A method of manufacturing a unitary toothbrush head having a base and filaments extending therefrom. The method includes steps of injecting molten plastic material into a mold cavity having a pre-base cavity and a filament cavity extending therefrom; compressing the molten plastic material, once it is essentially filling the pre-base cavity, by impressing a punching tool into the molten plastic material from the rear side of the pre-base cavity being opposite to a side from which the filament cavity extends; and filling the filament cavity with the molten plastic material under the continuous impression of the punching tool.

A cell of a brush making device for making at least a part of a toothbrush, having a pin unit having at least one pin, a pin holding sub-unit and a pin guiding sub-unit, the pin having a first section having a first end and a second section having a second end, the first section having a holding structure, and at least one spring section arranged between the first section and the second section, the pin holding sub-unit having a holding structure that is engaged with the holding structure of the pin for fixedly holding the pin, the pin holding sub-unit and the pin guiding sub-unit being arranged for being movable along a first direction towards and away from each other, and the pin guiding sub-unit having a channel for guiding at least a portion of the second section of the pin, the channel being inclined against the first direction.

This disclosure relates to oral care appliances and methods of forming oral care appliances. A disclosed oral care mouthpiece includes a flexible membrane and a set of oral care elements attached to the flexible membrane. The set of oral care elements have a composition with a hardness of at least 50 Shore Type A (shA). Each oral care elements in the set of oral care elements has a minimum stiffness value higher than 410.sup.8 newton meters and lower than 610.sup.3 newton meters. The stiffness value and hardness of the oral care elements are both critical values for the disclosed appliances and methods. The stiffness value can be expressed as the product of the Young modulus of the oral care element and the moment of inertia of the oral care element divided by the length of the oral care element.

A toothbrush comprised at least one unitary brush head having a base and at least one filament and extending therefrom and having a free end terminating with a tip, wherein the filament has a length of from 6.0 mm to 20.0 mm between the base and the free end, and wherein the unitary brush head is made from a plastic material that has a melt flow rate of not greater than about 30 g/10 min measured in accordance with ISO 1133.

An oral care implement comprises a head and a handle made of a first material. The handle has a distal end and a proximal end closest to the head. The handle comprises a thumb rest made of a second material, the second material being different from the first material. The thumb rest comprises an area from about 202 mm.sup.2 to about 360 mm.sup.2 and has a concave shape. The thumb rest comprises a portion being inclined with respect to a remaining portion of the thumb rest by an angle of about 20 to about 25, the angle being defined by a first line and a second line. The first line extends between a most elevated point and a lowest point of the thumb rest, and the second line extends between the lowest point and an end point of the thumb rest, the end point of the thumb rest being closest to the distal end of the handle.

A method of forming a handle for an oral care implement. The method may include first forming a core structure out of a first hard plastic. Next, an elongated handle body may be formed out of a second hard plastic, whereby during formation the elongated handle body is made to partially surround the core structure, while leaving opposing surfaces of the core structure exposed. Finally, a grip cover may be formed out of a resilient material and positioned over at least a portion of the elongated handle body. The oral care implement handle formed by the method may include a handle having an elongated handle body and a core structure. The elongated handle body may have openings in opposing surfaces. The core structure may be partially surrounded by the elongated handle body while protruding from the openings.

According to a method or an apparatus for fastening bristles in a bristle carrier (10) without using an anchor a heating (39) is provided in a tool part configured to transport the bristles. After inserting the bristles into anchoring openings (12) in the bristle carrier (10), the anchoring openings are closed by applying pressure.

A connector with a first substantially cylindrical section having a cavity with a spring-loaded ball-snap element comprising a ball and a spring. An at least partially conically shaped section connecting the first substantially cylindrical section and a second substantially cylindrical section. The first and the second substantially cylindrical sections and the at least partially conically section define a longitudinal length extension. The first substantially cylindrical section and the second substantially cylindrical section are off-center with respect to the longitudinal length extension. A head having a hollow portion is dimensioned to receive the second substantially cylindrical section, the at least partially conically shaped section and a part of the first substantially cylindrical section. The hollow portion has an inner wall with a circular recess dimensioned to receive the ball, removably attaching the head to the second substantially cylindrical section.

An interdental brush includes a handle, a shank extending therefrom, and a bristle portion disposed around the shank. The bristle portion has a plurality of bristle units, each of which has a loading surface facing the handle and having a diameter larger than a diameter of the shank, and a surrounding wall extending from the loading surface toward a direction opposite to the handle with the extent progressively decreasing therefrom. The loading surface and the surrounding wall converge at a brim. The gradually-reduced arrangement of each surrounding wall facilitates an easy entrance into slits between teeth and provides each loading surface and brim with sufficient support to scrape and remove food debris and tartar while pulling the brush out. The revolution of bristle units around the shank helps the brush touch and massage gingivae in a large area, thereby increasing the effect of cleaning teeth and convenience of use.

A method for manufacturing a brush head (10). The method includes molding a tuft carrier (50) having at least one retention element (52) that are positioned relative to a handling plate (101). Excess material (59) may be removed from the tuft carrier. The retention elements are loaded into recesses of the handling plate. A bristle tuft (21) comprised of a plurality of bristles (22) is inserted into the opening (51) of each retention element. A proximal end (23) of each bristle tuft (21) is bonded together with at least a portion of the proximal side (53) of each corresponding retention element (52) to form a merged proximal end head portion (26) that secures the bristle tufts and retention elements together as a plurality of merged tuft assemblies (20). A platen (42) of a neck (40) is positioned in relation to the merged tuft assemblies using a cavity in a base plate. A matrix material (30) is overmolded to at least partially encompass the platen and the merged tuft assemblies and form the brush head.