TOOTH BRUSH

Technical Field

[1] This invention is related to a tooth brush with a special structural shape enabling anterior and posterior part of upper and lower teeth to be evenly cleaned.

Background Art

[2] In general, people use a tooth brush and tooth paste regularly to clean the food remnants and plaque which is created by the food dregs. However if one brushes one's teeth from side to side repeatedly, one's teeth and gum get to be damaged.

[3] There are several recommendable ways to brush the teeth. For example, it's known to be a good practice to brush the outer surface of the upper and lower teeth from the top to the bottom. When brushing the teeth, one is recommended to revolve the tooth brush or move it vertically. And for the inner surface of incisors it's also recommended to move the tooth brush from the bottom to the top. However, if one brushes one's teeth in such a manner with a conventional tooth brush, one gets tired easily in one's wrist or arm and tends to finish brushing quickly. As a result, one may fail in making one's teeth clean. Disclosure of Invention Technical Problem

[4] In order to clean one's teeth in every nook and corner easily, a tooth brush with a bent structure was ever developed. Korean Laid-Open Utility Model No. 20-1987-0004713 (laid-open on Apr. 20, 1987) discloses a tooth brush which is consisted of brush unit and handle, wherein a circular rotor is formed in the lower part of the brush unit, the center and the circumferential extension of which are perforated to form a motor hole and a plural number of angle holes, and the handle, where a switch groove is formed, is engraved with a central axis for fixing the said circular rotor and a motor groove to turn from side to side. The tooth brush is constructed so that the said brush unit may be variably fixed in a position with a given angle by a switch prominently formed on the handle and a rotary rod and a spring of the working rod.

[5] Korean Laid-Open Utility Model No. 20-1997-0048852 (laid-open on Aug. 12,

1997) discloses a tooth brush with an angle adjustable structure. The tooth brush disclosed in the said laid-open utility model has a circular protrusion in one side of the handle, and a circular perforation of C-shape in one side of a brush body. The handle and the brush body are combined with each other and the angle between them can be adjusted at one's option. Furthermore, a magnet is combined with one side of the

handle.

[6] However, even in the case of the said tooth brushes, the handle and the brush are bent only in the unilateral direction so that they have a limitation to removal of plaque from one's teeth, and further, when one brushes one's teeth with either of the said tooth brushes, one gets to feel tired in one's wrist or arm so that one may still has difficulties in cleaning one's teeth.

Technical Solution

[7] The objective of this invention is to provide a tooth brush enabling the brush hairs to get in contact with every nook and corner of one's teeth without feeling tired in one's wrist or arm when one brushes one's teeth by the method of brushing one's teeth which is known to be recommendable.

[8] A tooth brush according to this invention for accomplishing the said objective consists of a handle (10) linearly formed in the longitudinal direction so that it may be held by hand; and

[9] a head (12) bent and extended at an angle of 20° to 70° to the left side against the extensional direction of the said handle (10) and further bent and extended at an angle of 10° to 40° to the rear side of the prominent tooth brush against the axis parallel with the handle (10).

[10] Also it is preferable that the said head (12) is bent and extended with an elliptical curve being formed against the direction in which the handle (10) is extended.

Advantageous Effects

[11] When one brushes one's teeth with the handle (10) of the tooth brush of this invention with one's right hand, the brush gets to be well in contact with every nook and corner of the anterior and posterior teeth of the upper and lower teeth so that its capacity to remove plaque gets to be substantially increased and further, one feels less tired in one's wrist and arm compared with the case one uses a conventional tooth brush with the same tooth paste for the same time by the same method.

[12] In addition, the tooth brush of this invention induces a user to brush the teeth by moving the tooth brush in the vertical direction so that it helps the user get rid of a bad habit of brushing the teeth side by side. Particularly, while it's difficult for the conventional tooth brush to reach the rear surface of the upper or lower teeth, thanks to its enhanced accessability to those area, the tooth brush of this invention remove the plaque efficiently. When one brushes one's teeth with the conventional tooth brush in the horizontal direction, tooth paste often gets to go between hair of the brush so that a lot of tooth paste fails to be used in the actual brushing one's teeth, which results in a large consumption of tooth paste, while the tooth brush of this invention can reduce a consumption of tooth paste by inducing the user to brush the teeth in the vertical

direction.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[13] Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the structure of the tooth brush according to an example of this invention.

[14] Figure 2 is a front view showing the structure of the tooth brush according to an example of this invention.

[15] Figure 3 is a side view showing the structure of the tooth brush according to an example of this invention. Mode for the Invention

[16] Hereafter, a preferable example of this invention is described in detail by reference to the accompanying drawings.

[17] Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the structure of the tooth brush according to an example of this invention. Figure 2 is a front view showing the structure of the tooth brush according to an example of this invention. Figure 3 is a side view showing the structure of the tooth brush according to an example of this invention.

[18] As shown in the figures, a tooth brush of this invention is characterized by comprising a handle (10) linearly formed in the longitudinal direction so that it may be held by hand and a head (12) bent and extended with an elliptical curve being formed at an angle of 20° to 70° to the left side against the extensional direction of the said handle (10) and further bent and extended with an elliptical curve being formed at an angle of 10° to 40°to the rear side of the prominent tooth brush against the axis parallel with the handle (10).

[19] When a right-handed person brushes the rear surface of the lower incisor with a conventional tooth, he/she has to raise his/her hand holding the handle of the tooth brush higher than his/her cavity and the direction in which he/she brushes the teeth is extended. This leads to a small surface area to contact with the brush and further easy tilt of the front part of the brush. After all, this leads to fast deterioration of the tooth brush's cavity to remove plaque. Meanwhile, the tooth brush of this invention has the head (12) bent and extended with an elliptical curve being formed against the direction in which the handle (10) is extended. In this connection, it has been discovered that when one brushes one's teeth with the said tooth brush and a part between the handle (10) and the head (12) gets in touch with one's lips, one feels much less uncom- fortableness. That is to say, it is preferable to extend the head in the elliptical form, compared to the circular form.

[20] Meanwhile, when one brushes one's teeth with the handle (10) of the tooth brush of this invention with one's right hand, the brush gets to be well in contact with every nook and corner of the anterior and posterior teeth of the upper and lower teeth so that

its capacity to remove plaque gets to be substantially increased and further, one feels less tired in one's wrist and arm, compared with the case that one uses a conventional tooth brush with the same tooth paste for the same time by the same method.

[21] In addition, the tooth brush of this invention induces a user to brush the teeth by moving the tooth brush in the vertical direction so that it helps the user get rid of a bad habit of brushing the teeth horizontally. Particularly, while it's difficult for the conventional tooth brush to reach the rear surface of the upper or lower teeth, thanks to its enhanced accessability to those area, the tooth brush of this invention remove the plaque efficiently. When one brushes one's teeth with the conventional tooth brush in the horizontal direction, tooth paste often gets to go between hair of the brush so that a lot of tooth paste fails to be used in the actual brushing one's teeth, which results in a large consumption of tooth paste, while the tooth brush of this invention can reduce a consumption of tooth paste by inducing the user to brush the teeth in the vertical direction.

[22] However, in case the head is bent and extended from the said handle (10) at an angle below 20° to the left side against the direction in which the said handle (10) is extended, the accessability to the rear surface area of the upper and lower teeth, where the brush of the conventional tooth brush is not well contact with in a usual posture, is not improved much. And in case the head is bent and extended from the said handle at an angle over 70° to the left side against the direction in which the said handle (10) is extended, the user complains of uncomfortableness resulting from the touch of the handle with his/her lips. Therefore, only in case the head (12) is bent and extended from the said handle (10) with an elliptical curve being formed at an angle of 20° to 70° to the left side against the direction in which the said handle (10) is extended, the objective of this invention can be attained.

[23] Meanwhile, in case the head is bent and extended at an angle below 10° to the rear side of the prominent tooth brush against the axis parallel with the handle (10), the accessability to the rear surface area of the upper and lower teeth, where the brush of the conventional tooth brush is not well contact with in a usual posture, is not improved much. And in case the head is bent and extended at an angle of over 40° to the rear side of the prominent tooth brush against the axis parallel with the handle (10), the user complains of poor engagement between the brush and the teeth. Therefore, only in case the head (12) is bent and extended with an elliptical curve being formed at an angle of 10° to 40° to the rear side of the prominent tooth brush against the axis parallel with the handle (10), the objective of this invention can be attained.

[24] Of course, even if one uses the conventional tooth brush, one can brush one's teeth in every nook and corner with care, like the case of using the tooth brush of this invention, but the user gets to feel tired easily in his wrist and arm, and the brush also

gets to be abraded fast. This is a noteworthy problem.

[25] 200 subjects, who were randomly selected for a comparative experiment, were divided into two groups, and each group consisted of 100 subjects. 100 subjects of the one group were let to use the conventional tooth brush, while the other 100 subjects of the other group were let to use the tooth brush of this invention. Except the tooth brush, both groups brushed teeth under the same conditions, that is to say, both groups used the same tooth paste, the same brushing method and the same time. Then, the number of subjects complaining of feeling tired and exch tooth brush's capacity to remove plaque from the anterior teeth of the lower teeth were compared between both groups. The results of this experiment are shown in Table 1.

[26] Table 1

[27] Compared with the conventional tooth brush, the tooth brush of this invention has a much enhanced capacity to remove plaque from the rear surface of the upper and lower teeth that is difficult to be brushed, and further has an effect that the user feels much

less tired in his wrist and arm when he/she brushes the teeth in every nook and corner. Industrial Applicability

[28] As mentioned above, the tooth brush of this invention has a much enhanced capacity to remove plaque from the rear surface of the upper and lower teeth that is difficult to be brushed, and further has an effect that the user feels much less tired in his wrist and arm when he/she brushes the teeth in every nook and corner, compared with the conventional tooth brush. In addition, the tooth brush of this invention induces a user to brush the teeth by moving the tooth brush in the vertical direction so that it helps the user get rid of a bad habit of brushing the teeth horizontally. Particularly, thanks to the enhanced accessability to the rear surface of the upper and lower teeth, the tooth brush of this invention has much improved capacity to remove plaque. And the tooth brush of this invention can reduce a consumption of tooth paste by inducing the user to brush the teeth in the vertical direction.