INTERDENTAL BRUSH FOR CLEANING INTERDENTAL SPACES AND/OR DENTAL IMPLANTS

Abstract

An interdental brush (10) for cleaning gaps between teeth and/or dental implants includes a brush head (11, 19, 22) which has a longitudinal bristle carrier (13, 20) and a plurality of bristles (16, 23). The bristles (16, 23) extend away from the bristle carrier (13, 10) in a radially outward manner. To ease cleaning of the gaps between teeth and/or a dental implant, in particular to reduce the risk of injury when using an interdental brush (10), the brush head (11, 19, 22) of the interdental brush (10) is embodied as a single-component injection molded part.

Claims

1. An interdental brush for cleaning interdental spaces and/or dental implants, the interdental brush comprising: a brush head comprising an elongated bristle carrier and a plurality of bristles, wherein the bristles extend away from the bristle carrier in a radially outward manner, wherein the brush head is configured as a single-component injection-molded part.

2. An interdental brush in accordance with claim 1, wherein the brush head with the bristle carrier and with the bristles is manufactured from a single plastic material suitable for the injection molding of plastics, wherein the brush head, the bristle carrier and/or the bristles are elastic.

3. An interdental brush in accordance with claim 1, wherein directly adjacent bristles are arranged, in a plane extending at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the bristle carrier, with an angle difference of less than 90.

4. An interdental brush in accordance with claim 1, wherein the bristles have a bristle length in the range of 1 mm to 2.5 mm and the bristles taper away from the bristle carrier in the direction of a bristle tip, wherein the bristle tip has a rounded configuration.

5. An interdental brush in accordance with claim 1, wherein the bristles have a circular or essentially semicircular or crescent-shaped cross section, and the bristles have a first wall section with a bent and/or essentially semicircular cross section and a flat, planar, second wall section.

6. An interdental brush in accordance with claim 1, wherein the bristles have a maximum diameter in the range of 0.1 mm to 0.25 mm associated with a bristle base, which faces away from a bristle tip and is connected to the bristle carrier.

7. An interdental brush in accordance with claim 1, wherein the bristle carrier and/or a bristle area of the bristle carrier, which area is provided with the bristles, has a length in the range of 5 mm to 35 mm, wherein the bristle carrier has a diameter in the range of 0.5 mm to 1.5 mm.

8. An interdental brush in accordance with claim 1, wherein the bristle carrier has a conical shape, wherein the bristle carrier tapers from an end arranged on a grip part in the direction of a tip of the bristle carrier, the bristle carrier having a maximum diameter in the range of 0.5 mm to 2 mm and having a minimum diameter in the range of 0.2 mm to 1 mm.

9. An interdental brush in accordance with claim 1, wherein the number of bristles on the bristle carrier is in the range of 150 to 1,000 bristles.

10. An interdental brush in accordance with claim 1, wherein a flow path to wall thickness ratio for the brush head is greater than 20.

11. An interdental brush in accordance with claim 1, further comprising a grip part connected to the brush head, the brush head and the grip part being configured as a single-component injection-molded part or as a two-component injection-molded part, the grip part being made of a different plastic than the brush head in case of a two-component injection-molded part.

12. An interdental brush in accordance with claim 11, wherein a plastically deformable aligning segment is arranged between the brush head and the grip part for manually aligning the brush head in relation to the grip part, wherein a longitudinal axis of the brush head and/or of the bristle carrier can be aligned and/or bent by up to 90 from the longitudinal axis of the grip part by means of the aligning segment.

13. An interdental brush in accordance with claim 3, wherein directly adjacent bristles are arranged, in a plane extending at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the bristle carrier, with an angle between 30 and 40.

14. An interdental brush in accordance with claim 4 wherein, the bristles have a bristle length in the range of 1.95 mm or 2 mm, and the bristles.

15. An interdental brush in accordance with claim 6 wherein, the bristles have a maximum diameter of 0.1 mm or 0.2 mm.

16. An interdental brush in accordance with claim 7 wherein, the bristle carrier and/or a bristle area of the bristle carrier, which area is provided with the bristles, has a length in the range of 12 mm to 20 mm and the bristle carrier has a diameter in the range of 0.5 mm to 1.5 mm

17. An interdental brush in accordance with claim 8 wherein, the bristle carrier has a maximum diameter in the range of 0.6 mm to 1.4 mm and having a minimum diameter in the range of 0.4 mm to 0.9 mm.

18. An interdental brush in accordance with claim 9 wherein, a number of bristles on the bristle carrier is in the range of 300 to 840 bristles.

19. An interdental brush in accordance with claim 10, wherein the flow path to wall thickness ratio for the brush head is in a range of 20 to 60.

20. An interdental brush in accordance with claim 11, a plastically deformable aligning segment is arranged between the brush head and the grip part for manually aligning the brush head in relation to the grip part, wherein a longitudinal axis of the brush head and/or of the bristle carrier can be aligned and/or bent by up to 45 from the longitudinal axis of the grip part by means of the aligning segment.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] In the drawings:

[0025] FIG. 1 is a perspective side view of an interdental brush according to the present invention;

[0026] FIG. 2 is a perspective side view of a brush head for the interdental brush according to the present invention according to FIG. 1;

[0027] FIG. 3 is a side view of the interdental brush according to the present invention according to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2;

[0028] FIG. 4 is a side view of the brush head according to FIGS. 2 and 3; and

[0029] FIG. 5 is a perspective side view of a second brush head for an interdental brush according to the present invention;

[0030] FIG. 6 is a perspective side view of another brush head for an interdental brush according to the present invention, and

[0031] FIG. 7 is a front view of an individual bristle.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0032] Referring to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows a perspective side view of an interdental brush 10 according to the present invention. The interdental brush 10 has a brush head 11 and a grip part 12. The brush head 11 has an elongated bristle carrier 13, which has an essentially rod-shaped configuration. The bristle carrier 13 has an exposed tip 14 in this exemplary embodiment. Furthermore, the tip 14 has a hemispherical configuration in this exemplary embodiment. In an alternative embodiment, bristles, not shown more specifically here, may extend from the outer circumference of the hemispherical tip 14 in a radially outward manner and away from the hemispherical surface of the tip 14. The hemispherical tip 14 has a maximum diameter and the bristle carrier 13 has a minimum diameter of 0.9 mm in this exemplary embodiment. An end of the bristle carrier 13 facing away from the tip 14 passes over into the essentially cylindrical grip part 12. An aligning segment 15 is arranged between the brush head 11 and the grip part 12 in this exemplary embodiment.

[0033] A plurality of bristles 16 extend from the outer circumference of the elongated bristle carrier 13 in a radially outward manner in relation to the longitudinal axis of the bristle carrier 13. Not all bristles 16 are provided with a reference number for the sake of greater clarity. A bristle area of the bristle carrier 13, which area is provided with bristles 16, has a length of 15 mm in this exemplary embodiment. The brush head 11, comprising the bristle carrier 13 and the bristles 16, is formed from a single-component plastic material and is made as a single-component injection-molded part. The bristle carrier 13 and the bristles 16 are elastic and flexible. The grip part 12 has a length that is shorter than the length of the brush head 11 and of the bristle carrier 13 in this exemplary embodiment.

[0034] FIG. 2 shows a perspective side view of the brush head 11 for the interdental brush 10 according to the present invention according to FIG. 1. The bristles 16 have an outwardly conically tapering shape. The bristles 16 have a bristle length of about 1 mm in this exemplary embodiment. Furthermore, the bristles 16 have a conical shape. The bristles 16 have each a bristle tip 17, which has a hemispherical configuration in this exemplary embodiment. The bristles 16 have a bristle base 18 each at the end facing away from the exposed bristle tip 17. The bristle base 18 is connected in one piece to the bristle carrier 13. The bristles 16 have their maximum diameter each, which equals 0.2 mm in this exemplary embodiment, in the area of the bristle base 18. Not all bristle tips 17 and bristle bases 18 are provided with a reference number for the sake of greater clarity.

[0035] FIG. 3 shows a side view of the interdental brush 10 according to the present invention according to FIGS. 1 and 2. The aligning segment 15, which can clearly be seen here, provides a kinking point for bending the brush head 11 by up to 90 in relation to the longitudinal axis of the grip part 12 when needed. Starting from the aligning segment 15 or the grip part 12, the elongated bristle carrier 13 tapers in the direction of the tip 14. The bristle carrier 13 has a slightly conical configuration in this exemplary embodiment.

[0036] FIG. 4 shows a side view of the brush head 11 according to the above figures. The bristles 16 are arranged in a plurality of planes along the longitudinal axis of the elongated bristle carrier 13. The planes of the bristles 16 are aligned here each at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the bristle carrier 13 and parallel to one another. A total of 50 planes of bristles 16 are arranged following each other in the longitudinal direction of the bristle carrier 13.

[0037] Furthermore, ten bristles 16 are located at uniformly spaced locations from one another in a plane extending at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the bristle carrier 13 in this exemplary embodiment. The angle difference between two directly adjacent bristles 16 in the same plane at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the bristle carrier 13 equals 36 in this exemplary embodiment. Thus, a total of 500 bristles are arranged on the bristle carrier 13 in this exemplary embodiment.

[0038] Moreover, it can be seen that two planes each that directly follow one another in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the bristle carrier 13 and are aligned at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the bristle carrier 13 are provided with bristles 16 offset by half the angle difference between two directly adjacent bristles 16 in the same plane.

[0039] FIG. 5 shows a perspective side view of a second brush head 19 for an interdental brush according to the present invention. The second brush head 19 may be provided instead of the brush head 11 according to FIGS. 1 through 4.

[0040] Just like the brush head 11 according to FIGS. 1 through 4, the second brush head 19 also has an elongated bristle carrier 20, which has an essentially rod-shaped configuration and an exposed tip 21. Furthermore, the tip 21 has a hemispherical configuration in this exemplary embodiment. In an alternative embodiment, bristles, not shown more specifically here, may extend from the outer circumference of the hemispherical tip 21 in a radially outward manner and away from the hemispherical surface of the tip 21. The hemispherical tip 21 has a maximum diameter and the bristle carrier 20 has a minimum diameter of 0.4 mm in this exemplary embodiment. An end of the bristle carrier 20 facing away from the tip 21 is connected to the grip part 12, which is not shown more specifically here. The bristle carrier 20 has a maximum diameter of 0.6 mm at its end facing the grip part 12. The bristle carrier 20 thus has a shape tapering conically towards the tip 21.

[0041] A plurality of bristles 16 extend radially from the outer circumference of the elongated bristle carrier 20 in a radially outward manner in relation to the longitudinal axis of the bristle carrier 20. Not all bristles 16 are provided with a reference number for the sake of greater clarity. The bristle carrier 20 has a length of 16.4 mm in this exemplary embodiment, and a section in the area of the tip 21 remains free from bristles in this example. The brush head 19, comprising the bristle carrier 20 and the bristles 16, is formed from a single plastic material and is formed as a single-component injection-molded part.

[0042] In this exemplary embodiment, the bristles 16 have a maximum bristle length of about 2 mm in the area of the end facing the grip part 12 and a minimum bristle length of 1 mm in the area of the end facing the tip 21. The bristle length decreases continuously in the direction of the tip, so that an essentially conical envelope is obtained around the bristle tips 17.

[0043] The bristles 16 are arranged in a total of 18 planes following each other in the longitudinal direction of the bristle carrier 20 in this exemplary embodiment. Furthermore, five bristles 16 each are located at uniformly spaced locations from one another in a plane extending at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the bristle carrier 20 in this exemplary embodiment. The angle difference between two directly adjacent bristles 16 in the same plane at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the bristle carrier 20 equals 72 in this exemplary embodiment. Thus, a total of 90 bristles are arranged on the bristle carrier 20 in this exemplary embodiment.

[0044] Moreover, it can be seen that two planes each, which directly follow one another in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the bristle carrier 20 and are aligned at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the bristle carrier 20, are provided with bristles 16 offset by half the angle difference, for example, by 36 here, in relation to the alignment of bristles 16 in an adjacent plane.

[0045] FIG. 6 shows a perspective side view of another brush head 22 for an interdental brush according to the present invention. The other brush head 22 may be provided instead of the brush head 11 according to FIGS. 1 through 4. Reference is made, as above, to the preceding description concerning identical features.

[0046] The other brush head 22 extensively corresponds to the second brush head 19 according to FIG. 5, but the other brush head 22 has twice as many, namely, 180, bristles 16. Two directly adjacent planes of bristles 16 form each a plane pair, in which the bristles 16 of the two individual planes are arranged uniformly on the bristle carrier 20. Thus, a total of 18 plane pairs of bristles 16 and a total of 36 individual planes of bristles 16 are present.

[0047] Two plane pairs 16 with bristles each, which pairs follow each other directly in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the bristle carrier 20 and are aligned at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the bristle carrier 20, are offset by half the angle difference, for example, by 36 here, in relation to the alignment of the bristles 16 in relation to the bristle carrier 20 of an adjacent plane pair.

[0048] FIG. 7 shows a front view of an individual bristle 23. Contrary to a bristle 16 according to FIGS. 1 through 6, which can be considered to be a full bristle, the bristle 23 is configured as half a bristle 16.

[0049] The bristle 23 has an essentially semicircular or crescent-shaped cross section. The bristle 23 has a first wall section 24 with an essentially semicircular cross section and a flat, preferably planar, second wall section 25. Thus, the bristle 23 is a bristle 16 cut in the longitudinal direction. The bristle 23 may be used instead of the bristle 16 or alternatingly with the bristle 16. Starting from a bristle base 26, the bristle 23 tapers in the direction of a bristle tip 27.

[0050] While specific embodiments of the invention have been shown and described in detail to illustrate the application of the principles of the invention, it will be understood that the invention may be embodied otherwise without departing from such principles.