JPH0237371Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed explanation of the idea]

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to oral hygiene devices such as toothbrushes and oral pine surgers. [Prior Art] A typical toothbrush, which is an example of this type of oral hygiene device, uses the physical abrasive force of its bristles to remove dirt, plaque, and residues that have gotten between the teeth. Because the product simply had brush bristles implanted at one end of the grip handle, it had no effect on bacteria in the oral cavity.
Currently, to prevent the proliferation of bacteria in the oral cavity, we rely only on disinfectants such as chlorhexidine hydrochloride, which is one of the components of disinfectants. Therefore, in the past, as a means to expect a sterilization effect against bacteria in the oral cavity, a photoconductive fiber was installed inside the grip handle, and the tip of the photoconductive fiber was exposed to the part where the brush bristles were installed. The photoconductive fibers themselves are implanted as brush bristles or mixed with other brush bristles, and during oral cleaning, infrared or ultraviolet rays are guided into the oral cavity from the other end of the grip handle. They had devised a way to sterilize bacteria using ultraviolet light. (For example, see Utility Model Application Publication No. 49-96171 or No. 52-66569.) [Problem to be solved by the invention] However, since the above-mentioned conventional method uses ultraviolet rays, In addition to the risk of causing burns, the use of a large number of expensive photoconductive fibers embedded in the handle increases the overall cost of the oral hygiene device and increases the cost of the handle. Since the total amount of light is determined by the number of photoconductive fibers embedded in the handle, the entire cross-sectional area of the handle cannot be used as a light-conducting path; It was difficult to send light to the intraoral cleaning tool. This invention prevents the proliferation of bacteria in the oral cavity by guiding light from a light source to the area of the oral cleaning tool, and is able to suppress the proliferation of bacteria in the oral cavity as safely as possible and to a relatively high degree. The purpose is to provide an oral hygiene device that can be provided at low cost and that can supply a sufficient amount of light considering the thickness of the handle. [Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the oral hygiene device according to the present invention has a characteristic configuration that includes an oral cavity cleaning tool on one end side, a grip handle on the other end side, and a grip handle on the other end side. is provided with a light irradiation device capable of irradiating visible light toward the inside of the oral cavity when the oral cavity is being cleaned by the oral cavity cleaning tool, and further, the grip handle is made of a transparent material that can transmit the visible light. In addition, a light reflecting film is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the grip handle to condense the light emitted from the light irradiation device toward the position where the oral cavity cleaning tool is present. The functions and effects of the above characteristic configuration are as follows. [Effect] i In other words, the present invention has found that visible light is harmful to general bacteria. That is, it is an example of common bacteria. As shown in Figure 1 for oral bacteria, under the following conditions, a measurement solution mixed with oral bacteria (e.g.
The product (trade name: Sankin Karyostat) was stored in a light-enabled case and a light-blocked case, and the color change after culturing in a culture device for 48 hours revealed that:
We observed the transition between those that were irradiated with light and those that were blocked. The Sankin Karyostat, which is used as an example of a measuring solution, is used to check the formation of dental plaque and acid.
The more acids there are, the more the color of the liquid changes from blue to green to horizontal green to horizontal, indicating a danger signal for tooth decay. <Conditions> Power supply AC100V (Toshiba 100V mercury lamp ballast) Light source and heat source 100W Mercury lamp thermostat operating range 37℃±1.5℃ Temperature under direct sunlight of mercury lamp Adjusted to 37℃±1.5℃ Luminous intensity under direct sunlight of mercury lamp 3,000 lux or more Note: 1. In the figure, A and B are culture samples, and C is a fan. Dimensions ₁ = 310mm ₂ = 210mm ₃ = 90mm ₄ = 40mm ₅ = 50mm In addition, in this test, acrylic material with a thickness of 2 mm was used as the test product to prevent bacteria from being affected by the ultraviolet rays emitted from the mercury lamp. It was used in a storage case so that only visible light was irradiated. Culture results: There was almost no change in color in the ampoules that were exposed to light, and there was a change in color in the ampoules that were blocked from light. This can be confirmed by the fact that an increase in bacteria results in a decrease in pH due to the organic acids produced by bacteria. Therefore, when the pH of the test solution was measured before and after the test, the results were as shown in the table below.

[Effect of idea]

Therefore, based on the effect of i above, it is recommended that oral hygiene devices be rationally modified, taking into account the fact that visible light has the effect of inhibiting the growth of oral bacteria, and the fact that oral hygiene devices are used almost regularly. As a result, it has become possible to safely suppress the growth of oral bacteria, which has a major impact on the development of dental caries. Further, due to the above-mentioned effect, the grip handle component itself can be used as a light transmission means from the light source to the oral cavity, and a special light transmission means such as an optical fiber is not required, and the structure can be constructed at low cost. Furthermore, almost the entire cross-sectional area of the grip handle can be used as an effective optical transmission path, allowing a sufficient amount of light to be transmitted relative to the cross-sectional area of the grip handle. [Example] As shown in Fig. 2, an example of an oral hygiene device is a toothbrush in which brush bristles 2 are implanted on one end side of a grip handle 1, in which visible light can pass through the handle handle 1 of the toothbrush. The grip handle 1 is made of a transparent material, and a light bulb serving as a light source 4 and a dry cell battery 5 serving as a power source are installed inside the handle handle 1 to constitute a light irradiation device 6 that irradiates visible light. A light reflecting film 1 is provided on the outer circumferential surface of the light source 4 to direct and condense visible light rays emitted from the light source 4 toward the brush bristle implanted portion 1a.
0 is formed, and the grip handle 1 of the toothbrush itself is used as a light transmission path 3 to irradiate visible light from the brush bristle implanted portion 1a toward the inside of the oral cavity. The light source 4 is a lamp or a light emitting diode that emits visible light, or a visible light laser that uses semiconductor laser oscillation. Further, in this embodiment, an N-type semiconductor 11 that generates a photovoltaic force in liquid is embedded in the brush bristle implanted portion 1a of the grip handle 1 in a partially exposed state. This N-type semiconductor 11 contains 1200 to 1500 titanium.
It is composed of titanium dioxide obtained by red-hot heating at ℃ for 2-10 minutes. By providing such an N-type semiconductor 11, a state in which moisture such as saliva is present between this semiconductor 11 and dental plaque around the adjacent teeth (this is always present during tooth brushing). (in such a state)
When the semiconductor 11 is irradiated with the visible light and electrons are excited, holes are provided by the potential gradient of the space charge layer on the surface of the semiconductor 11, causing polarization. On the other hand, the teeth have opposite polarity to the semiconductor 11 due to the difference in electron density. Therefore, an oxidation reaction that releases electrons from moisture such as saliva occurs around the semiconductor 11, while a reduction reaction that obtains electrons from moisture such as saliva occurs around the teeth. In other words, by effectively utilizing photoelectrode reactions,
Neutralizes teeth with decreased pH through a reduction reaction.
It reliably prevents tooth demineralization caused by a drop in pH, and also decomposes dental plaque and other pigments due to polarization. Therefore, it is now possible to effectively prevent cavities and alveolar pyorrhea as well as beautify the teeth as a whole, achieving a high level of cleaning that could never be achieved by conventional cleaning using only physical force. The advantage is that this effect can be achieved without damaging tooth enamel. Oral hygiene instruments are not limited to the toothbrushes mentioned above,
For example, it may be a pine surge tool such as a gum with a rubber tip attached to one end side of the grip handle 1, and in this case as well, the grip handle 1 has a
It is sufficient to provide an irradiation device 6 capable of emitting visible light toward the inside of the oral cavity in an intraoral massage state (intraoral cleaning state). It goes without saying that the present invention may also be applied to oral hygiene devices other than toothbrushes and pine surgers.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a test instrument, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of an oral hygiene device according to the present invention. 1... Grip handle, 2... Oral cleaning tool, 6... Light irradiation device.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] 1. An oral cavity cleaning tool 2 is provided on one end side, a grip handle 1 is provided on the other end side, and the grip handle 1 is provided with a device for cleaning the oral cavity with the oral cavity cleaning tool 2. A light irradiation device 6 capable of emitting visible light toward the inside of the oral cavity is provided, and the grip handle 1 is made of a transparent material that can transmit the visible light, and the outer peripheral surface of the grip handle 1 is made of a transparent material that can transmit visible light. , a light reflecting film 1 that focuses the light irradiated from the light irradiation device 6 toward the position where the oral cavity cleaning tool 2 is present;
An oral hygiene device with a shape of 0. 2. The oral hygiene device according to claim 1, wherein the oral cavity cleaning tool 2 is a practical core registered with brush bristles.