The present invention relates to a toothbrush and, more particularly, to a toothbrush produced by providing soft bristles on a side of a solid bar and capable of easily and simultaneously cleaning a total of six surfaces, e.g., upper and lower flat surfaces, upper left and upper right side surfaces, and lower left and lower right side surfaces, of teeth based on a simple user operation of grasping the toothbrush with a hand.

Tooth brushing monitoring system is disclosed that includes an oral hygiene device with a separate an optical sensor to track positional changes of the oral hygiene device. The optical sensor may alone or in combination with motion sensor data determine position and orientation of an oral hygiene device with respect to a user's mouth. The system may then determine the quality, quantity and location of brushing and provide feedback on the quality of brushing. This feedback provides motivation for users to increase their brushing habits, leading to a decrease in plaque, tooth decay and gingivitis.

There is provided a personal care apparatus that is configured to connect to a display apparatus. The personal care apparatus comprises a first control unit configured to: determine a current operation mode of the personal care apparatus as a usage mode or a control mode, and detect a first predetermined user maneuver. The first predetermined user maneuver corresponds to a control operation of the personal care apparatus in the usage mode and corresponds to a control operation of the display apparatus in control mode. When the first predetermined user maneuver is detected, the first control unit is further configured to: perform the control operation of the personal care apparatus if the determined current operation mode is the usage mode, or transmit a control signal corresponding to the control operation of the display apparatus to the display apparatus if the determined current operation mode is the control mode.

A method (300) for determining a brushing angle of an oral care device (10) is provided. The method includes the steps of: generating (310), by a controller (30) of the oral care device, a drive signal to move a drive train (24) and produce a motion of a bristle field (18) of the oral care device; measuring (320), via a sensor (28), force applied by a user to the bristle field of the oral care device; and determining (330), by the controller of the oral care device, a brushing angle of the bristle field relative to a surface of the user's oral cavity based at least in part on the generated drive signal and the measured force to the bristle field.

An oral care implement including a handle and an oral care refill head. The handle has a gripping portion, an engagement component coupled to a distal end of the gripping portion, and a stem. The engagement component includes a plate portion and a first engagement feature. The stem extends through an opening in the engagement component and protrudes from the plate portion. The oral care refill head includes an oral care treatment portion and a sleeve portion. The sleeve portion has an inner surface that defines a sleeve cavity having a cavity axis and a second engagement feature. When the oral care refill head is detachably coupled to the handle, the first and second engagement features mate with one another to at least one of: (1) position the oral care refill head and the handle in an operational alignment; and (2) lock the oral care refill head to the handle.

A dental tool can include a handpiece with a working tip. The working tip can be driven by the handpiece to oscillate. The oscillations have a rate of less than 500 cycles per second, in order to reduce or eliminate the generation of aerosols created by oscillation of the working tip. The working tip can include a set of teeth to remove calculus, stains, or plaque from a tooth surface, or can include an abrasive surface or coating, or a prophy cup.

An oral care device is disclosed. The oral care device includes a housing being at least partly formed of an electrically isolating material; a capacitor having a first electrode and a second electrode, the first and second electrodes being electrically isolated by the electrically isolating material of the housing such that they are not exposed to an outside environment of the oral care device; and a processor unit being electrically connected to the first and second electrodes. The processor unit is arranged such that during operation of the oral care device it determines a capacitance (x) of the capacitor in order to determine whether the oral care device is within a user's oral cavity or not.

Embodiments of the present disclosure provides oral applicators and methods for applying a substance to a site inside a mouth cavity of a human or an animal. An oral applicator includes a body adapted for being held by a human hand. The oral applicator further includes an applicator head extending from the body. The applicator head also includes an applicator surface distally located in relation to the body and adapted for use in applying the substance to the site. Further, the oral applicator includes a gas stream generator present near the applicator head for directing a stream of gas from the applicator head. The site may be dried during at least one of prior to, during and after an application of the substance. The stream of gas may be directed via an outlet proximate to the applicator surface.

An electric toothbrush apparatus including an electric toothbrush handle and a cap coupled thereto for protecting tooth cleaning elements and a user actuatable switch. The electric toothbrush apparatus includes an electric toothbrush handle extending along a handle axis. The electric toothbrush handle comprises a handle portion comprising user actuatable input means, a power source, and a motion inducing assembly. A cap is detachably coupled to the electric toothbrush handle. The cap comprises a tubular sidewall forming a cavity about a cap axis and a protective member axially extending from a bottom edge of the tubular sidewall in a cantilevered manner so as to overly the user actuatable input means to prevent accidental actuation thereof.

The invention relates an electrical cleaning and care appliance, pressure alarming method and apparatus for the appliance. Transducer elastic members of the appliance engage in resonance oscillation motion with bending strain characteristics, are symmetrically distributed on the left and right sides of the longitudinal axis (L.sub.2) of a drive shaft, and have approximately equal section moduli in bending, approximately equal lengths, approximately equal deflection amplitudes and opposite flexure directions; the angle between the longitudinal axis (L.sub.1) of a cleaning element and the normal direction of the transducer elastic member plane is 0° to 60°; the frequency of the alternating current in a drive coil is a fixed value equal to f.sub.0max−n, where n is a fixed value in the range of −0.3(f.sub.0max−f.sub.0min) to 0.85(f.sub.0max−f.sub.0min). Therefore, the appliance has a higher mechanical efficiency, a simple structure and a lower cost.