JP2008036098A - Cleaning apparatus of oral cavity - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cleaning apparatus of the oral cavity which has sufficient maneuverability even when the mouth is opened just slightly, has excellent cleaning performance and dental plaque removing performance, gives little physical stimulation to the oral tissue, and hardly causes pharyngeal reflex. <P>SOLUTION: The cleaning apparatus comprises a bristling table having a thickness of equal to or more than 1.5 mm and equal to or less than 4.0 mm and a length in the width direction of equal to or more than 6.0 mm and equal to or less than 8.0 mm, a bristling part having a longitudinal length of equal to or more than 14.5 mm and equal to or less than 21.5 mm, and bristles having heights H of equal to or more than 5.0 mm and equal to or less than 10.0 mm. The buckling strength of a brush part is equal to or more than 25 N/cm<SP>2</SP>and equal to or less than 75 N/cm<SP>2</SP>. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to an intraoral cleaning tool, and more specifically, sufficient operability in the oral cavity, excellent brushing properties and plaque removal effect can be obtained even with a small opening, and physical stimulation to oral tissues The present invention relates to an intraoral cleaning tool that is less likely to cause pharyngeal reflexes. The present invention is an intraoral cleaning tool that is particularly useful for people with opening disorders and pregnant women.

There are many people who have troubles in daily life such as meals and oral cleaning because they cannot open their mouths. For example, patients with temporomandibular disorders, patients with severe oral inflammation such as a peritoneal tonsillar abscess, and some elderly people. In general, a state in which only 35 mm or less can be opened is referred to as an opening disorder, and treatment is required because it interferes with daily life. Not only people who have difficulty opening such functions, but also people who have difficulty opening the mouth, such as patients who have been orally intubated. There are people who have difficulty in breathing, and pregnant women who have strong morning sickness and open mouth or reflex pharynx just by putting things in the mouth.

For those who have difficulty in such opening action, it is often not possible to sufficiently open the opening necessary for ensuring the operability and wiping of the oral cleaning tool in the oral cavity, resulting in insufficient oral cleaning. Oral hygiene environment tends to deteriorate. Therefore, an oral inflammatory reaction and caries such as periodontitis and gingivitis occur, and in the worst case, the QOL may be greatly reduced, such as loss of teeth. In particular, elderly and pregnant women generally have factors such as decreased salivary secretion and mucosal tissue changes, increased feeding frequency, changes in salivary components, and reduced resistance to bacteria. Oral hygiene environment is likely to deteriorate compared to other people. For example, there is a report that gestational gingivitis occurs in the majority of pregnant women. Furthermore, it is known that the deterioration of the oral hygiene environment has an adverse effect on the general health. For example, aspiration pneumonia in the case of an elderly person, premature birth in the case of a pregnant woman, and birth of a low-weight infant are known.

Therefore, how to maintain such a person's oral hygiene environment is a major issue. Conventionally, oral cleaning tools such as gargles, interdental cleaning tools, sac-type cleaning tools, and stick-type cleaning tools having a brushing part have been used as solutions to this problem. Since the removal effect is insufficient, the problem has not been solved. It is also possible to use an oral cleaning tool for children with small hair transplants, but the brushed surface of the cleaning tool will be small, so it will be left unpolished or will not reach the back teeth unless it is placed in the mouth to the handle. Therefore, there are problems that the operability in the oral cavity is worse than that of a normal toothbrush and that the pharyngeal reflex is caused.

In many cases, inflammation occurs in the oral cavity. Therefore, it is necessary not to exacerbate inflammation by the cleaning action in the oral cavity, but no solution from this viewpoint has been proposed.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-184937 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-248859 JP 2002-306513 A

Therefore, the problem to be solved by the present invention in view of the above-described situation is that even a small opening can provide sufficient operability in the oral cavity, excellent brushing properties, plaque removal effect, and to oral tissues. It is an object to provide an oral cleaning tool that has less physical irritation, does not worsen inflammation in the oral cavity, and does not easily cause pharyngeal reflexes.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the inventor has conducted intensive studies from both the shape and structure of the cleaning tool portion inserted into the oral cavity and the material of the toothbrush. About 1.5 mm or more and 4.0 mm or less and the length in the width direction is 6.0 mm or more and 8.0 mm or less, and the length in the longitudinal direction of the flocked portion of the flocking table is 14.5 mm or more and 21.5 mm or less. the length (Hair length) at the 5.0mm or 10.0mm or less and, by the buckling strength of the brush portion is to 25 N / cm ² or more 75N / cm ² or less in a sufficient oral cavity with little opening Thus, an oral cleaning tool having sufficient wiping properties was obtained.

That is, the oral cleaning tool according to the present invention has a flocking table having a thickness of 1.5 mm or more and 4.0 mm or less, a length in the width direction of the flocking table of 6.0 mm or more and 8.0 mm or less, The length of the planted portion in the longitudinal direction is 15.0 mm or more and 21.5 mm or less, the length of the bristle (hair length) is 5.0 mm or more and 10.0 mm or less, and the buckling strength of the brush part is 35 N / It is characterized by being not less than cm ^{2 and not} more than 75 N / cm ² .

It is preferable that the length of the neck part which connects the flocking base and handle part of the intraoral cleaning tool of this invention is 45 mm or more and 75 mm or less.

It is preferable that a brush portion in which thermoplastic resin brush bristles are planted by thermal fusion or in-mold method is formed on a flock base of a synthetic resin brush main body of the oral cleaning tool of the present invention.

It is preferable that at least a part of the bristle constituting the brush portion of the present invention is a tapered hair having a cross-sectional shape of a core-sheath structure or a sea-island structure.

Moreover, it is preferable that the bristle which comprises a brush part is a tapered hair which has branched at least one part at the hair tip side.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 to 6 show a first embodiment of an intraoral cleaning tool according to the present invention, and FIGS. 7 to 11 show a second embodiment of an intraoral cleaning tool according to the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of a toothbrush according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of the same. The toothbrush 1 includes a handle 10 made of synthetic resin and a brush portion 11 provided on a head portion 12 of the handle 10. The handle 10 is integrally formed by injection molding of a polyester resin such as polybutylene terephthalate resin or a polyacetal resin, and is used to hold the toothbrush 1 and the head portion 12 in which the brush bristles 2 constituting the brush portion 11 are implanted. And a slender neck portion 13 that connects the head portion 12 and the handle portion 14 to each other.

As the material of the handle 10, a thermoplastic resin having a tensile yield stress of 45 MPa or more and a flexural modulus of 1900 MPa or more is used. The thermoplastic resin is not particularly limited, but polybutylene terephthalate resin, polypropylene terephthalate resin, polyethylene terephthalate resin, polyethylene naphthalate resin, PCTA resin, PCTG resin, and other polyester resins, polyacetal resin (homopolymer, copolymer), polycarbonate resin A resin mainly composed of a resin selected from an aliphatic polyamide resin and an aromatic polyamide resin is used. Preferably, a resin mainly composed of a resin selected from polyester resins such as polybutylene terephthalate resin, polyethylene terephthalate resin, PCTA resin, and PCTG resin and polyacetal resin is used. The PCTA resin is a copolymer of an ester compound of cyclohexanedimethanol (CHDM) and terephthalic acid (TPA) and an ester compound of CHDM and isophthalic acid (IPA), and the PCTG is ethylene glycol and CHDM. And a ester compound of CHDM and TPA, both of which are saturated polyester resins. Here, the main component means that the resin is contained in a blended or alloyed mixture with another resin in a proportion of 50% by weight or more, or is used together with another resin. The polymer contains a repeating unit of polymer of the resin in a proportion of 50% by weight or more. Other thermoplastic resins that can be used by mixing or copolymerizing with the thermoplastic resin as the main component as described above include ABS resins, polystyrene resins, polyolefins in addition to the resins that can be used as the main components listed above. Examples thereof include resin, EPDM, acrylic resin, polyurethane resin, polyarylate, thermoplastic elastomer, silicone resin, and fluororesin.

The shape of the head portion 12 of the toothbrush 1 is not particularly limited. However, in the illustrated embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 3 to 6, the shape of the head portion 12 is a substantially rectangular shape with four corners cut off from the neck side toward the tip. The back surface side b of the flocked surface a in which the brush bristles in the head portion 12 are implanted is substantially flush with the lower surface side of the neck portion 13, while the flocked surface a The side is connected to the neck 13 via an arcuate inclined surface c that is smoothly continuous from the flocked surface a without a step and curved inward toward the neck 13. The thickness t of the head part 12 is preferably 1.5 mm or more and 4.0 mm or less, and more preferably 2.0 mm or more and 3.0 mm or less. The arcuate inclined surface c preferably has a radius of curvature R that is slightly larger than the thickness t of the head portion 12 or substantially the same as the thickness t of the head portion 12, and is preferably 1.5 mm or greater and 4 mm or less. More preferably, it is 1.5 mm or more and 3 mm or less. The width w of the head portion 12 is preferably 6.0 mm or greater and 8.0 mm or less, and more preferably 7.0 mm or greater and 8.0 mm or less. Longitudinal length of the represented flocking stand flocked moiety by _{L 3} in FIG. 4, it is preferable to less than 14.5 mm 21.5 mm, also be 15.0mm or 20.0mm or less preferably Furthermore, it is most preferable that the thickness is 16.0 mm or more and 19.0 mm or less. Furthermore, the distance from the outermost part of the side face of the flocked part to the edge part of the side face of the head part is preferably 1.0 mm or less, more preferably 0.8 mm or less, and most preferably 0.7 mm or less. The toothbrush increases as the thickness t, the width w of the head portion 12 and the length L ₃ in the longitudinal direction of the flocked portion of the head portion 12 and the distance from the outermost portion of _the flocked portion side surface to the head portion side surface edge portion are larger than the above ranges. The size of the periphery of the brush portion 11 in 1 is increased, the operability in the oral cavity is lowered, and pharyngeal reflexes are easily attracted. On the other hand, downsizing beyond the above range is not preferable because the brush portion 11 becomes too small, leading to a reduction in the cleaning efficiency. When the head portion 12 is 1.5 mm or less, the flocking strength of the brush bristles 2 is insufficient. It is not preferable because a case appears.

Also, the brush part 11
The material of the bristle 2 implanted in the head portion 12 is not particularly limited. For example, polyamide resin such as nylon or aramid resin, polyethylene terephthalate, polytrimethylene terephthalate, or polybutylene terephthalate Other known polyester resins, polyolefin resins such as polypropylene, and other conventionally known thermoplastic resin filaments can be used. The length of the bristle 2 implanted in the brush part 11 from the flocked surface a, that is, the bristle length (H shown in FIG. 5) is preferably 5.0 mm or more and 10.0 mm or less, and more preferably 7.0 mm. It is preferable to set it as 9.5 mm or less. If the bristle hair length H of the bristle 2 is too long, the bristle 2 will be weakened, and the wiping property tends to be lowered, and the operability in the oral cavity is also poor. On the other hand, if the hair length H is too short, the waist becomes too strong and hard, and there is a possibility that stimulation on gums and the like becomes too strong. In the intraoral cleaning tool of the present invention, the thickness t of the head portion 12 in which the brush bristles 2 are implanted is substantially the same from the neck portion 13 side toward the tip portion, and the thickness t is about the thickness of the head portion. In addition to being very thin, which is a half of 1.5 mm or more and 4 mm or less, the back surface side b of the flocked surface a is substantially flush with the lower surface side of the neck. That is, the flocked surface a is in a step-down state in which it is lowered from the upper surface side of the neck portion 13 by about one half of the thickness T of the neck portion 13, that is, as much as the thickness t of the head portion 12. For this reason, the length of the bristle 2 protruding from the upper surface side of the neck portion 12 (h shown in FIG. 5) is the same as the upper surface of the neck portion even if the bristle hair height H is the same. Compared to a certain conventional toothbrush, it is shortened by the stepped portion, and the operability of the brush portion 11 in the oral cavity is excellent. In the intraoral cleaning tool 1 of the illustrated example, the number of hair bundles 3 (that is, the number of flock holes 5) constituting the brush portion 11 is 20, but there is no particular limitation. Each flocking hole 5 can be freely designed in size and shape according to its purpose, and the number of brush bristles 2 (synthetic resin filaments) to be implanted (filled) therein is not particularly limited. Rather, it is appropriately determined depending on the size of the flocking hole 5 and the material and thickness of the bristles 2. Furthermore, it is preferable that the number of rows of the hair bundle 3 constituting the brush portion 11 includes at least three rows in the longitudinal direction of the intraoral cleaning tool, and no more than four rows. If it is 2 rows or less, the bristles of the bristles 2 become weak and the brushing property tends to be lowered. Conversely, if it is 4 rows or more, the area around the brush portion 11 is enlarged, and the operability in the oral cavity is reduced. Let Optimum bristle 2 and various flocking conditions is a combination of buckling strength of the brush portion is 25 N / cm ² or more 75N / cm ² or less. The buckling strength is more preferably 35N / cm ² or more 65N / cm ² or less, 45N / cm ² or more 60N / cm ² or less is most preferable. Buckling strength tends to printing掃性decreases when less than 25 N / cm ^2, or cause inflammation by cleaning action and exceeds 75N / cm ^2, is not preferable because they may or worsen.

In this intraoral cleaning tool 1, a brush unit 11 provided on a head unit 12 has a hair bundle 3 in which a plurality of brush bristles 2 are converged, without using a flat wire, by thermal fusion or in-mold method. A so-called flat wire toothbrush formed by being thermally fixed to the portion 12 is preferable. Specifically, for example, as shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, a thick portion 4 made of a fusion lump in which a plurality of brush bristles 2 are fused to each other is formed at a base end portion embedded in the head portion 12. The thick portion 4 is formed and thermally fused to the synthetic resin material constituting the head portion 12 and is firmly fixed in the head portion 12 by the anchor effect of the thick portion 4. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the thick portion 4 may be embedded in the head portion 12, but may be embedded directly below the flocked surface a. Further, a cover formed separately on the flocked surface a may be integrally fixed. The method for producing the intraoral cleaning tool 1 by implanting the brush bristles 2 without using a flat wire with respect to the head part 12 may be a conventionally known method. No. 241404, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-76104 or Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-99002, and in-mold methods include, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-268208, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 2- Examples thereof include the methods described in JP-A No. 503150, JP-A-9-182632, JP-T-9-512724, and JP-A-2003-102552. By these methods, the intraoral cleaning tool 1 according to the present invention is formed by thermally fixing the brush hair 2 to the head portion 12 of the brush body 10 without using a flat wire. The embedding depth in the portion 12 can be made shallow, and the thickness t of the head portion 12 can be made extremely thin as 4 mm or less. Furthermore, in the above-mentioned intraoral cleaning tool, a part of the bristles of the bristles are tapered bristles formed in a tapered shape, or branch off at the bristles and the branched bristles have a tapered shape. It is preferable that it is a formed tapered hair.

The neck part (L ₁ ) that connects the flocking table and the handle part is 45 mm so that the mouth part, particularly the back teeth, can be cleaned without inserting the handle part (L ₂ ) into the oral cavity inside the lips. It is necessary to have a length of not less than 75 mm. In particular, 55 mm or more and 70 mm or less are preferable.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 7: is a front part which shows one Embodiment of the intraoral cleaning tool which concerns on this invention.

The flocking pattern of the brush part 3 of this example is the same as that shown in FIG. The ends of the hair bundles 3 are pre-planted in a substantially horizontal state in advance and cut substantially horizontally after planting. Further, at least a part of the hairs of the hair bundle has a cross-sectional shape of a core-sheath structure or a sea-island structure. It has the tapered hair which has or the tapered hair which branches on the hair tip side.

In this example, as shown in FIG. 8, the bristle 2 constituting the bristle bundle 3 is made of a synthetic resin filament having a core-sheath structure in cross section, and three core hairs 61 project from the tip of the sheath part 60. It has been done. For example, a composite synthetic resin monofilament in which the core portion 61 is made of a material mainly composed of a polyamide-based resin such as nylon and the sheath portion 60 is composed of a material mainly composed of a polyester-based resin such as polybutylene terephthalate. It can be manufactured by immersing it in a chemical solution such as caustic soda and pulling it up to dissolve and remove the sheath part 60 from the tip and expose the core part 61. The plaque removal effect and cleanability of narrow parts such as the boundary between the part and teeth and gums are improved.

In the illustrated example, three core hairs protrude, but the number thereof may be one as shown in FIG. 9, or may be two, four, or more. Further, the taper shape at the tip of the sheath 60 and the exposed length of the core hair 61 can be appropriately adjusted according to the concentration of the chemical solution, the immersion time, the pulling speed from the chemical solution, and the like. The tapered shape at the tip of the sheath improves the insertion and reachability into the oral cavity details. The tip shape of the core hair 61 is arbitrary and can be processed into an appropriate shape such as a hemisphere.

In addition to the core-sheath structure, the tapered hair used for the brush bristles 62 is a synthetic resin filament having a cross-sectional shape in which a plurality of unit cross-section elements 63 are connected as shown in FIGS. 10 (a) and 10 (b). The tip can be dipped in a solution such as alkali or acid, and the number of tapered tapered bristles corresponding to the number of connected unit cross-sectional elements can be formed into a tapered bristles formed on the tip of the brush hair. The shape and length of the branched hair can be arbitrarily adjusted depending on the dipping time, the lifting speed from the chemical solution, and the like.

Similarly, FIG. 10 (c) shows two unit cross-section elements, (d) shows three unit cross-section elements arranged in a line, and (e) shows four unit cross-section elements. Similarly, a tapered bristles in which a tapered tapered branched hair is formed at the tip of the brush hair can be constituted. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 11, a core part can be provided in the center part of each unit cross-sectional element, and each branch hair can be made into the core sheath structure similar to the above.

Hereinafter, an actual use test of two types of intraoral cleaning tools having different buckling strengths in the first embodiment will be described.

The intraoral cleaning tool used for the test is an intraoral cleaning tool according to the first embodiment shown in FIGS. The condition of each part is that the thickness t of the head part is 2.5 mm, the radius of curvature R of the inclined surface c on the arc is 2.5 mm, the width w of the head part is 7.5 mm, and the longitudinal direction of the flocked part of the flocking table indicator is a length L ₃ 65 mm, the distance from the outermost to the head portion side edge portion of the flocked portion side 0.6 mm, hair length H of the brush bristles is 9.0 mm, the hardness of hair in use buckling strength is was set to 53N / cm ² or 73N / cm ^2. Nylon is used for the bristles, and the bristles are tapered with the bristles formed in a tapered shape.

The test was conducted on 97 pregnant women. Intraoral cleaning tools with different buckling strengths were freely selected according to the preferences of the panelists. As a result, 55 people selected 53 N / cm ² and 45 people selected 73 N / cm ² . At the time of use after using the intraoral cleaning tool for 14 days, the evaluation after use was investigated by a questionnaire. The evaluation criteria are relative evaluations compared with the usual oral cleaning tools, and the survey items are “Hardness of hair”, “Head size”, “Feeling of hair reaching every corner”, “Toothbrush during pregnancy” The four items of “Assessment”. The results are shown in Table 1.

From Table 1, the intraoral cleaning tool of the first embodiment has an excellent evaluation in any of the items "Hardness of hair", "Head size", and "Actual cleaning feeling in the oral cavity". "Evaluation as a toothbrush during pregnancy" also obtained a high rate of support of 80%. In particular, the evaluation was high in “hair hardness” and “head size”.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and can of course be implemented in various forms without departing from the gist of the present invention.

It is a front view which shows the intraoral cleaning tool which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a top view of the intraoral cleaning tool of FIG. It is an enlarged front view of the principal part from the head part to the neck part in the handle | steering_wheel of the intraoral cleaning tool of FIG. It is a top view of the handle | steering-wheel principal part of FIG. It is an expanded longitudinal cross-sectional view of the principal part from the head part to the neck part of the intraoral cleaning tool of FIG. It is the sectional view on the AA line in FIG. It is a front view which shows the intraoral cleaning tool which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. (A), (b) is explanatory drawing which shows the principal part of the bristle in 2nd Embodiment. (A), (b) is explanatory drawing which shows the modification of a brush hair similarly. (A)-(e) is explanatory drawing which shows the other modification of a bristle similarly. (A), (b) is explanatory drawing which shows the further another modification of a bristle similarly.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Intraoral cleaning tool 2 Brush hair 3 Hair bundle 4 Thick part 10 Handle 11 Brush part 12 Head part 13 Neck part 14 Handle part 15 Annular groove part 16 Non-slip part 60 Sheath part 61 Core hair 62 Brush hair tip part 63 Unit cross-section element a planted surface b back surface of head portion c curved inclined surface t thickness of head portion T thickness of neck portion R radius of curvature of curved inclined surface w width of head portion H bristle length of brush hair

Claims (2)

The thickness of the flocking table is 1.5 mm or more and 4.0 mm or less, the length in the width direction of the flocking table is 6.0 mm or more and 8.0 mm or less, and the length in the longitudinal direction of the flocked portion of the flocking table is 14.5 mm. characterized in that more than 21.5mm or less, and not more than the length of the bristle (hair length) is 5.0mm or more 10.0 mm, the buckling strength of the brush portion is 25 N / cm ² or more 75N / cm ² or less Oral cleaning tool. The intraoral cleaning tool according to claim 1, wherein a length of a neck portion connecting the flocking table and the handle portion is 45 mm or more and 75 mm or less.

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