EP0794714A1

EP0794714A1 - Material and apparatus for cleaning the surfaces of teeth or false teeth

Info

Publication number: EP0794714A1
Application number: EP95941032A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Rainer Hahn
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1994-11-28
Filing date: 1995-11-28
Publication date: 1997-09-17
Anticipated expiration: 2015-11-28
Also published as: DE4442001C2; WO1996016573A1; AU4257296A; DE59508436D1; DE4442001A1; US5953783A; EP0794714B1

Abstract

The proposed tooth cleaning apparatus has a working surface formed by fibrous cleaning elements (26, 28) of different lengths and of very small diameters at their working ends. The cleaning elements (26, 28) are fixed on a foundation fabric (24) which is reinforced by a foam layer (40) and thus forms a deformable hollow unit which is then attached to a handle. The pile-like cleaning elements (26, 28) facilitate very effective cleaning even of the fine surface contours of curved tooth surfaces.

Description

Material and device for cleaning surfaces of teeth and denture materials

The invention relates to a material for cleaning surfaces of teeth and denture materials according to the preamble of claim 1 and a device for cleaning surfaces of teeth and denture materials with a piece of cleaning material made from such a material.

Known tooth cleaning devices in the form of toothbrushes, such as z. B. are disclosed in DE-A-26 52 744 have within a bristle field some 100 to about 1,500 bristles which are attached to the underside of a generally rectangular flat bristle carrier.

In such known tooth cleaning devices, the individual bristle ends cannot penetrate into the fine surface relief of the tooth or denture surfaces to be cleaned due to the bristle diameter (0.1 to 0.3 mm). It is therefore necessary to use a toothpaste, the finely dispersed particle additives of which are moved through the bristle ends and enable the surface relief to be cleaned.

Tooth cleaning devices have already been proposed which have elastic foam bodies (DE-A-36 21 815). Although these roughly nestle against the tooth surface, toothpastes are again required to clean the fine surface relief.

By means of the present invention, a material for tooth cleaning according to the preamble of claim 1 is to be further developed in such a way that with it a reliable, residue-free cleaning of the surface is simple and in a short time.

ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS chenreliefs tooth and denture surfaces is obtained.

This object is achieved according to the invention by a tooth cleaning material with the features specified in claim 1.

Advantageous developments of the invention are the subject of dependent claims.

The invention is explained in more detail below on the basis of exemplary embodiments with reference to the drawing. In this show:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the work surface of a tooth cleaning device;

FIG. 2: a top view of the working surface of a modified tooth cleaning device;

Figure 3 is a plan view of the work surface of a modified tooth cleaning device;

FIG. 1 shows a transverse section through a tooth cleaning device according to one of FIGS. 1 to 3 in use on a lateral tooth surface;

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 4, in which a further modified tooth cleaning device is shown;

FIG. 6: a view similar to FIG. 5, in which a further modified tooth cleaning device is shown;

Figure 7: a view similar to Figure 5, with still a further embodiment of a tooth cleaning device;

FIG. 8: a schematic side view of a tooth cleaning device attached to a finger;

FIG. 9: a schematic longitudinal section through a further modified tooth cleaning device which has a vibration drive;

FIG. 10: a longitudinal section through a shoe-like cleaning head;

Figure 11: a transverse section through the cleaning head of Figure 10 along the cutting line there

XI-XI;

FIG. 12: a schematic side view of a further tooth cleaning device with supply of treatment liquid to the work surface;

Figure 13 is a schematic enlarged view in which various alternatives for attaching cleaning elements to a base body of a tooth cleaning device according to one of the

Figures 1 to 12 is shown;

FIG. 14: a transverse, enlarged section through a monofilament cleaning element from FIG. 13;

FIG. 15: a transverse section through a modified multifilament cleaning element for a tooth cleaning device according to one of FIGS. 1 to 12; FIG. 16: a sectional view similar to FIG. 16, in which a further modified monofilament cleaning element is shown in section;

FIG. 17: an enlarged side view of the end of a further modified cleaning element;

FIG. 18: a further enlarged side view of a further modified cleaning element, which can be produced from the one shown in FIG. 17;

FIG. 19: a side view of a cleaning element which is partially stiffened by impregnation with resin;

FIG. 20: a transverse section through the cleaning element according to FIG. 19 along the section line XX-XX;

FIG. 21: a transverse section through the cleaning element according to FIG. 19 along the section line XXI-XXI there;

FIG. 22: a top view of the working surface of a modified tooth cleaning device; and

Figure 23: Different steps in the manufacture of a dental cleaning material with strips of cleaning elements of different heights.

The tooth cleaning device shown in FIG. 1 has a handle 10, on which a handle designated 12 in total Cleaning head is detachably placed, for example, pushed on or clipped on.

The cleaning head 12 has a head body 14 designed as a flat hollow body with a rear wall 16 and a front wall 18 as well as a curved edge wall 20 connecting these two walls. The head body 14 is thus essentially rectangular in a transverse sectional view, the narrow sides of the Rectangle are semicircular.

A cleaning covering 22 is drawn onto the front wall 18, e.g. glued on (adhesive layer 23) or welded on or attached by means of a Velcro fastener.

The cleaning covering 22 has a flexible base body 24, which can be a woven fabric, knitted fabric, braid, knitted fabric, fleece, a felt, a laid scrim, a film or a composite material made of several of the aforementioned materials.

Thread-like cleaning elements 26 of first length and thread-like cleaning elements 28 of second, greater length are attached to the base body 24 in the manner of pile threads. The cleaning elements can be attached to the base body on the one hand by pulling in, weaving in, gluing or welding on fiber loops or else by leading fiber sections of the base body out of it in a loop shape, the ends of the fiber loops then being cut open. Alternatively, the individual cleaning elements can be glued or welded to the base body. The cleaning elements are preferably fixed to the base body in that the base body provided with cleaning elements is used impregnated with a synthetic resin which, after hardening, firmly connects the cleaning elements to the base body and at the same time gives the base body a certain elastic flexural strength. Details will be described in more detail later.

For the sake of clarity, only relatively few cleaning elements are shown in FIG. 1, but it goes without saying that these cleaning elements are provided in greater density in practice, so that the cleaning elements lying next to one another are supported and form a pile.

A practical embodiment of the material has the following properties:

400 multifilament cleaning elements are provided per cm 2, each comprising 30 individual filaments. Both the short cleaning elements 26 and the long cleaning elements 28 are unraveled at their ends, and the short cleaning elements 26 are additionally crimped and form a felt-like structure. So you have about 12,000 active ends of single filaments per cm. This number can be further increased by increasing the number of individual filaments in the individual cleaning element or by setting the same even more densely.

The material is a knitted velor with two different polyester threads, which form both the basic body and the two types of cleaning elements.

The diameter of the multifilament fibers is approx. 0.5 mm.

The basic knitted fabric (basic body) has a weight per unit area

₂ of 120 g / cm and is coated with a synthetic resin back

₂ units of 75g / cm. The pile fiber material has a Total basis weight of 536 g / cm 2, of which each

Half is in fibers of 2.3 dtex or in fibers of 13.9 dtex.

Modified such knitted velor materials have a density of 100 to 800 cleaning elements per cm 2.

When working with thin monofilament cleaning elements, their density is chosen to be higher, and the ends of the monofilament cleaning elements can also be split chemically, as will be described in more detail below.

The optimal density of cleaning elements in individual cases depends on the material from which the cleaning elements are made, on their cross-section, on their structure (multifil ./. Monofil), on their conditioning (texturing, coating, etc.), on their protrusion beyond the base body, on the properties of neighboring cleaning elements (eg length difference, stiffness difference) and also on the grouping or area distribution of the cleaning elements.

Details regarding the geometry of the individual cleaning elements and the material from which the cleaning elements are made are also described in more detail below.

As can be seen from FIG. 1, the cleaning elements 26 are in transverse strip-shaped regions 30 of the

Cleaning covering 22 is arranged, while the long cleaning elements 28 are provided in the intermediate transverse strip-shaped areas 32.

As can be seen from FIG. 1, the cleaning head 12 seen in supervision about the shape of a peanut, the long axis of the cleaning head is dimensioned such that the working surface of the cleaning head can cover two to three adjacent teeth (about 15 to 30 mm), while the height of the cleaning head 12 corresponds to the height of a tooth crown (about 5 to 15 mm, preferably about 10 mm).

The exemplary embodiment according to FIG. 2 largely corresponds to that according to FIG. 1. Functionally corresponding components are again provided with the same reference numerals and are not described again in detail.

In the cleaning device according to FIG. 2, the strip-shaped regions 30 and 32 run in the longitudinal direction of the cleaning head. Furthermore, a garland-shaped or coiled further cleaning element 34 (or a plurality of such cleaning elements) is provided at the edge of the cleaning covering 22.

In the tooth cleaning device shown in FIG. 3, the cleaning pad 22 is composed of several parts: in a drop-shaped part 36 of the cleaning pad 22, which is on the left in the drawing, the strip-shaped regions 30 and 32 are arranged in the longitudinal direction, while in the part on the right, the rest of the work surface 38 of the cleaning covering 22, the strip-shaped areas 30 and 32 are oriented transversely.

The tooth cleaning device shown in FIG. 4 in a transverse section has a similar appearance from the side as the tooth cleaning device according to FIG. 1. However, it has a slightly different structure:

Are on a tubular woven base body 24 the cleaning elements 26 and 28 applied. The part of the tubular base body 24 facing away from the cleaning surface is not populated with cleaning elements.

A foam layer 40 is applied to the inside of the tubular base body 24, the thickness of which is small on the working surface of the cleaning head 12 and large in the rear area free of cleaning elements. Simultaneously with the molding of the foam layer 40, this and thus also the base body 24 connected to it is given a transverse cross-sectional geometry which corresponds to a rectangle with circular narrow sides when the cleaning head is not loaded.

The cross-sectional shape with concave curvature of the working side, which can be seen from the drawing, is obtained when the cleaning head 12 is non-positively placed on a tooth surface, the front wall of the base body 24 and foam layer 40 being curved in accordance with the curvature of the tooth surface. Since the foam layer 40 on the working side of the cleaning head 12 is only thin, the base body 24 can adapt to the actual surface of the respectively cleaned tooth when pressure is exerted on the cleaning head 12 with elastic deformation.

A connecting part 42, which is provided with a locking rib 44, which can be clipped into a locking groove 46, which is provided in the end of the handle 10, is also molded onto the rear side of the base body 24, which is reinforced by the foam layer 40.

Instead of the foam layer 40, a layer made of another elastic plastic can also be used. turn, especially soak the base with an elastic synthetic resin after curing.

As FIG. 4 shows, the short cleaning elements 26 are formed by crimped pieces of thread. The longer cleaning elements 28 are twisted multifilament thread pieces. With the long cleaning elements 28, however, the free end sections are dissolved, so that the individual filaments 48 of the cleaning elements 28 forming a tuft can work together with the tooth surface. In the presence of tooth pockets 50, these filaments can move between the outside of the tooth 52 under consideration and the adjacent gums 54 into the uppermost section of the tooth pocket and remove contaminants present there, in particular bacteria, food residues and plague.

In the tooth cleaning device according to FIG. 5, there is a basic curvature in the transverse cross section of the cleaning head 12 which is adapted to the central curvature of the tooth side surface.

The base body 24 carrying the cleaning elements 26 and 28 is now embedded in a head base 56 made of elastic material, which has an essentially circular cross-sectional geometry.

Bristles 58 are additionally provided between the cleaning elements 26, 28 and are fixed in the base body 24 and in the top floor 56.

In the sections adjacent to the edges of the cleaning head 12, the base body 24 and the head base 56 are additionally connected to further, longer bristles 60 which run in the shape of a beam in different directions, as shown in FIG Figure 5 can be seen. In this way, the curvature of the working surface of the cleaning head 12 is again matched to the central curvature of the tooth side surface, and the elongated bristles 60, which run obliquely to the working side of the head base 6, can engage in the upper sections of tooth pockets.

The head bottom 56 again carries a connecting part 42 for attachment to a handle.

The embodiment according to FIG. 6 largely corresponds to that according to FIG. 5, with the proviso that the cleaning elements 28 towards the edge of the cleaning head 12 have an increasingly greater length and run towards the center of the curvature of the head base 56. The same applies to the cleaning elements 26. The cleaning elements 26, 28 form an overall working surface, the curvature of which is somewhat smaller than the curvature of the side surface of the tooth 52.

Abrasive small particles 61 are screwed into some of the cleaning elements 26 and 28, which are shown in the drawing with an exaggerated size and are released when the cleaning elements are twisted on.

Alternatively, small abrasive particles can be introduced into the pile formed by the cleaning elements 26, 28 by storing the tooth cleaning device between the teeth brushing in a solution in which such fine particles (eg pyrogenic silicon dioxide particles) are suspended.

Such fine abrasive particles are used when you want to remove strong, hard deposits or stubborn stains. Since the individual filaments 48 obtained by dissolving the ends of the cleaning elements 28 and 60 have very small diameters, they can also penetrate into fine depressions in the surface relief of the tooth 52 and mechanically remove existing impurities there. In many cases, it is therefore sufficient when using such a tooth cleaning device to wet the tooth surface with water, which is kept in the spaces between the different cleaning elements by immersing the cleaning device in water. The water held in the pile formed by the cleaning elements also serves as a transport medium in which detached contaminants can move from the tips of the cleaning elements into the interior of the pile. From there, the impurities are then washed out when cleaning the cleaning head after brushing the teeth or the prosthesis.

If desired, however, a liquid treatment medium can also be used which contains deodorants, flavorings (e.g. mint) and active ingredients (e.g. fluorides, chlorhexidine digluconate, enzymes or the like). This treatment medium 62 can e.g. are dispensed from a dropper bottle 64. Instead of such a liquid, it is also possible to use a gel with appropriate additives, which thus corresponds to a toothpaste without abrasive particles and is used analogously.

The tooth cleaning device shown in FIG. 7 is comparable in terms of its general structure to the tooth cleaning device according to FIG. 4, with the difference that the head body 14 has a convexly curved working side and is higher than the head body shown in FIG. 4. However, since the reinforcing foam layer 40 now has a large one has only very small wall thickness at the front, the head body 14 shown in FIG. 7 can deform slightly and thus adapt to the outer contour of the tooth 52.

As can be seen from FIG. 7, the rear half of the tubular base body 24 is also embedded in the front section of the foam layer 40, which thus forms the back of the head body 14 alone.

A first elastic layer 66 and a second elastic layer 68 are also applied to the inside of the tubular head body 14. The layer 68 is softer than the layer 66 and has a front boundary surface which is less curved than the front boundary surface of the layer 66. The layers 66 and 68 represent a progressive elastomeric block spring which, when the cleaning head 12 is pressed down strongly comes into contact with the tooth 52 on the back of the base body 24 reinforced by the thin section of the foam layer 40. In this way, an elastic but strong frictional connection is obtained between the cleaning head 12 and the lateral tooth surface.

In the tooth cleaning device shown in FIG. 8, the cleaning head 12 is designed as a finger cap that can be pushed over the finger 70 of a user. An elastic clamping section 74 is molded onto the cleaning head 12 via a web 72, which is also still equipped with cleaning elements, in order to detachably fix the cleaning head 12 on the user's finger.

Alternatively, a section of the finger cap can be replaced by an elastic band for fastening the cleaning head 12 to the finger, so that the finger cap sits on one end of the finger under elastic circumferential tension. 9, the base body 24 carrying the cleaning elements 26, 28 is provided at its ends with fastening elements 76, 78 shown as eyelets. These are suspended in the free ends of a C-shaped leaf spring 80 under pretension, so that the leaf spring 80 flatly stretches the flexible base body 24.

The leaf spring 80 is in turn releasably connected at a point adjacent to one end (e.g. by a screw 82) to the driven part 84 of a vibrator, generally designated 86, which is integrated in the handle 10. The vibrator 86 operates at a frequency in the range between 50 and 1,000 Hz, preferably between 100 and 300 Hz, the amplitude A of the output part 84 in the range between 1 μm and 1,000 μm, preferably between 200 μm and 500 μm. The vibrator 86 thus moves the base body 24 carrying the cleaning elements 26, 28 back and forth, the main component of this movement running parallel to the handle axis. When pressed against a tooth surface, the base body 24 can adapt to the tooth surface with elastic deformation of the leaf spring. A smaller proportion of the output movement of the vibrator 86 is then also effective in the direction perpendicular to the tooth surface.

Instead of the vibrator 86, an ultrasound generator can also be used. To generate a slow back and forth movement, which also e.g. tumbling

Movements can be superimposed, the bracket 80 can also be coupled to the driven part of a conventional electric toothbrush drive.

In general, the following applies to all Exercise mentioned and shown in the drawing cleaning heads that they can be used either for a purely manual and for a mechanically assisted tooth surface cleaning. In the first case, they are connected to a conventional toothbrush handle; in the second case, they are set in motion by a drive, which may also be manually operated.

The following coordination between the frequency and the amplitude of the movement mechanically impressed on the cleaning head has proven to be particularly favorable:

Frequency f (Hz) amplitude (μm)

50 to 500 50 to 700

1000 to 10000 10 to 400

17000 to 30000 5 to 70

In the tooth cleaning device shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, the base body 24 is impregnated with an elastic material 90 and permanently shaped into a shoe tip-like geometry. Lateral edges of the shaped basic body 24 sit in slots 91 of a head plate 92, which in turn is fitted and clipped into a matching end section 93 of a handle.

The thickness and hardness of the material 90 impregnating the base body is selected so that the surface of the base body lying at the top in FIG. 11 is concavely bent under the usual contact pressure when brushing teeth, in accordance with the mean curvature of the machined tooth surface.

As can be seen from FIGS. 10 and 11, the top plate 92 has a circumferential edge wall 92-1 which is inserted into a circumferential edge wall 93-1 of the holding section 93. fits. A fastening pin 92-2 of the head plate 92 engages in the frictional engagement and / or in a latching manner in a fastening opening 93-2 of the holding section 93.

The tooth cleaning device shown in FIG. 12 essentially corresponds to that according to FIG. 1, but a liquid channel 94 is provided in the head body 14. This has a plurality of openings 96 on the front, through which a treatment liquid can be passed through the liquid-permeable base body 24 into the spaces between the cleaning elements 26, 28, from there to the working surface of the cleaning head 12 to arrive.

The liquid channel 94 is connected to a reservoir 98 for the treatment liquid, which is accommodated in the interior of the handle 10 and is connected to the ambient atmosphere via a ventilation opening 100. A small amount of treatment liquid can be moved through the openings 96 by shaking the handle 10.

The treatment liquid can contain, for example, fluorides or other active substances and / or plaque coloring agents and / or flavorings and / or small abrasive particles. The cartridge-like storage container 98 can be replaced after removing a cover 102 provided at the end of the handle.

FIG. 13 shows various examples for the production of a basic body carrying cleaning elements:

In a), threads 104 are sewn or tufted into a textile base body 24 in such a way that loops 106 protruding beyond the front of the base body 24 are obtained become. End portions of the loops 106 are cut off, so that each loop now forms two cleaning elements 28 (or also 26).

If the threads 104 are twisted multifilament threads, the free end section of the cleaning elements can be untangled so that a tuft of individual filaments 48 is obtained.

The production method shown in d) largely corresponds to that in a), but the loops 106 are sections of the warp and / or weft threads of the fabric forming the base body 24 that are pulled out of the base body level. This can e.g. in the form of a knitted velor.

In the method of manufacture illustrated in b), individual monofilament cleaning elements 110, which at the end chemically split into several small monofilaments 108, are inserted into the meshes of the woven base body 24 and fixed in place by small amounts of adhesive 112.

It goes without saying that the aforementioned variants of fixing the cleaning elements to the base body can be used equally for monofilament and ultimate cleaning elements and for untreated (e.g. not split or not broken open) and treated (e.g. textured) cleaning elements.

Finally, at c) a fine fabric 114 made of a weldable plastic material such as propylene is folded (folds extend perpendicular to the plane of the drawing), and the deepest points of the folds at the bottom in FIG. 13 are welded 116 with the also made of weldable plastic material such as polypropylene - Made basic body 24 connected. After the connection of the weldable fabric 114 with the weldable base body 24, the upper end sections 118 of the fabric folds are then cut off, and in this way a very large number of small diameters of individual cleaning elements (warp or weft threads of the fine fabric 114) are obtained, but these are very are effectively protected against micro kinking, since they are held in frictional engagement by adjacent fabric threads running perpendicular to them. Macroscopically, the cut ends of the folds of the tissue 114 again provide a work surface that can adapt to the macro contour of a tooth surface.

The cleaning elements can each be provided with a coating in order to influence their surface qualities. In the case of a monofilament cleaning element, this is shown in FIG. 14 (coating 120).

The coating material can either be one which contains antifungal or antibacterial active ingredients, or one which comprises a material which improves wear resistance, such as a silica preparation. Optionally, small abrasive particles can also be built into the coating. Silanes and silicones or synthetic resins are considered as further coating materials.

FIG. 15 shows an example of the modification of the properties of a cleaning element, the basic structure of which is a thread with individual filaments 122. A matrix material 124 can be impregnated into the loose thread structure, which can comprise the various material components mentioned in connection with the coating 120 individually or in combination. The matrix material 124 obviously also makes the mechanical one Strength, in particular the flexibility of the cleaning element, specifically changed.

In the exemplary embodiment according to FIG. 16, small abrasive particles 126 are embedded in a monofils cleaning element which is made from a wearing material. These are then gradually exposed in the use of the tooth cleaning element, e.g. to remove stubborn deposits from the tooth surface.

FIG. 17 shows the free end section of a further cleaning element which is produced from a multifilament thread made of a weldable plastic material such as polyester. By melting the end of the cleaning element, it became a massive hemispherical

Receive end cap 128. With such a cleaning element, fanning out the individual filaments is not possible.

If desired, the massive end cap 128 can be stored somewhat softer by unscrewing the end of the thread with greater force, as shown in FIG. The end cap 128 is then connected to the main part of the cleaning element via a large number of small curved filament sections 130.

FIGS. 19 to 21 show that the rigidity of a cleaning element 28 (or other multifilament cleaning elements) can be increased by impregnating a lower main section 132 with a synthetic resin 124 which increases the rigidity, while leaving a short end section 134 soaked. This is then largely unraveled.

Alternatively, the end section 134 can still be stripped into individual filaments using the same synthetic resin or impregnate another synthetic resin with strength, whereby one can restrict oneself to the undrawn part of the end section 134 or simultaneously coat the individual filaments with a coating in order to increase the rigidity up to the end face thereof. In this variant, the section along the section line XXI-XXI then looks similar to the section shown in FIG. 20, but the synthetic resin 124 can be different.

To stiffen monofilament cleaning elements, they can be coated with synthetic resin in sections, whereby the procedure is analogous to the previously described impregnation of multifilament cleaning elements.

In the cleaning head 12 shown in FIG. 22, there is a central region 136 of cleaning elements 26 and 28 with a first medium length and first, high density, that is to say a small distance between the cleaning elements, and an edge region 138 with cleaning elements which are arranged in the

Medium are longer and softer and have a second, lower density, whereby the distribution between cleaning elements 26 and 28 can also be different and in addition the cleaning elements or a part thereof can also be made of a different material.

The partial figures a), b) and c) of FIG. 23 show successive steps in the production of an endless velvet-like or velor-like material, as can be used to produce a cleaning covering 22:

First, threads 140 and 142 are sewn between two base bodies 24, 24 ', which are kept at a distance. The threads 140, which later form cleaning elements 28 those are shown as simple lines. These are twisted multifilament threads or monofilament threads, the ends of which can be split open by chemical action. The threads 142, which are later to give the textured, crimped cleaning elements 26, are marked by small circles (these circular marks therefore do not illustrate the geometry of the threads). The threads 142 are pretreated so that they are then crimped by physical and / or chemical treatment. This can be threads with a frozen stretch, for example. As can be seen from the drawing, two threads 140 each follow two threads 142 in a thread row.

The double fabric shown in sub-figure a) is then cut through in the middle by a knife, so that two separate base bodies 24 and 24 'are obtained, each carrying an associated set of pile fibers, as shown in sub-figure b). By watering the

Base body 24, 24 'with a synthetic resin and subsequent hardening of the synthetic resin are then permanently attached to the pile threads on the base body.

Subsequently, the pile threads of the same length but with different properties, the base body 24 or 24 'together with their pile threads are subjected to a physical and / or chemical treatment which leads to the thread pieces 142 adopting a crimped structure and unscrewing the ends of the thread pieces 140 . The material thus obtained, in each of which two short, crimped cleaning elements 26 are followed by two long cleaning elements 28, which are finally split into individual filaments, is shown in sub-figure c) of FIG. 19. A material which is also well suited as a cleaning material is a knitted velor with pile loops or pile threads forming corresponding cleaning elements.

Pieces of material separated from such material can be used directly or after shaping for cleaning teeth or denture materials.

For the exemplary embodiments described above, the following applies equally with regard to the choice of material, geometry and mechanical properties:

The base body 24 consists of any flexible structure to which cleaning elements are attached in such a way that they run away from the main surface of the base body, preferably in a direction perpendicular thereto. Such structures are, in particular, woven fabrics, knitted fabrics, nonwovens, felts or composite materials made from the aforementioned materials.

For the (possibly different) base materials from which the base body 24 and the cleaning elements 26, 28 and further cleaning elements are made, it is basically the case that it is a biologically compatible, toxicologically harmless (also with regard to any abrasion that may occur) and the intraoral milieu is holding materials. In particular, they must not contain any components of toxicologically unsafe length / width ratio or be created during application.

A general further requirement for the materials used is wear resistance and low solubility in the oral environment, especially in organic acids.

Mineral fibers and chemical fibers made from natural polymers such as cellulose or protein or from synthetic polymers, in particular polyamide, polyacrylic, polypropylene, polyurethane, polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene, polysulfone and particularly preferably polyester, are particularly suitable.

Other materials for the fibers from which the basic body 24 is constructed are also vegetable fibers such as cotton, flax, linen, animal fibers such as wool or silk.

The improvement in the wear resistance of the cleaning elements can be improved by impregnation with silica preparations. For hygienic reasons, a coating or impregnation with antifungal or antibacterial agents is advantageous.

Where abrasive particles are spoken of in the present description, pyrogenic silicon dioxide particles are particularly intended.

As far as the geometry of the cleaning elements is concerned, they generally have a circular transverse cross section. For special cases, however, polygonal thread cross sections, e.g. a triangular thread cross-section may be advantageous, e.g. if one wishes that an additional cleaning effect is obtained by longitudinal edges of the cleaning elements.

The cleaning elements can be textured, for example crimped and / or electrostatically charged, before or after they are incorporated into the base body. Furthermore they can at least be restructured or conditioned on sections of their surface, that is to say modified in their surface properties. Here physical or chemical processes have proven themselves. In particular, it is provided that the surfaces of the cleaning elements are treated mechanically, for example brushed or sanded, in order to at least partially roughen the surfaces. Furthermore, the cleaning elements can be thermally treated at least in sections thereof, for example in order to create dome-shaped closed fiber ends or to obtain secondary and / or tertiary fiber structures, for example entangled or crimped structures. By irradiation, for example with gamma rays, the cleaning elements or the entire cleaning head can be sterilized and the free surface energy of the cleaning elements can be increased or their zeta potential changed, which improves the cleaning effect of the tooth cleaning device. Chemical conditioning methods, for example treatment with solvents, acids or alkalis, can also be used to make targeted changes to the cleaning elements, for example at least partially welding individual filaments or entire cleaning elements, roughening the surface of the cleaning elements or splitting ends of monofilament cleaning elements.

If the surfaces of the cleaning elements are at least partially coated, for example with silanes and / or silicones and / or synthetic resins, or if thread-like cleaning elements consisting of a large number of individual filaments are impregnated or a cleaning covering constructed with such cleaning elements is at least partially coated with materials of the same or a different type , preferably synthetic resins, a specific stiffening of individual sections of the cleaning elements or a connection of several adjacent cleaning elements can be achieved. With a different choice of coating or impregnation materials, the risk of agglomeration of fine individual filaments of a cleaning element can be reduced.

It goes without saying that the cleaning elements can also be conditioned and / or coated and / or impregnated differently in different sections.

The attachment of the cleaning elements to the base body is generally carried out in such a way that the cleaning elements run away from the base body essentially perpendicularly, similarly to pile fibers attached to carrier fabrics. However, the cleaning elements can also be set at a different predetermined angle to the base body surface.

As described above, the individual cleaning elements can be formed by individual thread loops which, after they have been separated, form a pile of open pile threads. The loops are preferably attached to the base body in such a way that only the cleaning side of the cleaning covering 22, but not the rear side thereof, has fiber protrusions. Alternatively, the cleaning covering can also be produced from a double fabric or a three-dimensional fabric from textile fibers or threads, in which free fiber ends are created by cuts.

The easiest way to fix the cleaning elements to the base body is to impregnate the base body and / or the foot section of the cleaning element with a synthetic resin. Instead of or in addition to such an adhesive connection, the base body carrying the cleaning elements can be at least partially coated with a compact foam. The cleaning surface can be attached to a base, which is a film or a flat piece of material, preferably made of plastic or metal, which then serves at the same time as a holding element for the cleaning surface, in which it is either part of a handle or as a fastening element for fixed or detachable connection with a separate handle.

For the production of the cleaning covering 22, preferably monofilament fibers and multifilament fibers from twisted individual filaments are used, which preferably consist of polyester.

If monofilament fibers are used, their diameter between 1 μm and 500 μm is selected, monofilament fibers with an average diameter between 1 μm and 100 μm and again preferably in the range between 1 μm and 50 μm have proven successful. It goes without saying that fibers with a non-constant fiber diameter can also be used, in particular conically drawn-out fibers which have a diameter in the abovementioned ranges only in their free end section.

If multifilament fibers are used, their average diameter is between 5 μm and 1,000 μm, with diameters between 10 μm and 500 μm and in particular between 30 μm and 300 μm having proven particularly useful. It has proven particularly useful if the diameter of the individual filaments of these fibers is chosen between one tenth and one five hundredth of the fiber diameter, again preferably between one twentieth and one hundredth of the fiber diameter.

The flat base body preferably consists of a Basic fabric, which is made from a basic fiber. At least one pile fiber is worked into the base fabric in such a way that pile loops protrude on the surface of the base fabric that will later serve as the cleaning side, while the pile fibers are introduced on the later back side of the base fabric without fiber protrusion. The protruding pile loops are then cut open to give a unilateral pile.

A base body in the form of a knitted fabric with unilaterally projecting loops which are cut open, for example in the manner of a knitted velor, is also very suitable.

A multifilament pile fiber is particularly preferred, which fuses out into a multiplicity of small individual filaments at the cut fiber ends. As a result, the total active cleaning surface is significantly increased. In the case of a size of the cleaning covering 22 that is comparable to the dimensions of the bristle field of a conventional toothbrush, the pile formed by the cleaning elements, with an optionally additionally curved shape of the cleaning surface, enables the covering to be removed safely from the spherically curved buccal and oral tooth surfaces and from large parts of the approximal and occlusal tooth surfaces as well as in the area of the gingival sulcus.

Fiber protrusions of the pile loops and / or pile fibers based on the level of the base fabric of between 0.5 mm and 15 mm, preferably between 2 mm and 10 mm and again particularly preferably between 4 mm and 8 mm have been found to be useful, with a value of about 8 mm the most preferred is.

The pile height is preferably not chosen uniformly; rather, different protrusions on non-cut pile loops and / or pile fibers cut open in the sense of a pile are selected in different areas of the cleaning side of the cleaning covering. Particularly mixed surface structures with locally regular geometries have proven useful here, for example strip-shaped arrangements of the cleaning elements which are oriented differently in different areas of the cleaning surface, for example in the longitudinal direction or transverse direction of the cleaning head.

Geometries in which every second web of pile loops and / or the pile fibers has a difference in the fiber protrusion of between 0.5 mm and 5 mm, preferably between 1 mm and 3 mm, have proven particularly useful.

If the different high cleaning elements are produced as described above with reference to FIG. 19, the cleaning elements 26 and 28 not only have different lengths but also different strengths and different textures, and they can also be made from different basic materials consist.

Furthermore, it has proven useful to create higher overhangs of the pile loops and / or the open pile fibers in the edge areas of the cleaning pad 22 than in the central areas of the cleaning pad. This results in a significant improvement in the cleaning of the proximal tooth surfaces and the gingival sulcus.

The cleaning effect of the cleaning covering 22 can also be further improved by lending a further one in addition to the pile fiber mentioned above Pol fiber integrated into the basic fabric. The fiber protrusion of this further pile fiber points in the same direction as that of the first pile fiber, the back of the cleaning covering 22 preferably not having any fiber protrusions even after the introduction of the second pile fiber. The resulting pile loops of the second pile fiber preferably do not remain cut open in the case of monofilament fibers. A multifilament fiber is particularly suitable as the second pile fiber, the loops of which are also cut open at the end.

A monofilament fiber textured in the sense of fiber crimping is preferably used for the second pile fiber. By selective texturing of the second pile fiber (e.g. use of modified compared to the first pile fiber

Material which is elastically pre-tensioned or which is more sensitive to chemical and / or physical conditioning methods, in particular texturing, than the first pile fiber, results in a fiber crimp of the second pile fibers, so that these, especially in the case of multifilament fibers, partially matt together with one another .

It has proven particularly useful to provide the second pile fiber between two webs of the first pile fiber, since in this way the pile formed by the first pile fiber is stabilized and early buckling of the open protrusion of the first pile fibers is avoided during tooth cleaning. The fiber protrusion of the second pile loops and / or the second open one

Pile fibers can be either the same, higher or lower than that of the first pile fiber. A maximum of 5 mm, preferably between 0.5 mm and 2 mm, smaller fiber protrusion of the second pile fiber has proven particularly effective compared to the first pile fiber. In addition, third and further pile fibers or conventional bristles can also be attached to the base fabric. If bristles are used, they can also be incorporated into the base fabric instead of the second pile fibers mentioned above. If conventional bristles are also used, a difference in protrusion of approximately between -5 mm and +5 mm from the protrusion of one of the pile fibers, preferably the first pile fiber, is preferably provided for them. The bristles can be fixed either on the base fabric or on adjacent surface sections of a head body or grip element. Bristles which are between 0.5 mm and 2 mm shorter than the protrusion of the pile fibers or pile loops are preferably introduced in each case between two sheets of pile fibers or pile loops.

In order to improve the cleaning of the proximal tooth surfaces, a twisted fiber which has a spring-like structure can be arranged on the longitudinal edge regions of the cleaning covering 22. The individual spring-like loops can then engage far into the interdental spaces in the course of tooth cleaning by moving the cleaning head parallel to the rows of teeth.

The concave, transverse cross-sectional shape is preferably given to the working or cleaning surface of the cleaning head specified by the cleaning elements. In addition, the longitudinal cross-sectional shape of the cleaning surface can also be chosen to be concave. Advantageous radii of curvature of the cleaning surface result, taking into account the mean curvature of the tooth crowns or the rows of teeth in the corresponding planes. The length of the cleaning covering 22 is chosen with regard to the average width of two to three adjacent teeth, the width of the cleaning covering 22 corresponds essentially to the average height of a tooth crown. In practice, a typical cleaning covering has a length of 15 to 30 mm and a height of 5 to 15 mm, preferably a length of 20 mm and a height of 10 mm.

A garland-shaped design of the edge region of the cleaning covering 22 results in improved cleaning of the approximal surfaces of the teeth and the gingival sulcus.

As can be seen from the above description of exemplary embodiments, it is important that the cleaning elements have a certain stiffness and furthermore have the smallest possible diameter in order to be able to also clean depressions in the fine surface relief of tooth surfaces. The surface hardness of the cleaning elements used should be somewhat greater than the surface hardness of the organic plaque structure in order to be able to remove organic plaque. It is particularly advantageous to choose the surface hardness of the cleaning elements to be somewhat greater than the surface hardness of plaque calcified in the sense of the beginning of tartar formation. To avoid signs of wear on healthy dental hard tissue and common tooth restoration materials, however, the surface hardness of the cleaning elements is chosen to be smaller than that of the dental hard tissue or the restoration materials.

For a given material, the strength of the cleaning effect can also be determined by the size of the supernatant of the cleaning elements vary and combine harder and softer cleaning elements with different projections.

A tooth cleaning device, as it is based on various

Exemplary embodiments described above have, due to their fiber structure, a substantially larger active cleaning surface in comparison to conventional toothbrushes, the diameter of the active ends of the cleaning elements, which is much smaller compared to conventional bristles, allowing improved cleaning of microscopic surface structures. As a result, the contact time of the cleaning head 12 with the tooth surface required for cleaning can be significantly reduced compared to conventional cleaning techniques (use of a toothbrush and toothpaste). Due to the improved cleaning effect, good results can also be achieved with less sophisticated cleaning techniques, the contact between the cleaning head 12 and the tooth surface to be cleaned being able to be chosen in almost any way. In particular, the tooth cleaning device described also achieves good results when removing smokers or tea deposits from the surfaces of teeth or dentures.

Due to the small dimensions of the cleaning-effective ends of the cleaning elements, wetting the surface and the cleaning elements with water or saliva is sufficient to reduce the surface tension of the surfaces to be cleaned. The use of cleaning pastes or cleaning solutions which may contain surfactants or other additives which are harmful to health can be dispensed with. Also the use of slurries on abrasive particles in the sense of a toothpaste is not necessary.

A tooth cleaning device as described above is simply cleaned under running water after use and stored dry in ambient air. Instead, a treatment liquid can also be selected for cleaning and / or storage, e.g. a silica gel or a solution containing fluoride or chlorhexidine. This prevents agglomeration of the fibers and simultaneous disinfection. In addition, the cleaning head can be impregnated with active ingredients or with fine abrasive particles from this treatment liquid during storage until the next use and / or chemically conditioned to maintain its cleaning efficiency.

Claims

claims

1. Material for cleaning the surfaces of teeth and dental prosthesis materials with a base body (24) and a plurality of cleaning elements (26, 28, 34, 58, 60, 100) carried by the base body (24), which compared to their length have small transverse dimensions characterized in that the base body (24) is a flexible, bendable structure and the cleaning elements (26, 28, 34, 58, 60, 110) are carried in the manner of pile loops or pile threads by the base body (24).

2. Material according to claim 1, characterized in that at least some of the cleaning elements are monofilaments (110).

3. Material according to claim 2, characterized in that the diameter of the monofilament cleaning elements (110) is between 1 μm and 500 μm, preferably between 1 μm and 100 μm and again preferably between 1 μm and 50 μm.

4. Material according to claim 2 or 3, characterized gekennzeich¬ net that end portions of the monofilament cleaning elements (110) are split (108).

5. Material according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that at least some of the cleaning elements (26, 28, 34, 58, 60) are multifilament fibers.

6. Material according to claim 5, characterized in that the individual filaments (122) are connected to one another in end sections (128) of at least part of the multifilament cleaning elements (26, 28).

7. Material according to claim 6, characterized in that the individual filaments of the fibers in the vicinity of the end section (128), in which the individual filaments (122) are connected to one another, are separated from one another and resilient filament sections (130) form.

8. Material according to claim 5, characterized in that in end sections of the cleaning elements (26,

28) the individual filaments form a bundle of filaments (48).

9. Material according to any one of claims 5-8, characterized gekenn¬ characterized in that the diameter of the multifilament cleaning elements (26, 28) between 10 microns and 1000 microns, preferably between 10 microns and 50 microns and again preferably between 50 microns and is 300 μm.

10. Material according to any one of claims 5-9, characterized gekenn¬ characterized in that the diameter of the individual filaments by a factor of 10-500, preferably by a factor of 20-100 is smaller than the diameter of the cleaning elements.

11. Material according to any one of claims 1-10, characterized in that at least some of the cleaning elements (26, 28, 110) each have a wearing or opening basic structure (124; 110) and abrasive particles carried by it ( 61; 126).

12. Material according to any one of claims 1-11, characterized characterized in that at least some (34) of the cleaning elements (26, 28, 34, 58, 60) are helical or girl-shaped.

13. Material according to any one of claims 1-12, characterized in that among the cleaning elements (26, 28, 34, 58, 60, 110) are those (26) with the first length and those (28) with the second length.

14. Material according to claim 13, characterized in that the cleaning elements (26) of the first length and the cleaning elements (28) of the second length are arranged in interlaced strip-shaped areas (30, 32).

15. Material according to claim 14, characterized in that partial surfaces (36, 38) of the base body (24) with differently oriented, preferably mutually perpendicular strips of cleaning elements (26, 28) of different heights are covered.

16. Material according to any one of claims 1-15, characterized in that the number of cleaning elements (26, 28, 34, 58, 60, 110) per unit area is different in different areas (136, 138) of the material.

17. Material according to any one of claims 1-16, characterized in that the protrusion of the cleaning elements (26, 28, 34, 58, 60, 110) over the base body

(24) is between 0.5 and 15 mm, preferably between 2 and 10 mm and again preferably between 4 and 8 mm, in particular about 8 mm.

18. Material according to any one of claims 1-17, thereby indicates that at least a part (26) of the cleaning elements (26, 28, 34, 58, 60, 110) is textured, for example in order to curl these cleaning elements.

19. Material according to any one of claims 1-18, characterized in that the surface of at least part of the cleaning elements (26, 28, 34, 58, 60, 110) is at least partially roughened.

20. Material according to any one of claims 1-19, characterized in that the cleaning elements (26, 28, 34, 58, 60, 110) are treated with high-energy radiation, in particular UV radiation, gamma rays or electron beams.

21. Material according to any one of claims 1-20, characterized in that at least some of the cleaning elements (26, 28, 34, 58, 60, 110) are impregnated or coated with a material (112; 124) which increases their rigidity .

22. Material according to claim 21, characterized in that at least some of the cleaning elements (26, 28, 34, 58, 60, 110) impregnated or coated with their stiffness-increasing material (112; 124) has a section (134) which is not impregnated or not coated or is impregnated or coated with a second material which increases the stiffness less.

23. Material according to any one of claims 1-22, characterized in that at least some of the cleaning elements (26, 28, 34, 58, 60, 110) are impregnated or coated with an anti-mycotic and / or antibacterial agent.

24. Material according to any one of claims 1-23, characterized in that the base body (24) is a woven fabric, a knitted fabric, a mesh, a knitted fabric, a fleece, a felt, a laid scrim, a film or the like

It is a structure on which the ends of the cleaning elements (26, 28, 34, 58, 60, 110) are fixed and which is stiffened at least in sections by an elastic impregnation material or an elastic coating.

25. Material according to claim 24, characterized in that at least some of the cleaning elements (26, 28, 34, 58, 60, 110) are pulled-out sections of threads of the base body (24) constructed from threads.

26. Material according to any one of claims 1-25, characterized in that the base body (24) additionally

Bristles (58, 60) carries or is penetrated by bristles, the length of which is shorter than that of the cleaning elements (26, 28, 34, 58, 60, 110).

27. Device for cleaning surfaces of teeth and denture materials, characterized in that it comprises a piece of material (22) made of a material according to any one of claims 1-26, which preferably has convex transverse cross-sectional geometry by elastic prestressing or plastic deformation and with a holding part (14; 42; 74; 80; 92) is connected.

28. Apparatus according to claim 27, characterized in that the base body (24) is arranged on an elastic head body (14) or is a portion of such.

29. Apparatus according to claim 27 or 28, characterized in net that the piece of material (22) is brought into the contoured shape before, during or after the hardening of an impregnating material (90) or coating material (40) infiltrated into the base body (24).

30. Device according to one of claims 27-29, characterized in that the longitudinal dimension of the material piece (22) is approximately 15 to 30 mm, preferably 20 mm, and the width of the material piece (22) is approximately 5 to 15 mm, preferably about 10 mm.

31. Device according to one of claims 27-30, characterized ge indicates that two opposite one another

The ends of the piece of material (22) are provided with fastening means (76, 78), to which a holding bracket (80) is attached, preferably under pretension.

32. Device according to one of claims 27-31, characterized ge indicates that the holding part (14; 42; 74; 80; 92) moves from the driven part (84) of a vibrator (86), an ultrasonic generator or an electric toothbrush drive becomes.

33. Device according to one of claims 27-32, characterized in that at least part of the edge of the material piece (22) has an arrangement of helical or garland-shaped cleaning elements (34).

34. Device according to one of claims 27-33, characterized in that the length of at least part of the cleaning elements (26, 28) increases towards at least one pair of opposite edges of the material piece (22).

35. Device according to one of claims 27-34, thereby indicates that at least some of the edge-cleaning elements (60) of the material piece (22) are inclined obliquely to the surface of the base body (24).

36. Device according to one of claims 27-35, characterized ge indicates that the base body (24) is permeable to liquid and its side facing away from the cleaning elements (26, 28, 34, 58, 60, 110) with a Feed channel (94) for treatment liquid is connected, which leads to a storage container (98) for treatment liquid accommodated in a handle.

37. Device according to one of claims 27-29, characterized ge indicates that the base body (24) is designed as a finger cap.