EP2229842A1 - Toothbrush - Google Patents

Abstract

The head (4) has a bristle support (6) on which a set of tuft-shaped cleaning elements (8) are affixed. The bristle support has movable rockers (10, 11) hinged with an end that is turned away from a hand piece-side end of the head. The rockers support the row of cleaning elements. The cleaning elements are arranged on the rockers at a distance from a longitudinal center plane of the head. The elements have free ends inwardly tilted towards the longitudinal center plane at an acute angle. The elements are formed by elastomer strips and bristle bunches (8c).

Description

The present invention relates to a toothbrush head with a bristle carrier, on which a plurality of preferably tuft-shaped cleaning elements are fixed, wherein the bristle carrier has at least one movable rocker, which is articulated with a first end, which is remote from a handpieceseitigen end of the toothbrush head, and with a free second end facing the handpiece-side end of the toothbrush head, wherein said rocker carries at least one row of cleaning elements. The invention further relates to a preferably manual toothbrush with such a toothbrush head.

In the case of toothbrushes, it is desirable to flexibly support the bristle field in relation to the edge piece with which the toothbrush is guided, so that the toothbrush head and the bristle field automatically adapts to the contour of the row of teeth or gums being brushed, as well as errors in the angle of attack be compensated and excessive pressure forces are mitigated by Wegfedern. For this purpose, it is known to support the bristle carrier, which carries the bristle tufts, elastically. The term "bristle carrier" here does not necessarily mean that the carrier actually "real" bristles or bristle tufts, but also includes that instead of or in addition to bristle tufts other cleaning elements, for example in the form of elastomer strips or interdental tips, or other massage elements on the Borstenträger are attached. For example, the writings show US 6,178,582 . US 5,052,071 . US 6,073,299 . US 5,465,450 various embodiments of toothbrush heads whose bristle carrier regions are elastically formed so that different bristle carrier sections can twist each other. This is achieved according to the said writings in that flexible sections of elastomers are incorporated in a conventional plate-shaped bristle carrier, so that separate from the handpiece or toothbrush neck through such an elastomeric section bristle field parts under the Putzandruck. This usually results in a part of the bristle field that faces away from the toothbrush neck or handpiece bending away, which in turn means that teeth placed on the hard to reach end of the oral cavity are difficult to clean, as the deepest in the oral cavity penetrating portion of the bristle field always bends away.

Therefore, it has already been proposed a toothbrush head with a differently designed flexibility or mobility, in which at the brush head tip, ie from the toothbrush neck or handpiece furthest spaced portions of the bristle field are least yielding, while arranged closer to the handle neck bristle field sections give more or can bend away. For this purpose, a rocker is provided on the toothbrush head, which protrudes backwards, so to speak, that is hinged at its end facing away from the toothbrush neck end on the toothbrush head and protrudes with its free end to the toothbrush neck. While this lying at the toothbrush neck free end up and down can rock so that the attached bristle tufts or cleaning or massage elements under the cleaning pressure, arranged on the brush head tip bristle tufts or cleaning or massage elements are stored without such a rocker effect, so they can not dodge in the same way.

Such a toothbrush head with backward projecting rockers shows, for example, the font US 2008/0184511 A1 , Specifically, two rockers are provided here, which form the legs of a U and are connected by a common central portion with which said rockers are attached to the body of the toothbrush head. The free ends of the rockers extend toward the toothbrush neck portion so that the bristle tufts mounted thereon can rock up and down. The two rockers are in this case spaced apart and extend to the right and left of a central bristle carrier portion which is rigidly connected to the body of the toothbrush head so that the lateral bristle field sections formed by said rockers can rock up and down relative to the central bristle carrier portion.

Although such a toothbrush head has a superior kinematics and thus improved contour adjustment of the bristle field with high cleaning efficiency even in hard to reach areas of the oral cavity, however, the width of the bristle carrier increases transversely to the toothbrush longitudinal direction, since said wings need a certain distance from the central region of the bristle carrier To ensure the desired mobility while allowing the attachment of bristle tufts. However, this hitherto suffers the desired density of the bristle field as a whole and the desired compactness, which facilitates penetration into inaccessible places. At the same time, the coordination achieved so far between the flexibility of the bristle field section mounted on the rocker and the fixed bristle field part can be improved.

Furthermore, the shows EP 18 34 605 A1 a toothbrush head with a soft plastic rocker, the rubber-elastic cleaning elements carries.

On this basis, the present invention has the object to provide an improved toothbrush head and an improved toothbrush of the type mentioned, avoid the disadvantages of the prior art and further develop the latter in an advantageous manner. Preferably, with high flexibility and adaptability of the bristle field to different contours improved control of the cleaning movement, which facilitates cleaning in hard to reach places to be achieved.

This object is achieved by a toothbrush head according to claim 1 and a toothbrush according to claim 14. Preferred embodiments of the invention are the subject of the dependent claims.

In order to achieve a compact and dense bristle field or cleaning and / or massage element field despite movable swing or wing arrangement, it is proposed to tilt the cleaning elements in the edge regions or outer portions of the rocker to the center of the bristle carrier or toothbrush head, such that the working surface of the bristle field or cleaning element field defined by the free ends of the cleaning elements has a smaller area than the base area of the bristle carrier within which the cleaning elements mentioned are attached to the bristle carrier on the foot side. In addition to an optical reduction of the brush head thereby a better control of the cleaning movement is achieved because a smaller, more compact area is in direct contact with the teeth or the gums, i. More bristles or cleaning elements act where the user wants it. According to the invention, at least the cleaning elements furthest away from a longitudinal center plane of the toothbrush head are tilted at an acute angle with their free end inwards towards the longitudinal median plane. The aforementioned longitudinal center plane means a plane containing the toothbrush longitudinal axis and parallel to the main direction of the bristle tufts or cleaning elements. Despite the wide bristle carrier a compact bristle field is achieved by the inwardly facing free ends of the outermost bristle tufts or cleaning elements. Despite mobility of the rocker, the bristle field or cleaning element field can hold application materials such as toothpaste well on the work surface and avoid that the toothpaste easily migrates into spaces on the bottom of the bristle carrier.

Particularly advantageous is the inwardly inclined arrangement of the outer wing tufts when the bristle carrier has a movable pair of wings, the right and left substantially symmetrical with respect to the longitudinal center plane of the toothbrush are arranged and / or form outer edge portions of the bristle carrier. In this case, at least the most distant from the longitudinal center plane cleaning elements or bristle tufts are tilted with their free ends inwards to the longitudinal center plane, so that the width of the defined by the free ends of working surface is reduced. The cleaning elements of the left and right rocker are thus inclined in opposite directions to each other.

In a further development of the invention can be provided in principle that all cleaning elements are tilted on the movable rocker at the same angle inwards, although it can also be provided that only some of the arranged on the wings cleaning elements are arranged inclined. As an alternative to such a uniform inclination of the cleaning elements, in an advantageous embodiment of the invention it can also be provided that different cleaning elements are arranged differently inclined on a rocker at different angles of inclination. Advantageously, it may be provided that further outward, i.e. further arranged away from the longitudinal center plane cleaning elements may be inclined more inwardly than further inside of the rocker arranged cleaning elements.

In principle, the tendency of the cleaning elements on the rockers can take place at different angles. On the one hand to achieve the desired reduction of the working surface and the desired compactness of the working element field, but on the other hand, no great flexibility of the cleaning elements to accept by too great an inclination in an advantageous development of the invention, the inclined arranged cleaning elements at an angle of inclination of 1 ° to 30 °, preferably about 5 ° to 20 ° relative to the longitudinal center plane inclined. It proves to be advantageous if the outermost, from the longitudinal center plane farthest cleaning elements are tilted with their longitudinal axes at an angle of 10 ° to 20 ° relative to the longitudinal center plane, while further inside, less spaced from the longitudinal center plane cleaning elements on the wings are inclined at an angle of only 5 ° to 15 ° relative to the longitudinal center plane.

In the arrangement of two wings or wings with cleaning elements arranged thereon, a central bristle carrier portion may be provided between the two wings, which is advantageously rigidly connected to a body of the toothbrush head so that the wings are moved relative to the central bristle carrier portion during up and down rocking. On said central bristle carrier section can also Cleaning elements, in particular bristle tufts and / or elastomer strips to be attached, said central cleaning elements advantageously can not be arranged, ie parallel to the longitudinal center plane. However, the cleaning elements fastened on the central bristle carrier section can however be tilted forwards or backwards in the longitudinal center plane, ie in the toothbrush longitudinal direction, preferably at an acute angle to a normal to the toothbrush longitudinal axis. In an alternative embodiment of the invention, however, can also be dispensed with such a central bristle carrier portion, ie between the right and left wings arranged no further bristle carrier portion is provided and / or said wings border directly to each other.

The arranged on the wings cleaning elements have respect to the articulation point or pivot point of the rocker depending on the distance from the free end of the rocker a different lever arm, ie depending on where on the rocker a cleaning element is arranged, it sets Putzandruck more or less easy a deflection movement of the swingarm. In order to use this effect and to achieve a better control of the deflection movement of the rocker, according to a further aspect of the present invention to the free end of the rocker towards a more massive and in particular kink-resistant cleaning element is provided. In particular, the last cleaning element at the free end of a rocker is solid and in particular kink-resistant than the arranged in a central portion of the rocker and / or further to the first end of the rocker cleaning elements, said solid bristle tufts or cleaning element is advantageously at least as high as the further to the first end arranged cleaning elements. The action of force, which moves the flexible wings during cleaning, is initiated in a more targeted manner by the last or larger cleaning elements, as a result of which the deflection movement of the rocker is controlled more precisely. Small, thin bristle tufts would tend to break away unchecked. On the other hand, depending on the brush holding angle of the user considerable pressure on the last, arranged at the free ends of the rocker cleaning elements can be exercised. The more massive and / or kink-stiffer and / or cross-sectional surface larger design of the last or cleaning elements prevents twisting or dodging of the cleaning element and distributes the force acting on a larger area. This results in a more comfortable feel and reduces pricks on the gums.

Advantageously, said cleaning elements at the free end of the rockers are higher than the adjacent cleaning elements and / or the angeordeten in a central portion of the wings cleaning elements, so that the first bending of the rockers and the force is applied controlled at the beginning of the bend. Only from a certain evasive movement of the rocker engage the adjacent cleaning elements and / or arranged in a central portion of the rocker bristle tufts and distribute the load evenly for optimum feel, so that no local overload occurs.

On the one hand to allow a sufficient contour adjustment by dodging the wings, but on the other hand to allow sufficiently high cleaning forces to penetrate into interdental spaces, a targeted evasion of the rockers under a defined cleaning force is desired and a controlled response of the wings to cleaning pressure desired. In this regard, it proves to be particularly advantageous according to a further aspect of the present invention, when the rockers are designed such that at a contact pressure of the toothbrush head against teeth and / or gums in the range of about 1 N to 5 N, the free ends of the wings an evasive movement of a minimum of 1 mm and a maximum of 6 mm, preferably in the range of 2 to 3.5 mm (this applies to the evasive movement of the wings alone - the head end is assumed to be fixed). As a result, a good compromise between light-footed adaptation to different contour elevations on the one hand and good controllability of the cleaning movement on the other hand is achieved.

The desired flexibility of the rockers can basically be achieved in various ways. For example, a movable mounting of the rockers can be provided with simultaneous support, for example by an elastic spring element. In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, however, it is provided that the wings are rotatably articulated with their first ends to a body part of the toothbrush head and are themselves formed elastically deformable such that the aforementioned setting or evasive movement of the wings is achieved in the usual Putzandruckkräften. The wings are thus designed so elastic that sets under normal Putzandrücken the desired deformation of the wings.

In order to achieve the desired flexibility with easy-to-produce, but on the other hand compact dimensions of the rocker, the rockers have in development of the invention at a free length in the range of about 20 mm to 70 mm, preferably about 30 to 50 mm, a modulus of elasticity in the range of 300 to 700 MPa, with a particularly favorable compromise between contour adjustment on the one hand and controllability of the cleaning movement on the other hand by a modulus of elasticity in the range of 350 to 500 MPa is achieved. According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the wings may consist of a polyethylene-polypropylene mixture, wherein advantageously 10 to 30%, preferably 20% TPE and 70 to 90%, preferably about 80% PP are provided.

The wings can in principle be made of the same material as the body of the toothbrush head and / or the neck portion of the toothbrush. For example, the wings may be directly integrally molded integrally to the body of the toothbrush head.

Alternatively, however, the wings may be made of a different material than the body of the toothbrush head and / or the neck portion. This makes it possible, in addition to an optical differentiation and thus functional clarification, to achieve optimum matching of the component properties to the respective function.

The said wings can in principle be connected in various ways with the body of the toothbrush head. For example, the wings can be positively, for example by locking, or cohesively, for example by welding or injection molding, or non-positively, for example, by gluing, are attached. The subsequent connection makes it possible to manufacture the corresponding components separately.

In order to achieve a particularly secure connection secured against unintentional loosening, according to a further aspect of the present invention it can be provided that the rockers are fixedly attached to the body part of the toothbrush head by means of a form-fit and material-locking connection. In particular, said body part of the toothbrush head may have a cut-in section, preferably provided with opposite groove cuts fastening portion on which the wings are molded so that the rocker material engages in said groove recesses.

By way of the swinging of the wings under the usual Putzandrücken the inclination angle of the rocker is changed, whereby the angle of attack of the working surface portion, which is formed by the free ends of the attached to the wings cleaning elements changed. Since this is desired only to a limited extent, is after another Aspect of the present invention, an opposite elastic mobility of the toothbrush head and / or the neck part formed thereon provided. In particular, a neck part which can be connected to the bristle carrier can be designed to be elastically movable under brushing pressure forces in the range from 1 N to 5 N on the toothbrush head. For this purpose, said neck portion spaced from the bristle carrier and / or spaced from the wings have a cross-sectional taper, preferably in the form of a window-like opening. In particular, said breakthrough can be formed by the neck portion in the vertical direction, ie parallel to the longitudinal center plane. By an opposing spring back of the wings on the one hand and the neck portion on the other hand, the angle of attack can be compensated by springing back the wings. At the same time a multi-stage of evasive movements is achieved by the different leverage ratios. While the wings cause a fine adjustment, by co-springing the entire toothbrush head over a deformation of the neck portion a coarser fitting movement can be achieved.

Fig. 1:

eine schematische, perspektivische Ansicht einer Zahnbürste mit einem zwei Schwingen aufweisenden Borstenträger nach einer vorteilhaften Ausführung der Erfindung,

Fig. 2:

eine schematische, stirnseitige Ansicht des Zahnbürstenkopfs der Zahnbürste aus Fig. 1, die die schräg nach innen geneigte Anordnung der auf den Schwin- gen platzierten Borstenbüschel zeigt,

Fig. 3:

eine Draufsicht auf den Bürstenkopf aus Fig. 2, die die Erstreckung der seitlichen Schwingen und die Anordnung der darauf befestigten Borstenbüschel zeigt,

Fig. 4:

eine Seitenansicht eines Zahnbürstenkopfs mit zwei seitlichen Schwingen ähn- lich den vorhergehenden Figuren, wobei auf den Schwingen eine anders ausge- bildete Beborstung vorgesehen ist und zwischen den Schwingen kein weiterer Borstenträgerteil und keine weiteren Borstenbüschel vorgesehen sind,

Fig. 5:

eine Draufsicht auf den Zahnbürstenkopf aus Fig. 4, der die Anordnung der Borstenbüschel und deren Ausbildung auf den Schwingen zeigt,

Fig. 6:

eine Schnittansicht entlang der Linie A-A in Fig. 5, die die Verbindung zwischen den Schwingen des Borstenträgers und dem Korpus des Zahnbürstenkopfs zeigt, und

Fig. 7:

eine schematische Seitenansicht eines Zahnbürstenkopfs mit seitlichen Schwin- gen des Borstenträgers ähnlich den vorhergehenden Ausführungsformen, die die Beweglichkeit der seitlichen Schwingen des Borstenträgers verdeutlicht.

These and other features, which may form the subject of the present invention in combination with each other and independently of their recitation in the claims, will become apparent from the drawings and the following description of preferred embodiments, as well as the claims and the foregoing description. In the drawings show:

Fig. 1:

1 is a schematic, perspective view of a toothbrush having a two-bristle bristle carrier according to an advantageous embodiment of the invention,

Fig. 2:

a schematic, frontal view of the toothbrush head of the toothbrush from Fig. 1 showing the obliquely inwardly inclined arrangement of the bristle tufts placed on the wings,

3:

a plan view of the brush head Fig. 2 showing the extent of the lateral wings and the arrangement of the bristle tufts mounted thereon,

4:

a side view of a toothbrush head with two lateral wings similar to the preceding figures, wherein on the wings of a different design bristles is provided and between the wings no further bristle carrier part and no further bristle tufts are provided

Fig. 5:

a plan view of the toothbrush head Fig. 4 showing the arrangement of the bristle tufts and their formation on the wings,

Fig. 6:

a sectional view taken along the line AA in Fig. 5 showing the connection between the wings of the bristle carrier and the body of the toothbrush head, and

Fig. 7:

a schematic side view of a toothbrush head with lateral oscillations of the bristle carrier similar to the previous embodiments, which illustrates the mobility of the lateral wings of the bristle carrier.

In the Fig. 1 Drawn toothbrush 1 is a manual toothbrush free of a drive, which has a preferably molded plastic handpiece 2, which forms a handle of the toothbrush 1 and is substantially elongated, approximately rod-shaped.

Said handle 2 is connected via a neck portion 3 with a toothbrush head 4, said toothbrush head 4 may be integrally formed integrally with the handle 2 and / or the neck portion 3. Alternatively, however, said toothbrush head 4 may be detachably connected to the neck portion 3.

Said toothbrush head 4 comprises in the illustrated embodiment a body part 5 fixedly connected to the neck part 3, on the upper side of which a bristle carrier 6 is arranged.

The - quite roughly speaking - plate-shaped bristle carrier 6 carries a bristle field 7 comprising a plurality of bristle tufts 8, which optionally form the cleaning elements of the toothbrush 1 with additionally arranged elastomer strips.

Said bristle carrier 6 may in this case be formed in several pieces and comprises in particular two laterally arranged, substantially parallel - roughly speaking - extending to the toothbrush longitudinal direction 9 wings 10, 11. The said wings 10 and 11 may include between them a central, elongated bristle carrier portion 12, the may be rigidly connected to the said body part 5 of the toothbrush head 4, wherein the rigid connection may of course be formed detachable to change this part of the bristle carrier 6 can. Alternatively, like this FIG. 5 shows the side wings 10 and 11 may be provided without interposed bristle carrier portion, so that no further bristle tufts are provided between the placed on the wings 10 and 11 bristle tufts 8.

The said wings 10 and 11 are articulated with their first, front ends 13 which are located at the top of the toothbrush head 4 and / or facing away from the neck portion 3, on the body part 5 of the toothbrush head 4, while the cantilevered other ends 14 of Swing 10 and 11 point to the neck portion 3 and / or reach to the neck part end of the toothbrush head 4. The wings 10 and 11 are therefore generally oblong and roughly spherical or wing-shaped and collar so to speak, from the front end of the toothbrush head 4 backwards to the handle 2 out, so that said free ends 14 at handteilseitigen end of the toothbrush head 4 free upwards and you can bob up and down. The mobility of said rockers 10 and 11 is in this case designed such that said rockers 10 and 11 substantially parallel to the longitudinal center plane 15, see. Fig. 2 , up and down, see. Fig. 7 , where in Fig. 7 the longitudinal center plane 15 corresponds to the plane of the drawing.

In the illustrated embodiment of the FIGS. 2 and 3 as well as after FIGS. 4 and 5 the two rockers 10 and 11 are connected to each other at their first, hinged ends 13 by a connecting and / or bearing portion 16, so that the said wings 10 and 11 together with the connecting and / or bearing portion 16 form a U-shaped structure ,

At the said bearing portion 16, the wings 10 and 11 are fixed to the body part 5. The connection to the body part 5 can in this case basically be designed differently, as explained above. In the illustrated embodiment according to Fig. 6 can advantageously be provided a positive and material or non-positive connection. In particular, the body part 5 of the toothbrush head 4 may comprise an undercut attachment portion 17, which is encapsulated by the material of the rockers 10 and 11 and the bearing portion 16. In the drawn execution to Fig. 6 The attachment portion 17 of the body part 5 comprises a flange portion projecting toward the top of the toothbrush head 4 or the bristle carrier 6, which has opposite groove-shaped constrictions or rear handles 18 which can be worked into the body part 5 in the manner of a longitudinal groove.

The bearing portion 16 of the rockers 10 and 11 is in the illustrated embodiment according to Fig. 6 sprayed in the two-component injection molding of said attachment portion 17 of the body part 5, so that a positive and material or non-positive connection is formed. In this way, an unintentional release of the wings 10 and 11 can be safely avoided, on the other hand, the wings 10 and 11 regardless of the material of the neck portion 3 and / or the carcass piece 5 from the elasticity of the wings 10 and 11 best possible material can be formed.

The geometry of the rockers 10 and 11 may in principle vary and be adapted to the desired properties of the bristle field sections. In the illustrated embodiments, the rockers 10 and 11 have a free length L - ie the projecting length of the bearing portion 16 - of about 30 to 50 mm. The Querschittsgestaltung and the choice of material for the rockers 10 is hereby advantageously made such that the wings 10 and 11 experienced at normal cleaning forces at their free ends 14, a vertical deflection x of about 2 to 3.5 mm. This can be achieved according to an advantageous embodiment of the invention in that the wings 10 and 11 in the region of their free length L have an approximately constant cross-section and have a modulus of elasticity in the range of 350 to 500 MPa, so that an overall beautiful bending curve of the wings is reached. The said deflection x occurs here advantageously at normal brushing forces in the range of about 1 to 5 N and in particular about 3 N on the toothbrush head 4, wherein in Fig. 7 said cleaning force is symbolized by the arrow 19. Furthermore, said deflection x refers to a sole deformation of the rockers 10 and 11 - the free head end is fixed.

How the execution after the FIGS. 2 and 3 shows, the bristles of the wings 10 and 11 may advantageously include an inclined arrangement of the bristle tufts 8, according to which the bristle tufts 8 with respect to the longitudinal center plane 15 are inclined at an acute angle. In particular, said bristle tufts 8 may be inclined inwardly on the rockers 10 and 11 towards the center of the bristle field 7 so that the working surface of the bristle field 7 defined by the free ends of the bristle tufts 8 is smaller than the area at the foot of the bristle tufts 8 Tufts of bristles, which are stretched by the envelope around the bristle tufts on the bristle carrier.

As Fig. 2 shows, the bristle tufts 8 on the wings 10 and 11 in this case may be inclined inwards at different angles, advantageously further outwardly positioned bristle tufts 8a are inclined more inwardly than further inside, ie closer to the longitudinal center plane 15 positioned bristle tufts 8b. Immediately lying on the longitudinal center plane 15 bristle tufts are advantageously not inclined relative to the aforementioned longitudinal center plane 15. As Fig. 2 For example, the outermost bristle tufts 8a may be inclined at an angle α2 of about 15 °, while tufts 8b further inwardly but still spaced from the longitudinal center plane 15 may be inclined at an angle of about 10 °.

How the execution after the FIGS. 4 and 5 and also the execution after Fig. 1 shows, at the free end 14 of the wings 10 and 11, an enlarged and / or solid trained bristle tufts 8c may be provided, compared to the adjacent and / or in a central region of the wings 10 and 11 and / or on to the articulation point of the wings positioned bristle tufts 8 may have a larger cross-section and / or a greater height and / or greater buckling resistance, so that this arranged at the free end 14 tufts 8c so to speak forms a control tuft that controls the rocking movement of the rockers 10 and 11. In particular, the cross-sectional area of this bristle tuft 8c at the free end 14 of the rockers 10 and 11 may be about 4/3 to 6/3 of the average cross-sectional area of the other bristle tufts 8 on the rockers 10 and 11. The height may be about 110% to 150%, preferably about 120% to 140% of the adjacent bristle tufts 8. As a result, press said bristle tufts 8c at the free ends 14, the wings 10 and 11 in tooth or gum contact down, the resulting pressure over the larger area is better distributed and the subsequent bristle tufts after initial depression of the wings 10 and 11 in Get engaged, so that a total of a pleasant cleaning feeling is achieved.

In the drawn execution to Fig. 5 For example, the bristle tufts 8 on the wings 10 and 11 may advantageously have different cross-sectional shapes, in the illustrated embodiment alternating bristle tufts with round cross-sections with bristle tufts with elongated, flattened cross-sections, the latter being oriented transversely to the longitudinal direction of the wings.

As Fig. 7 shows the rockers 10 and 11 in the undeflected initial position approximately parallel to the longitudinal axis and / or parallel to a longitudinal axis containing the transverse plane - perpendicular to the plane of the Fig. 7 stands - be arranged. In the depressed position, according to Fig. 7 dashed lines, the wings 10 and 11 can easily slope down to the neck part 3 out.

Claims (14)

Toothbrush head with a bristle carrier (6) on which a plurality of preferably tuft-shaped cleaning elements (8) are fixed, wherein the bristle carrier (6) at least one rocker (10, 11) having a first end (13) of a handpiece-side end of the toothbrush head (4) facing away, is articulated and with a free second end (14) facing the handpiece-side end of the toothbrush head (4), said rocker (10, 11) carries a number of cleaning elements (8), characterized in that at least those of a longitudinal center plane (15) of the toothbrush head farthest on the rocker (10, 11) arranged cleaning elements (8) are tilted at an acute angle inwardly with their free ends to said longitudinal center plane. A toothbrush head according to the preceding claim, wherein at least a pair of movable rockers (10, 11) are provided, each hinged in said manner with a first end and with a free end facing the handpiece-side end of the toothbrush head, said rockers (10 and 11) each carry at least one row of cleaning elements (8) and are preferably arranged symmetrically to the longitudinal center plane (15). Toothbrush head according to one of the preceding claims, wherein on the at least one rocker (10, 11) cleaning elements (8) at different angles (α1, α2) are inclined inwardly towards the longitudinal center plane (15), preferably further outward, from the longitudinal center plane ( 15) arranged more distant cleaning elements (8a) are inclined more than closer to the longitudinal center plane (15) arranged cleaning elements (8b). Toothbrush head according to the preceding claim, wherein all of the longitudinal center plane (15) spaced cleaning elements (8) on the at least one rocker (10, 11) at an angle of 1 ° to 30 °, preferably 5 ° to 20 °, to the longitudinal center plane (15 ) are arranged inclined towards. Toothbrush head according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the bristle carrier (6) has a middle section (12) lying between the rockers (10, 11) carrying at least one row of cleaning elements (8) arranged substantially parallel to the longitudinal center plane (15) are, wherein said central portion (12) of the bristle carrier (6) is preferably rigidly connected to the toothbrush head (4). Toothbrush head according to the preamble of claim 1 or any one of the preceding claims, wherein at the free end (14) of the at least one rocker (10, 11) a cleaning element (8c) is fixed, which has a greater buckling resistance and / or a larger cross-sectional area than in a has middle swinging section attached cleaning elements (8). A toothbrush head according to the preceding claim, wherein the cleaning element (8c) attached to the free end (14) of the rocker (10, 11) has a greater height than the cleaning elements positioned closer to the first end (13) of the rocker (10, 11). Toothbrush head according to the preamble of claim 1 or any one of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one rocker (10, 11) is formed such that at a brushing pressure force of the toothbrush head (4) against teeth and / or the gum in the range of 1 N to 5 N the free end (14) of the rocker (10, 11) performs a deflection movement of a minimum of 1 mm and a maximum of 6 mm, preferably in the range of 2 to 3.5 mm. Toothbrush head according to the preceding claim, wherein the rocker (10, 11) with its first end (13) rotationally fixed to a body part (5) of the toothbrush head (4) is articulated and elastic, wherein the rocker (10, 11) at a free length L in the range of 20 mm to 70 mm, preferably 30 mm to 50 mm, has a modulus of elasticity in the range of 300 MPa to 700 MPa, preferably 350 MPa to 500 MPa. Toothbrush head according to the preceding claim, wherein the rocker (10, 11) of a different material than a central portion of the bristle carrier (6) and / or a bristle carrier carrying body part (5) of the toothbrush head (4). Toothbrush head according to one of the preceding claims, wherein a neck part (3) which can be connected to the bristle carrier (6) is designed to be elastically movable under cleaning pressure forces in the range from 1 N to 5 N on the toothbrush head (4), the neck part (3) being spaced from the bristle carrier (6) has a cross-sectional taper, preferably in the form of a window-like opening, in such a way that both the neck part (3) and the rocker (10) undergo elastic deformation in the case of said brushing pressure forces. Toothbrush head according to the preamble of claim 1 or one of the preceding claims, wherein the rocker (10, 11) by means of a positive and cohesive connection fixed to a body part (5) of the toothbrush head (4) is attached. Toothbrush head according to the preceding claim, wherein the body part (5) has an undercut shaped, preferably provided with opposite Nuthintergriffe (18) fastening portion (17) on which the rocker (10, 11) is injection molded. Toothbrush with a toothbrush head (4) according to one of the preceding claims.

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