Dental Cleaner

This invention relates to improvements in dental cleaners in the nature of toothpicks.

Toothpicks of various kinds have been proposed for cleaning teeth, in particular for cleaning the interdental embrasures. The conventional wood and quill toothpicks are used especially for removing residual food particles from the interdental embrasures. Greater effectiveness is achieved by those toothpicks, the wood of which swells under the action of dental saliva in the interdental embrasure, thereby completely filling the embrasure and at least partially detaching plaque deposits.

It has now been found that the effect of currently known toothpicks can be substantially increased if the latter are flocked. This enables the interdental embrasures to be brushed and thus cleaned by a type of "micro bottle cleaner" even in the concave interdental embrasure.

As compared with the conventional toothpicks, the novel dental cleaner has the advantage of cleaning much more effectively between the bridge anchors and in the sulcus region.

In addition, it can be made so thin that it can be pushed into even the narrowest embrasures to free these from plaque.

Suitable materials for the production of the new dental cleaner, for the support, are wood, bamboo and all physiologically acceptable plastics and metal having sufficient bending strength to push the cleaner into the interdental embrasures in spite of resistance. Plastics and metals can be cast to form a thin sheet and, after solidifying, stamped or processed to form round or angular wires. Among other things, supports made of glass- or carbon fibre-reinforced plastics may also be used. The support can be prepared by roughening or specific shaping such that better adhesion of the adhesive can be achieved for flocking. Shaping can further increase the effectiveness and stability of the toothpick if the plastic films or metal foils are, for example, deformed in the manner of a corrugated sheet. The direct application of the flock bristles to a heated plastic support, without adhesive, is the ideal, giving actual material bonding. In the case of plastic supports, excellent results are furthermore achieved if their surface is etched with a solvent and the thus treated surface is flocked. For certain support material, the use of an adhesive, e.g. araldite, is necessary for flocking.

Advantageously, the support has a length of 5 to 15 cm and the shape of a rod of, for example, round, triangular or polygonal, regular or irregular cross-section. The end to be introduced can be blunt or, preferably, tapered, solid or hollow. The flock coating can likewise be regular or irregular, total or partial stock.

Suitable materials for the bristles are primarily plastics which can be processed to give bristles of very small dimensions, e.g. nylon. Advantageously, the bristles have a length of about 0.3 to 0.8 mm, preferably about 0.5 mm and a diameter of about 1.7 to 5 dtex, preferably about 3.3 dtex, it being possible to apply bristles of various lengths and thicknesses to the same support. The materials can be colourless or dyed in bulk in any desired manner.

Flocking is carried out by known processes, as mentioned above, for example using a suitable physiologically acceptable adhesive or by flocking a still-tacky thermoplastic support surface or by flocking a plastic surface etched with a solvent.

The dental cleaner can be coated in flock of several colours, each colour indicating a different length of bristle. Colours can also indicate the diameter and type of toothpick or simply indicate a country or firm of origin. At the introduction end of the toothpick, the flock coating advantageously is tapered. It is also possible to flock the end with shorter bristles. The flocked toothpick can be provided with disinfectants, fluorides, flavourings or tooth-cleaning agents.

It goes without saying that the flocked toothpick is freed from poorly adhering bristles during manufacture, for example by means of air and brushes before it is sterilized and packed either individually or in a relatively large numbers and, if required, assembled to form a set of various sizes.

FIG. 1 represents a dental cleaner, the support of which has a round, oval or triangular cross-section and is flocked up to the introduction end,

FIG. 2 shows a dental cleaner, the support of which is only partially flocked and tapers to a point at the introduction end;

FIG. 3 shows a dental cleaner, the support of which changes in profile or diameter at intervals in order to achieve a type of sawtooth effect with bristles of equal length;

FIG. 4 shows a dental cleaner, the flock coating of which has been applied in a spiral; and

FIG. 5 shows an embodiment in which the wire-shaped, flocked support is accommodated in a tube-shaped sheath from which it can be pushed out and fixed at any desired length.

In the drawing, the support is in each case indicated 1, the flock coating by 2 and the introduction end by 3.

As can be seen from FIGS. 1 to 3, the flock coating can cover either the entire surface of the support or only part of it, e.g. can leave the introduction end uncovered or be arranged in the form of a spiral or in any desired pattern. It is, for example, possible to apply trademarks or letters etc. by means of the flock coating. However, it is likewise also possible to indicate differences in the length and/or thickness of the bristles by the choice of various bristle colours.

In FIG. 1, the introduction end is blunt, in FIG. 2 pointed and in FIG. 4 quill-shaped. In the case of narrow interdental embrasures, the use of a pointed or quill-shaped introduction end is to be recommended.

FIG. 5 shows an embodiment with a wire-shaped support of about 0.3 mm diameter of metal, carbon-reinforced or glass fiber-reinforced plastic, which is uniformly flocked over a length of about 5 cm. At its rear end, the support is attached to the holder 4 and pushed into the plastic sheath 6. By means of the cam 5, which is moved in a longitudinal groove in the sheath and can be locked at various points by a slight turn into a recess (not shown), the cleaner can either be retracted completely into the sheath or fixed at the desired depth.

It is obvious to the person skilled in the art that numerous further embodiments and materials are possible for the support, the bristles and the arrangement.