An oral care implement with a soft tissue cleaner. The oral care implement may include a handle and a head, the head having a first surface, and an opposite second surface, and a peripheral surface extending between the first and second surfaces. A soft tissue cleaner may have a first cleaner fixed to the second surface of the head and a second cleaner fixed to the peripheral surface of the head. Furthermore, a second cleaner may incorporate a plurality of grooves extending at least a portion of the distance from the first surface to the second surface along the peripheral surface.

A system or method of forming a handle portion of an oral care implement and a handle portion of an oral care implement formed thereby. The method may include providing a first mold that defines a first mold cavity having a shape that corresponds to the handle portion, injecting a first material into the first mold cavity via a first injection orifice with a first hot runner sub-system, and injecting a second material into the first mold cavity via a second injection orifice with a second hot runner sub-system. The second material is injected into the first material thereby forming the handle portion, with the second material forming a core component of the handle portion and the first material forming a shell component of the handle portion that surrounds the core component.

A toothbrush head, including at least one two-component cleaning element and at least one bristle tuft element, is produced by injection molding. To achieve high design flexibility regarding the arrangement of the two-component cleaning elements and regarding the material choice, the two-component cleaning elements are manufactured separately or in an upstream molding step. Then the two-component cleaning elements, together with the bristle tufts, are over-molded with plastic material, to form the brush head or a part thereof.

Described herein is an oral care implement comprising: a handle; and a head coupled to the handle, the head comprising a main body and a release component coupled to the main body, the release component comprising: a water-dissolvable matrix comprising a first polymer having a processing temperature greater than or equal to 130° C.; and a release agent comprising at least one of zinc oxide, potassium nitrate, and tetrapotassium pyrophosphate; wherein the release agent is dispersed throughout the water-dissolvable matrix.

A multi-component housing having a length and comprising at least a first component comprising a first plastic material, a second component comprising a second plastic material, and a third component comprising a third plastic material. The housing includes at least one tolerance-elimination element made of the second plastic material and longitudinally attached to the first component along the housing's longitudinal axis. The tolerance-elimination element has an average length extending parallel to the housing's longitudinal axis, which average length is at least ten times less than the length of the housing. The third component at least partially forms an outer surface of the housing, so that the tolerance-elimination element is at least partially overmolded by the third plastic material.

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.

A head for a personal care device having a carrier including a front surface, at least one cleaning element partly embedded in the carrier and thus having an embedded cleaning element portion and a non-embedded cleaning element portion extending from the front surface of the carrier between a base end on the front surface and a free end; the embedded cleaning element portion extending from the front surface between a top end on the front surface and a bottom end, wherein the base end of the non-embedded cleaning element portion has a base end cross-sectional shape and a base end cross-sectional area, and the top end of the embedded cleaning element portion has a top end cross-sectional shape that is different to the base end cross-sectional shape and a top end cross-sectional area that is larger than the base end cross-sectional area.

The various embodiments described herein include methods, devices, and systems for customizing dental care. In one aspect, personalized toothbrush devices are 3-D printed for a plurality of users. A 3-D dental model of a respective user's mouth is obtained, and a configuration for a mouthpiece of a respective personalized toothbrush device is determined. The respective personalized toothbrush device is 3-D printed, and includes a top cleaning tray, a bottom cleaning tray, and a set of cleaning elements, each customized based at least in part on the 3-D dental model of the respective user's mouth. Each personalized toothbrush device is 3-D printed for each respective user of the plurality of users, and is different from every other user's personalized toothbrush device.

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.

An oral care implement comprises a head and a handle, the head being repeatedly attachable to and detachable from the handle. The head is made from a non-magnetic and/or non-ferromagnetic material, while the handle is at least partially made from a magnetic and/or ferromagnetic material.