JP2008212194A - Toothbrush - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a tooth brush for finishing brushing capable of gripping a handle portion in a pen-grip, and easily operating a head portion in an oral cavity in the state, and properly positioning a brush portion. <P>SOLUTION: The toothbrush has a base portion 21, the head portion having the brush portion 20 formed by implanting a brush element 22 into the base portion, a neck portion 11 continuous from the head portion, and the elongate handle portion 30 continuous from the neck portion. The handle portion has a grip portion 35 where finger tips are located when a person assisting tooth brushing grips the handle portion and a support portion 36 located to be spaced apart from the grip portion as viewed from the head portion side and where the vicinity of the proximal phalanx of an index finger is arranged, and the grip portion has arranging portions 31, 32, 33 used in the arrangement when gripping by arranging a planar portion being respective sides of a regular triangle such that the face becoming a back face side to the head portion is the bottom side in the crosssection. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an improvement in a toothbrush for finishing brushing of infant teeth.

Toothbrushes that perform so-called finish brushing are known in which an infant or a child practiced tooth brushing, and then a guardian (helper) polishes the portion left unpolished.
In particular, such a toothbrush is characterized by a small head part that can be easily inserted into a small mouth of an infant and a structure of a handle part that can be easily held by a guardian or the like.
For example, the toothbrush of patent document 1 is set as the structure which made the cross section the hexagonal cross section, and has arrange | positioned the recessed part in the back side.
The toothbrush of Patent Document 2 also has a polygonal cross section at the handle (grip).

Utility Kaihei 6-33520 Utility model registration No. 3048142

These conventional (finishing) toothbrushes have a polygonal shape by chamfering the side of the handle, making it easier to place fingers when gripping. Stable gripping is realized when gripping. However, there was nothing to consider regarding the directionality of the head part inserted into the infant's oral cavity in that state.
In other words, the head portion of the toothbrush has directionality with respect to the flocked state and the like, and if the brush portion is not properly positioned with respect to the teeth in the oral cavity, the toothbrushing (finish brushing) cannot be performed well.

  The present invention was made to solve the above-described problems, and the handle portion can be correctly gripped with a pen so that the head portion can be easily operated in the oral cavity and the brush portion can be positioned correctly. An object is to provide a toothbrush for finishing.

  In the invention of claim 1, the object is to provide a head portion having a base portion, a brush portion formed by flocking a brush element in the base portion, a neck portion continuing from the head portion, A long handle portion that extends from the neck portion, and the handle portion has a grip portion on which a fingertip is arranged when a person who assists in brushing teeth holds the grip portion. The cross section has a placement portion that is used for the placement when gripping by providing a flat portion that is substantially each side of an equilateral triangle with the surface on the back side of the head portion as the base. This is achieved with a toothbrush.

According to the configuration of the first invention, since the grip portion is provided with a flat portion that becomes each side of a substantially equilateral triangle, the grip portion includes the placement portion that is used for the placement when gripping. That is, a thumb, forefinger, and middle finger can be attached to each placement portion, and gripping with a pen grip is possible and stable holding is possible, so that the operability of the head portion in the gripping state is excellent.
In addition, the grip portion is provided with flat portions that are substantially equilateral triangle sides, with the cross-section of the head portion being the back side with respect to the head portion, and the flat portions are used as the arrangement portions. Therefore, gripping with a pen grip can be realized corresponding to the directionality of the head portion of the toothbrush. Thereby, when a head part is inserted in the oral cavity, a brush part is correctly positioned with respect to the tooth | gear in an oral cavity, and toothpaste (finish brushing) can be performed suitably.
Thus, it is possible to provide a toothbrush for finish polishing that can correctly grip the handle portion with a pen, easily operate the head portion in the oral cavity, and correctly position the brush portion.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the configuration of the first aspect of the present invention, anti-slip means is formed on the surface of the arrangement portion, and a bulging portion is formed at the head side end of the anti-slip means. It is characterized by that.
According to the structure of 2nd invention, since the anti-slip | skid means is formed in the surface of the said arrangement | positioning part, a holding state can be maintained, without slipping. In addition, the presence of the bulging portion makes it easy to determine the position of the fingertip for gripping, and is excellent in usability.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the configuration of the first or second aspect of the invention, the handle portion is located in a direction away from the grip portion when viewed from the head portion side, and a support portion on which an index finger is disposed. The support part is provided at a position where the base of the index finger is arranged when a person who assists in brushing holds the grip part.
According to the configuration of the third invention, the person who assists in brushing the teeth is provided with the thumb, index finger, and middle finger on each of the three sides of the grip part, that is, each placement part, and the base of the index finger is placed on the support part. As a result, gripping with a correct pen grip becomes possible and stable holding is possible, and the operability of the head portion in the gripping state is excellent.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the configuration according to any one of the second and third aspects, the bulging portion of the placement portion has a steep slope in which the head portion of the placement portion is provided at an end of the wand. It consists of walls.
According to the configuration of the fourth aspect of the invention, it is possible to prevent the finger holding the grip portion from approaching the infant's mouth more than necessary. That is, since the head portion is operated around the mouth of the infant, the finger gets wet when the gripped finger approaches the mouth more than necessary, and it is not easy for hygiene. For this reason, the steep wall portion of the bulging portion prevents the finger from approaching the head portion to prevent slipping and can be used hygienically.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The embodiments described below are preferable specific examples of the present invention, and thus various technically preferable limitations are given. However, the scope of the present invention is particularly limited in the following description. As long as there is no description of the effect, it is not restricted to these aspects.

1 and FIG. 2 are schematic perspective views showing embodiments of the toothbrush according to the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a schematic longitudinal sectional view of the toothbrush of FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is AA of FIG. It is sectional drawing.
That is, FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of the toothbrush of the first embodiment as seen from the back side, and FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of the toothbrush of the first embodiment as seen from a slightly lower side on the front side. .

The toothbrush 10 of the first embodiment is suitable for, for example, finishing brushing on teeth that are in the process of growing or individual teeth before they are grown, for example, when the infant's teeth start to grow.
1 and 2, the toothbrush 10 includes a base portion 21, a head portion 20 having a brush element 22 formed by implanting brush elements in the base portion 21, and a neck portion 11 continuing from the head portion 20. And a long handle portion 30 continuing from the neck portion 11.
As shown in the cross-sectional view of FIG. 3, the handle 30 is entirely formed of the same material including the neck portion 11 and the base portion 21 in this embodiment. In this respect, synthetic resins as hard materials such as ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene resin), AS (acrylonitrile styrene resin), polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polystyrene, polyacetal, polycarbonate, polyether sulfone, polyamide, acrylic resin, etc. It is formed of a molded product.

The handle portion 30 is integrally connected to the head portion 20 via the thin neck portion 11, and the handle portion 30 has a thick area close to the head portion 20, and this thick portion is the grip portion 35. It is said that. The grip portion 35 is not circular in cross section, and in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the cross section substantially coincides with a partial form near the center except for each vertex portion of an equilateral triangle.
That is, FIG. 4 is a view cut at a position of the grip portion 35 of the handle portion 30, and the cross section of the handle portion 30 and the neck portion 11 is substantially circular except for the region of the grip portion 35.
Further, the outer shape of the handle portion 30 is gradually narrowed as the handle portion 30 is separated from the head portion 20, and the tip side thinner than the grip portion 35 is a support portion 36 described later.

  Further, the head portion 20 at the tip of the thin neck portion 11 has a base portion 21 having a thickness dimension substantially the same as the diameter of the thin neck portion 11, as can be understood with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, and 3. It is a flat quadrangle provided, and is a rectangle that is long in the width direction, which is the X direction in FIG. That is, the base portion 21 has a small outer dimension in the thickness direction (substantially the Y direction in FIG. 3). Therefore, the head portion 20 has a relatively large size in the width direction and is adapted to implant the brush element along its outer shape. It has the brush element 22 which was made.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 3, in this embodiment, the thin neck portion 11 is bent along the Y direction, which is the opposite direction of the back side arrangement portion 31. That is, the neck portion 11 is curved in an R shape. The brush element 22 planted on the base 21 of the head portion 20 extends along the bending direction of the neck portion 11.
In FIG. 3, the brush element implanted to constitute the brush element 22 is made of nylon, for example, and has a diameter of, for example, 0.1 mm so that a soft brush (JIS S 3016) is formed. ). Accordingly, the delicate oral cavity of the infant is not damaged, and the hair transplantation length h is relatively short, for example, 5 mm, so as to perform a sufficient cleaning function while being extremely fine.

The handle 30 will be described in more detail.
As shown in FIG. 4, the relatively thick grip portion 35 has a cross-sectional shape that has a bottom surface that is a lower surface (corresponding to the rear surface that is the front surface shown in FIG. 1) with respect to the head portion 20. By providing a flat portion that becomes each side of the virtual equilateral triangle S, it has placement portions 31, 32, and 33 for placing a user's finger when grasping.

And the anti-slip | skid means is formed in the surface of each arrangement | positioning part 31,32,33.
Further, a support portion 36 is provided so as to be positioned in a direction opposite to the head portion 20 from the grip portion 35 in which the arrangement portions 31, 32, 33 of the handle portion 30 are formed. As will be described later, the support portion 36 is a portion where the vicinity of the proximal phalanx of the index finger is arranged when the user holds it, and the cross section thereof is circular in this embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 3, the handle portion 30 has a through hole 15 at the tip portion further than the support portion 36, and can be used when the toothbrush 10 is hooked upside down. It has become.

The anti-slip means 31a in FIG. 1 shows one of the anti-slip means. Such anti-slip means has an elastomer anti-slip layer disposed by integral molding with the handle 30 or the like, and even if the whole is made of a hard material, a fine unevenness is provided on the surface so that a finger or the like is brought into contact therewith. It is designed to make it more difficult to slip.
Further, bulging portions 34, 34, 34 that slightly swell are formed at the head side end portions of the respective placement portions 31, 32, 33. As can be understood from FIG. 4, the bulging portion 34 is a wall portion that has a steep slope or a near-perpendicular slope that can be formed in a region where the placement portion is not formed as a result of each placement portion being cut flat. is there.
Due to the presence of such a bulging portion 34, it is easy to determine the position of the fingertip for gripping, and it is easy to use. Further, it is possible to prevent the finger holding the grip portion 35 from approaching the infant's mouth more than necessary.
That is, since the head part 20 is operated around the mouth of the infant, the finger gets wet when the gripped finger approaches the mouth more than necessary, and it is not easy for sanitation. For this reason, the approach to the head part 20 of a finger is prevented by the steep wall part of the bulging part, and it is used as a non-slip and can be used hygienically.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a state where the toothbrush 10 is used.
In the figure, the user (assistant) puts the head of the child who is an infant on the knee, holds the toothbrush 10 with the right hand H so as to bend from above, and inserts the head portion 20 into the oral cavity K of the child. And finish polishing.
In this state, the grip portion 35 of the toothbrush 10 has a flat portion that is substantially each side of an equilateral triangle, and this flat portion serves as a finger placement portion for the right hand H when gripping as shown in the figure. ing. That is, the right hand H thumb F1, index finger F2, and middle finger (not shown) can be attached to the placement portions 31, 32, 33 (see FIG. 4) corresponding to the three sides of the equilateral triangle. The vicinity of the base of the index finger F1 is disposed on the support portion 36. Here, the arrangement of the vicinity of the base of the index finger specifically means that, for example, the vicinity of the proximal phalanx of the index finger is arranged.
By doing so, gripping with a correct pen grip becomes possible and stable holding is possible, so that the operability of the head unit 20 in the gripping state as shown in FIG. 5 is excellent.

In addition, as described with reference to FIG. 4, the grip portion 35 is a flat portion whose cross section is substantially a side of a virtual equilateral triangle, with the cross-section being the back side with respect to the head portion. Since the portions 31, 32, and 33 are provided, the gripping by the pen grip can be realized corresponding to the direction of the head portion 20 of the toothbrush 10. Thereby, when the head part 20 is inserted in the oral cavity K, the direction of the brush part 20 is correctly positioned with respect to the teeth in the oral cavity K, and tooth brushing (finishing brushing) can be suitably performed.
The dimension l1 from the grip part 35 to the tip of the head part 20 is set to 43 mm. Thereby, although it reaches from the grip part 35 to the back teeth, there is no danger of piercing the throat.
Thus, according to the present embodiment, the handle portion 30 can be correctly gripped with a pen, the head portion 20 can be easily operated in the oral cavity K, and the brush portion 21 can be positioned correctly. 10 can be provided.

In addition, the neck portion 11 of the toothbrush 10 is formed thinner than the handle portion 30, and the thickness dimension of the head portion 20 is also equal to the diameter dimension of the neck portion 11. Furthermore, the thin neck portion 11 bends along the Y direction which is the opposite direction of the back side arrangement portion 31, and the brush element 22 planted on the base 21 of the head portion 20 extends along the bending direction of the neck portion 11. It is growing.
Thereby, the neck part 11 is thin and the thickness dimension of the base part 21 is also equivalent to this. For example, since the base portion 20 has a compact size of 11.2 mm in width, 8.3 mm in height, and 6.0 mm in thickness, while viewing the inside of the oral cavity K without interrupting the view of the assistant as much as possible, In this case, since the extending direction of the neck portion and the extending direction of the brush element 22 coincide with each other, the tooth is started to reciprocate at a particularly fine location, especially for teeth that have started growing. When cleaning is required, the caregiver can work with a feeling close to that of his / her fingertip.
Moreover, since the thin neck part 11 bends along the Y direction and is curved, the back side of the teeth, the back teeth, and the spaces between the teeth are easily brushed around the top of the dentition.

FIG. 6 shows a second embodiment of the toothbrush, and the toothbrush of this embodiment is suitable, for example, for finish polishing after the period when the back teeth grow.
In the toothbrush 10-1 in FIG. 6, the same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, overlapping description will be omitted, and the description below will focus on differences from the first embodiment. To do.

In FIG. 6, the neck 11-1 of the toothbrush 10-1 is not curved and extends substantially straight.
The brush element 22 extends in a vertical direction from the integral base portion 21-1 of the neck portion 11-1. The size of the base part 21-1 is larger than that of the base part of the first embodiment, and can be, for example, a width of 8.7 mm, a height of 14.5 mm, and a thickness of about 4.5 mm.
The brush element implanted in the base portion 21-1 is the same material as that of the first embodiment and is a soft material, but the brush diameter is slightly thick, for example, about 0.127. Therefore, the brush element 22-1 is slightly stronger than the first embodiment, and is more suitable for overall polishing than partial polishing.
The length l2 from the grip part 35 to the tip of the head part 20 is about 52 mm.

The present embodiment is configured as described above, and can exhibit substantially the same operation as the first embodiment, but due to the difference in the shape of the neck portion 11-2 and the shape of the head portion 20-1, Some actions are different.
That is, as described in FIG. 5, the assistant can finish-polish using the toothbrush 10-1, but in that case, not only the head unit 20-1 is moved little by little but also in the length direction. Or, it is suitable for brushing the entire dentition by reciprocating a relatively large amount in a direction perpendicular thereto, and particularly suitable for dentition of the back teeth that are prone to cavities.
The length l2 from the grip part 35 to the tip of the head part 20 is about 52 mm, and when the head part 20-1 is inserted into the oral cavity, it can reach the dentition of the back teeth, but pierces the throat. The dimensions are not dangerous.

  Each configuration in each of the above-described embodiments and modifications may be combined with each other, may be omitted if necessary, or may be implemented under a combination of different configurations by replacing other configurations.

1 is a schematic perspective view of a toothbrush according to a first embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a toothbrush according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The schematic longitudinal cross-sectional view of the toothbrush of FIG. AA line schematic sectional drawing of the toothbrush of FIG. Explanatory drawing of the use condition of the toothbrush of FIG. The schematic longitudinal cross-sectional view of the toothbrush concerning the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Toothbrush, 11 ... Neck part, 20 ... Head part, 21 ... Base part, 22 ... Brush element, 30 ... Pattern part, 31, 32, 33 ... Arrangement Part, 35 ... grip part, 36 ... support part

Claims (4)

A head portion having a base portion, a brush portion formed by flocking brush elements in the base portion, a neck portion continuing from the head portion, and a long handle portion continuing from the neck portion. ,
The handle portion has a grip portion where a fingertip is arranged when a person who assists in brushing holds the handle,
The grip portion is
The cross section has a placement portion that is used for the placement when gripping by providing a flat portion that is substantially each side of an equilateral triangle with the surface on the back side of the head portion as the base. A toothbrush characterized by that.   The toothbrush according to claim 1, wherein anti-slip means is formed on a surface of the arrangement part, and a bulging part is formed at the head side end of the anti-slip means.   The handle portion has a support portion that is positioned away from the grip portion as viewed from the head portion side and on which an index finger is arranged. The support portion is provided by a person who assists in brushing the teeth. The toothbrush according to any one of claims 1 and 2, wherein the toothbrush is provided at a position where the vicinity of the base of the index finger is arranged when gripping the portion.   The bulge portion of the placement portion is a wall portion having a steep slope provided at the end of the hook at the head portion of the placement portion. Toothbrush.

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