Tongue cleaner

Details Tongue cleaner Tongue cleaner

1996-06-19

2001-01-09

Buiz, Michael (Department: 3731)

Surgery

Instruments

Optic, otic or oral scrapper or abrader

C600S570000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06171323

ABSTRACT:

The present invention relates generally to tongue cleaners, i.e., articles which are used to scrape the upper surface of a person's tongue.
Examples of tongue cleaners are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. D221,036 and D338,084, which issued to Dasan Potti, one of the applicants of the present application. At one end of the shank, a portion flares outwardly to support, at an end of the tongue cleaner, a tongue scraping edge. The edge is moved over the tongue's upper surface from rear to front perhaps 2 to 3 times firmly scraping the upper surface. Such a tongue cleaning exercise is performed, after brushing teeth, to cause the taste buds to “wake up” and halitosis to diminish. By removing growing bacteria and decaying food particles that cause plaque, tongue cleaning by use of such a device may minimize tooth decay and gum disease (gingivitis). Unlike a toothbrush, such a tongue cleaning device cleans the tongue gently and smoothly.
It is considered desirable to scrape the entire upper surface of the tongue. While the anterior portion of the tongue may be easily reached by the tongue cleaners in the above patents, the posterior part of the tongue extends or slopes downwardly so that it is not as easy for a tongue cleaner to reach this posterior portion. Thus, it may uncomfortably require the person to tilt the shank up to the roof of the mouth, which many persons may choose to ignore to do.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a tongue cleaner which allows the entire tongue including the posterior portion to be more easily cleaned.
In order that a person may be able to easily reach the posterior portion of the tongue for cleaning thereof, in accordance with the present invention, a tongue cleaner portion which supports the edge portion for scraping the tongue is skewed relative to the shank to slope downwardly, following the downward slope of the posterior portion of the tongue, for effective engagement of the edge with the posterior portion of the tongue without the user having to uncomfortably tilt the shank toward the roof of the mouth.
The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be apparent in the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment thereof when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein the same reference numerals denote the same or similar parts throughout the several views.


REFERENCES:
patent: D. 106324 (1937-10-01), Nuessle et al.
patent: D. 221036 (1971-06-01), Potti
patent: D. 276088 (1984-10-01), Fong
patent: D. 309040 (1990-07-01), Poon
patent: D. 316617 (1991-04-01), Cheung
patent: D. 338084 (1993-08-01), Potti
patent: 1811775 (1931-06-01), Barkwill
patent: 2543999 (1951-03-01), Voss
patent: 2574654 (1951-10-01), Moore
patent: 3101727 (1963-08-01), Wiseman
patent: 3477435 (1969-11-01), Artelli
patent: 4911187 (1990-03-01), Castillo
patent: 5005246 (1991-04-01), Yen-Hui
patent: 659404 (1929-06-01), None

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