TOOTHBRUSHES

Field of the invention

The present invention relates to toothbrushes.

Background of the invention

The predominant type of toothbrush on the market today and which has been

used over many years since the late 1930s when the advent of nylon bristles and

plastic handles made toothbrushes more affordable, have employed the use of a

brush head attached to a long handle for operating the toothbrush.

In the majority of cases, the body of the toothbrush head is arranged

longitudinally of the handle so that whereas of course such designs permit users

to clean their teeth with a mixture of vertical, horizontal and rotational movement of the brush head around the teeth particularly the generally recommended vertical brushing by dentists to facilitate removal of debris between the teeth, the

presence of the long handle requires a large amount of wrist movement and does not encourage the user to manipulate the brush head vertically. Thus horizontal

scrubbing by a toothbrush user with conventional long handled toothbrushes

often becomes the norm.

Electrical toothbrushes nowadays have above 50% of the market and are

probably more effective for cleaning, utilising a rotating or oscillating action.

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They have disadvantages however since they are not conveniently portable and

function less efficiently if not charged regularly and adequately. They also

employ long handles as with the manual type of toothbrush.

In prior art US Patent 6 094 768 there is described a toothbrush designed to

dissuade users from habitually brushing their teeth with horizontal push and pull

movements and in a direction parallel to the rows of teeth from the incisors to the molars.

The toothbrush disclosed in this prior document has a specially designed long handle which when held in the hand and used promotes a certain arm and wrist

movement so as to cause the bristle head of the toothbrush naturally to brush

the teeth with transverse vertical movements while not of course precluding

horizontally directed strokes.

This is in comparison to other long handled toothbrushes well known in the prior

art which again require a certain amount of wrist and arm action but which by so

doing and as a result of the handle design naturally facilitates horizontal brushing

rather than vertical up and down application of the bristles which is now

recommended by dentists.

While the aim of the cited patent is essentially to achieve the same results as that

of the present invention, it still requires the same amount of wrist and arm

manipulations to achieve the results required when brushing teeth as is the case

with all prior conventional toothbrushes which is an aspect of such conventional

toothbrushes which the present invention aims to avoid.

It is to meet the problems and deficiencies of the prior art that the toothbrush of

the present invention has been conceived. In particular it is an object of the

invention to provide a toothbrush which can be readily operated by finger and

thumb movement and pressure so that all the required brushing movements or

stokes be they horizontal, vertical or rotational are more easily achievable by the

user than with the prior art and to the extent that horizontal scrubbing does not

become the normal method of cleaning.

Summary of the invention

In accordance with the present invention there is provided a toothbrush

comprising a bristled head, a shaft attached at one end to the head and provided

at the other end with a formation having a rearward part which defines the end

of the toothbrush, and means on a forward part of the formation which, with the

rearward part held within the hand, can be engaged by the fingers and thumb of

the hand to manipulate the orientation and movement of the bristle head in the

users mouth thereby to execute vertical, horizontal and rotational strokes to clean

the users teeth.

An advantage of the invention as above defined in that in use, whereas in the

prior art a large amount of wrist movement is necessary to clean the teeth with

attendant difficulty in manipulating the brush vertically, the amount of wrist

movement is minimalised in that the orientation and manipulation of the brush is

done by finger and thumb action with the enlarged or bulbous formation within

the hand acting to give stability to the brushing movement as a whole to achieve

vertical as well as rotational cleaning of the teeth, and so as not to limit cleaning to horizontal scrubbing which can damage the teeth.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent

from the following description of a preferred embodiment taken with reference to the drawings accompanying this application.

Brief description of the drawings

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the

accompanying drawings wherein;

Figure 1 is a side view of the toothbrush according to one embodiment of the

invention.

Figure 2 is an end view of the toothbrush along the direction A-A in figure 1.

Preferred embodiments of the invention

The toothbrush shown in Figures 1 and 2 comprises a rectilinear shaft 1 within the range 5-6cm in length.

A circular brush head 2 is attached to one end of the shaft 1 as shown. Although

not shown in the drawings the circular brush head could be rotatably mounted to

the shaft. The axis of the brush head 2 is at right angles to the axis of the shaft

1. The circular form of the bristles 3 of the brush head 2 is preferred. Other

types such as of squareish form would be just as useful. As shown the brush

head 2 may be more rounded off or reduced in size along the dotted line 2 ¹ .

Although not illustrated, the brush head 2, as well as being rotatable could be

freely mounted for short up and down movements along the length of the shaft

1. These movements could be operated electrically by means known to one skilled in the art.

The shaft 1 has an increasing cross section to the point 4 where it is joined to an

enlarged or bulbous base 5 forming the end of the toothbrush. Although not

shown in detail in the drawings the shaft 1 is replaceably mounted to the bulbous

base 5 as by push-fit engagement or other suitable means understandable to one

skilled in the art. The extent of the bulbous base 5 from point 4 is with the range

5-6cm in length giving a total length of toothbrush of around 11cm. The

maximum cross section of the bulbous based 5 is around 31mm. It will be

apparent therefore that the overall size of the toothbrush is small compared to

conventional toothbrushes, which provides the toothbrush with increased

versatility in use not provided for in the prior art.

The bulbous formation 5 has a collar 6 around the shaft 1 forming a

circumferential transverse ledge 7.

The cross-section of the collar 6 is triangular forming three individual

perpendicular wall parts 8. Each wall part 8 is serrated at 9 as shown.

The bulbous formation 5 has an end section 10 of greater cross-sectional area

than the collar 6 and is joined to the collar by a waisted portion 11 the most reduced cross-section 12 of which is smaller than that of the collar 6.

The end of the bulbous formation 5 is rounded at 13 as shown.

In a preferred embodiment, although not shown in the illustration, the rounded

portion 13 could be flattened off and internally weighted to allow the toothbrush

to be rested on a flat surface when not in use.

The outer size and shape of the end-section 10 of the bulbous formation 5 is so determined that in use it can be positioned within the hand with the thumb and fingers, say the fore and middle fingers for example, engaging the serrated walls

8 of the collar 6 with the middle finger in the waisted portion 11.

In use the brush head is inserted in the mouth and orientated by means of the

fingers and thumb of the hand engaging the wall parts 8 and waisted position 11

so as to perform vertical, horizontal and rotational movements of the brush head

2 within the mouth. By means of the design of the bulbous formation as so

described, ease and stability of rotation and twirling of the bulbous handle within

the palm of the hand is facilitated to access upper and lower teeth on inside and

outside surfaces using vertical and rotational strokes with biting surfaces cleaned by horizontal movement.

The increased circumference above the neck of the bulbous handle 5 formed by

the ledge 7 so described, acts further to prevent and discourage horizontal

scrubbing of outer tooth surfaces, since it contacts the users mouth during use as a result of the chosen length of the shaft 1 thus acting as a form of blocking mechanism to the too vigorous use of the toothbrush in the horizontal direction.

As alluded to earlier, the tooth brush according to the invention and as described above as a preferred embodiment thereof, represents a whole new radical

approach to the cleaning of teeth. Its small size and more user-friendly

construction in relation to the bulky and sometimes cumbersome conventional

designs presently available, is striking, as well as the fact that it provides the

important attribute of being easier to manipulate the toothbrush in a users mouth

and execute those cleaning movements which are the most beneficial from the

standpoint of oral hygiene.