENCE TO THE DRAWINGS In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings a combination toothbrush and tongue cleaner, generally indicated by numeral (1), is made as a substantially conventional toothbrush with an injection moulded plastics handle (2) and a cleaning head (3) at one end thereof.

The cleaning head includes a toothbrush composed of a multitude of tooth cleaning bristles (4) extending at generally right angles to the length of the head and having a substantially conventional length, generally of the order of 10 mm.

On the opposite side of the head is a multitude of shorter tongue cleaning bristles (5) having a length in the range of about 1 mm to about 5 mm, and preferably about 3 mm, extending over an area approximately corresponding approximately to the area covered by the tooth cleaning bristles on the opposite side of the head.

Both the multitude of tooth cleaning bristles and the multitude of tongue cleaning bristles can be installed in any suitable way such as in bundles (6) thereof in a prefabricated injection moulded plastics handle having a head with a series of sockets on each side for receiving the doubled-over ends of a bundle of bristles generally defined by monofilaments. The sockets on each

side of the head are, for reasons of strength, staggered relative to each other, as shown clearly in Figure 2. Of course, the flexibility and diameter of the bristles of the two sets thereof can be selected to be different according to requirements or, they could be the same.

It has been found that this particular arrangement of tongue cleaning bristles on the head opposite the tooth cleaning bristles is extremely convenient to use and the construction results in a combination article which is substantially no bigger or less convenient to use them a conventional toothbrush. Also, the combination toothbrush and tongue cleaner according to the invention can be used without removing the cleaning head from one's mouth at the time it is used and this gives rise to a substantial saving in time and also avoids cleaning up any additional mess occasioned by water and possibly also cleaning materials such as toothpaste dripping off the free end of the handle following the changing of the ends thereof.

Various modifications may be made to the embodiment of the invention described above without departing from the scope hereof. In particular, the tongue cleaner may be formed otherwise than by way of a multitude of bristles. The tongue cleaner could be a series of transverse scraper formations optionally moulded integral with the handle or it could be defined by any other abrasive layer applied to the toothbrush head. Such an abrasive layer could, for example, be a pad of scouring material, for example one formed as a series of flexible, but adequately rigid loops fixed relative to each other in a random configuration.