Brushing – scrubbing – and general cleaning – Implements – Brush or broom
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-23
2001-10-30
Warden, Sr., Robert J. (Department: 1744)
Brushing, scrubbing, and general cleaning
Implements
Brush or broom
C015SDIG005
Reexamination Certificate
active
06308367
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates generally to the field of oral care, and in particular to toothbrushes. More particularly, the invention relates to a toothbrushes with a three-dimensional bristle profile to provide improved cleaning of interproximal and gingival marginal regions of teeth.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Toothbrushing and flossing are fundamental steps in achieving good oral hygiene. The practice of flossing, unfortunately, has not met with widespread acceptance among the general populace even though it is acknowledged by the general populace that flossing is something that should be completed as part of good oral hygiene. Furthermore, even people who floss oftentimes do not perform adequate flossing in hard to reach areas of the mouth. Unfortunately, while most commercially available toothbrushes clean the outer buccal face of teeth adequately, they fail to provide improved cleaning of plaque and debris from the gingival margin, interproximal areas, lingual surfaces and other hard to reach areas of the mouth.
One reason that such toothbrushes do not adequately clean the rear-most molars (e.g. wisdom teeth or second molars) is that the one or more tufts secured to the toothbrush head at a location most distal from the toothbrush handle are not angled towards a direction along which the head extends from the handle. As such, these tufts cannot extend far enough past the end of the head of the toothbrush to sufficiently clean the molar teeth in the back of the mouth.
Additionally, in those brushes having tufts of bristles which angle towards the handle and other tufts which angle away from the handle, all of such tufts are essentially the same length and have the same cross-section. Consequently, while these angled tufts may clean one part of the teeth in a satisfactory manner, other parts of the teeth will not be cleaned sufficiently due to the homogeneous length, spacing and cross-section of the tufts.
Further, prior art toothbrushes disclose tufts of bristles having at most three different types of cross-sections. However, there are more than three parts of the teeth which need to be cleaned by a brush (e.g. the outer buccal face, gingival margin, interproximal areas, lingual surfaces and rearward most molars). As such, prior art brushes do not provide tufts of sufficiently varied cross-section specifically designed to clean all areas of the teeth.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above. Briefly summarized, according to one aspect of the present invention, a toothbrush includes a handle, a head extending from the handle, and a plurality of tufts of bristles secured to the head. One of the tufts is secured to the head at a location such that no other tuft is secured to the head at a location which is more distal from the handle than the location where the one tuft is secured to the head. The one tuft is angled by about 81 degrees or less relative to an imaginary line which is tangent to or co-planar with a surface of the head through which the one tuft is secured to the head. The one tuft is tilted away from the handle towards a direction along which the head extends from the handle.
By angling the one tuft as described in the previous paragraph, the tuft is able to extend past the end of the head of the toothbrush and thus clean molars in the back of the mouth in a more sufficient manner.
According to another aspect of the invention, a toothbrush includes a handle, a head extending from the handle, and a plurality of tufts of bristles secured to the head. Two of the tufts are each at an acute angle relative to an imaginary line which is tangent to or co-planar with a surface of the head through which the two tufts are secured to the head. The two tufts have a different characteristic from each other selected from the group of characteristics consisting of length, cross-section, color, material and combinations thereof.
Providing angled tufts which vary in their length, cross-section, color, materials or combinations thereof, allows such angled tufts to clean more than one part of the teeth. For example, one type of angled tuft will clean the buccal face of teeth while another type of angled tuft will clean the interproximal areas of the teeth.
According to a third aspect of the invention, a toothbrush includes a handle, a head extending from the handle, and, a multiplicity of tufts of bristles secured to the head. The multiplicity of tufts include tufts with at least five different types of cross-sections.
By providing tufts with at least five types of cross-sections, these tufts can clean all areas of the teeth (e.g. the outer buccal face, gingival margin, interproximal areas, lingual surfaces and rearward most molars) properly.
These and other aspects, objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood and appreciated from a review of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and appended claims, and by reference to the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: Re. 19006 (1933-11-01), Graves
patent: D. 289703 (1987-05-01), Yaffe
patent: D. 329946 (1992-10-01), Curtis et al.
patent: D. 329947 (1992-10-01), Curtis et al.
patent: D. 330286 (1992-10-01), Curtis et al.
patent: D. 334288 (1993-03-01), Witzig-Jaggi
patent: 335345 (1886-02-01), Estabrook
patent: D. 349605 (1994-08-01), Schneider et al.
patent: D. 358032 (1995-05-01), Schneider et al.
patent: D. 358486 (1995-05-01), Loew
patent: D. 363373 (1995-10-01), Heinzelman et al.
patent: D. 365209 (1995-12-01), Plummer
patent: D. 368804 (1996-04-01), Yost et al.
patent: D. 370564 (1996-06-01), Moskovich
patent: D. 372584 (1996-08-01), Yost et al.
patent: D. 373681 (1996-09-01), Yost et al.
patent: D. 374122 (1996-10-01), Yost et al.
patent: D. 374350 (1996-10-01), Yost et al.
patent: D. 374775 (1996-10-01), Yost et al.
patent: D. 402116 (1998-12-01), Magloff et al.
patent: D. 405612 (1999-02-01), Swanson
patent: 669402 (1901-03-01), Rose
patent: 1018927 (1912-02-01), Sarrazin
patent: 1753290 (1930-04-01), Graves
patent: 2139245 (1938-12-01), Ogden
patent: 2242743 (1941-05-01), Brown
patent: 3085273 (1963-04-01), Cowan
patent: 3230562 (1966-01-01), Birch
patent: 3375820 (1968-04-01), Kuris et al.
patent: 3378870 (1968-04-01), Matsunaga
patent: 3624667 (1971-11-01), Muhler
patent: 3722020 (1973-03-01), Hills
patent: 4010509 (1977-03-01), Huish
patent: 4081876 (1978-04-01), Pugh
patent: 4167794 (1979-09-01), Pomeroy
patent: 4268933 (1981-05-01), Papas
patent: 4646381 (1987-03-01), Weihrauch
patent: 4706322 (1987-11-01), Nicolas
patent: 4776054 (1988-10-01), Rauch
patent: 4802255 (1989-02-01), Breuer et al.
patent: 4852202 (1989-08-01), Ledwitz
patent: 5046213 (1991-09-01), Curtis et al.
patent: 5257434 (1993-11-01), Nabetani
patent: 5325560 (1994-07-01), Pavone
patent: 5392483 (1995-02-01), Heinzelman
patent: 5398368 (1995-03-01), Elder
patent: 5446940 (1995-09-01), Curtis et al.
patent: 5459889 (1995-10-01), Bauer
patent: 5511275 (1996-04-01), Volpenhein et al.
patent: 5622502 (1997-04-01), Wilkes et al.
patent: 5628082 (1997-05-01), Moskovich
patent: 5735298 (1998-04-01), Mayne et al.
patent: 5742972 (1998-04-01), Bredall et al.
patent: 5802656 (1998-09-01), Dawson et al.
patent: 5926898 (1999-07-01), Kramer
patent: 5930860 (1999-08-01), Shipp
patent: 454913 (1949-03-01), None
patent: 324623 (1957-11-01), None
patent: 919224 (1954-10-01), None
patent: GM 1857519 (1962-06-01), None
patent: GM 1905029 (1964-06-01), None
patent: 44 12 301 C2 (1996-05-01), None
patent: 0885573A1 (1998-12-01), None
patent: 2624360 (1916-06-01), None
patent: 683311 (1930-06-01), None
patent: 2 331 981 (1976-06-01), None
patent: 0017666 (1896-01-01), None
patent: 946283 (1964-01-01), None
patent: 338100 (1936-09-01), None
patent: 260913 (1995-10-01), None
patent: 8500178 (1986-08-01), None
patent: 1752336 (1992-08-01), None
patent: 211672 (1993-08-01), None
patent: 94/09678 (1994-05-01), None
patent: 31917 (1995-11-01), None
patent: WO 96/02165 (1996-02-01), None
patent: 15696 (1996-05
Beals Donna
Castillo Bradley
Masterman Craig
Roberts Michael
Wong-Paredes Maisie
Gillette Canada Company
Howley David A.
Olsen Kaj K.
Warden, Sr. Robert J.
LandOfFree
Toothbrush does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Toothbrush, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Toothbrush will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2568713