JPH09182627A - Toothbrush - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve cleaning effects of the tooth surfaces by brushing of a toothbrush and easily remove bacterial plaque without any necessity of a special brushing technique. SOLUTION: In a toothbrush which is formed by arranging a plurality of flat bristle bundles 1 at some intervals on a toothbrush head part 3 and forming a bristle implanted part 2, the bristle implanted part 2 is so formed that a plurality of bristle bundles 1 are arranged with its longitudinal direction facing approximately perpendicular to the major axis direction of the toothbrush head part 3, and a plurality of bristle bundles 1 whose bristle tip parts 4 are formed inclined in the longitudinal direction of the toothbrush head part or step mountain-shaped are repeatedly arranged in the longitudinal direction. This constitution can provide the toothbrush with a superior cleaning force, using performance, and brushing feeling, and clean the tooth face simultaneously with exhibiting superior bacterial plaque removal and efficient neck part cleaning effects.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a toothbrush for cleaning and massaging teeth and gums in the oral cavity, particularly the ability of a brush to enter the interdental part, the effect of removing plaque in the interdental part, and smoothing. The present invention relates to a toothbrush which has excellent plaque removal effect on the surface and the occlusal surface and has high plaque removal at any part of the dentition.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional toothbrush is manufactured by a method in which a metal piece (flat wire) is fixed to a bristle that is folded into a U-shape in a circular or non-circular flocking hole arranged in a flocking base regularly. However, most of them are planted with hair follicles in circular flocked holes in consideration of productivity, and in particular, hair follicles arranged in a checkerboard pattern by making the circular size of the flocked holes uniform. The circular cross section is the most typical one.

In recent years, a toothbrush for fixing a bristle bundle to a flocking base without using this small metal piece (flat wire) is a type by a heat fusion method (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 60-241404 and 2-99002, JP-A-4-22610), and
One end of the bristled brush is melted to form a fused mass,
The thickened portion of the bristles thus bundled is introduced into the mold for forming the handle portion, the molding material is injected and filled, and then the bristle bundle is fixed integrally in the handle head portion by curing the molding material. Mold type is known (Japanese Patent Publication 6-167
No. 25, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2-503150), the hair bundle cross-sectional shape of the flock is not limited to a circular shape, and various shapes can be adopted. A part of the flock of the toothbrush has an oval bristle cross-section shape. And rectangular ones can be seen.

When brushing a tooth with such a toothbrush, especially when polishing the front tooth along the direction of the tooth, when polishing while rolling the toothbrush, and by giving small strokes such as the scrub method, other methods However, when brushing the tooth surface or the boundary between teeth and gums (tooth neck), the brush tip of the toothbrush is applied to the target part and the brush tip is moved to clean it. It is not always satisfactory in terms. In particular, the interdental part is a site where caries can easily occur, but in order to clean this interdental part, it is necessary for the tufted hair bundles to reach the interdental part. As a technique for improving it, it is known that instead of the flat-cutting type in which the tips of the hair bundle are evenly arranged, the tips of the hair are cut into a mountain shape or a sawtooth shape, or long and short hair bundles are alternately transplanted. ing.
(Actual No. 57-175632, No. 3-13821)
No. S. 57-172535), the bristle bristle cross-sectional shape of the bristle implant is circular, and the tip of the bristle bundle is cut with a mountain for the purpose of improving the reachability of the brush to the interdental part. By doing so, the degree of hair advancement into the interdental part is considerably improved, but since the cross section of the hair bundle is circular, there is a problem that the number of hairs entering the interdental part is small. Further, for the purpose of improving the cleaning effect of the tooth surface and gums, the effect of massaging, and improving the durability of the hair-implanted portion, the cross-section of the hair-implanted bundle is not circular, for example, No. 56-58227 and No. 63-58- 9
No. 9527, No. 63-163634, No. Hei 5-
31628, JP-A-61-76104, JP-A-61
-240911, Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 6-16725, etc., hair bundle cross-sections such as rectangles, triangles, ellipses, crosses, and hexagons have been proposed, but since the tips are flat-cut type, Although the degree of contact with the tooth surface is improved, it is not sufficient in terms of interdental cleaning effect. This is because in the case of a conventional toothbrush with a circular bristle bundle cross-sectional shape, there is a problem that the contact area is small and the efficiency is not very good for cleaning the tooth surface, the interdental part, and the cervical part. Even if the cross-sectional shape of the hair bundle is elliptical or rectangular, the hair tips are hard to reach the interdental portion cleaning because they are flat-cutting types, which is not satisfactory.

[0005]

As described above, these conventional toothbrushes have merits and demerits, and have a plaque removing effect on the interdental part, a plaque removing effect on the smooth surface of the tooth, and a plaque removing effect on the occlusal surface. And not all at the same time. The present invention seeks to eliminate these conventional disadvantages,
It has excellent cleaning power and usability for brushing teeth, and has a feeling of being brushed. It improves the cleaning effect on the interdental part and simultaneously improves the plaque removal effect, the plaque removal effect on the smooth surface and the plaque removal effect on the occlusal surface. The object is to provide a durable toothbrush.

[0006]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a bristle bundle having a flat cross-section in which the bristle bundle cross-sectional shape has different lengths in the longitudinal direction and the lateral direction is arranged in a toothbrush head portion at a plurality of intervals for flocking. In the toothbrush of the toothbrush head, the longitudinal direction of the bristle bundle is arranged substantially at right angles to the long axis direction of the toothbrush head portion to form a bristle portion, and the bristle tip of the tip of the bristle bundle is the longitudinal direction of the toothbrush head portion. A plurality of hair bundle groups formed in an inclined or stepwise mountain shape with respect to the direction are repeatedly arranged in the longitudinal direction.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION In the embodiments of the present invention, a fused mass is formed at the end of a hair bundle by a heating means in a state where the hair bundle of a brush made of a thermoplastic synthetic resin has a flat cross section, and The fused mass is embedded and solidified in the molding material of the toothbrush head portion to implant the bristle tufts, and the longitudinal direction of the bristle tufts is arranged substantially at right angles to the long axis direction of the toothbrush head portion to form the tufted portion, Further, a plurality of bristle bundle groups each having a bristle tip portion at the tip of the bristle bundle formed in an inclined or stepwise chevron shape with respect to the longitudinal direction of the toothbrush head portion are repeatedly arranged in the longitudinal direction, so that the interdental portion at the time of brushing. A large number of bristle tips intrude into the tooth to efficiently perform interdental cleaning, have a feeling of being brushed, and have a high bristle strength and can be used while maintaining a bristle-implanted hair state.

[0008]

EXAMPLE An example of the present invention will be described with reference to the examples of FIGS. 1 and 2. A plurality of flat bristle bundles having different cross-sections of flocked hairs with different lengths in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction are provided at intervals. A toothbrush which is arranged on the toothbrush head portion 3 to form the bristle bristle portion 2. The bristle bundles 1 in which the longitudinal direction of the bristle bundle 1 is arranged substantially at right angles to the major axis direction of the toothbrush head portion 3 are spaced apart. A plurality of bristle bundle groups are provided in which a plurality of bristle tufts 2 are formed and the bristle tip portions 4 at the tips of the tufts 1 are inclined or step-shaped with respect to the longitudinal direction of the toothbrush head portion. It is a repeated array.

In this case, the bristle bundle 1 has a cross-sectional size of the hair bundle (cross-sectional shape and size at the interface where the hair bundle contacts the surface of the brush head portion) in the longitudinal direction of 2.0 mm to 0.4 mm.
mm, preferably 1.8 mm to 0.6 mm, more preferably 1.6 mm to 0.8 mm, transverse direction 10 mm to 2 m
It is effective from the standpoint of usability and cleaning power to have a rectangular shape or an elliptical shape of m, preferably 8 mm to 4 mm.

The hair bundle cross-sectional shape of the hair bundle is as follows.
In addition to being formed of a rectangular shape, as shown in FIG. 3, it is possible to make a toothbrush having a high cleaning effect on the interdental part in addition to cleaning the tooth surface by forming a pattern in which the rectangular shape and the elliptical shape are arranged individually or in combination. I can.

In the example of FIG. 3, the bristle bundle 1 as the bristle implanting portion 2 has a different bristle bundle cross sectional shape and arrangement. For example, the bristle bundle cross sectional shape may be elliptical (FIG. 3a), or It is also possible to arrange the arrays in a plurality of rows to form the flocked part 2 (FIG. 3b) or to combine the two to form the flocked part 2.

Further, the bristle tip portion 4 at the tip of the bristle bundle 1 is also chevron-cut for each bristle bundle 1 in place of the example of FIG. Alternatively, a plurality of bristles of the bristles ₁ formed in a stepwise bristles 4 ₁ in the longitudinal direction of the toothbrush head 3, a plurality of repetitive arrangements, for example, mountain arrangements facing each other (FIG. 4b) or arrangement in the same direction. In any case, by varying the length of the brush of the bristles 1 in a stepwise manner in the longitudinal direction of the toothbrush head portion 3, the longest brushes are concentrated and many are present.
When brushing, it is easy to enter the interdental part, the groove of the occlusal surface and the narrow overflow part in a straight state without bending the brush tip, and since brush hairs of various lengths are concentrated, brushes of various hardness Is strong in scraping food residues, and the brush can easily reach any part of the dentition with a complicated shape to remove stains. Can brush.

A toothbrush having such a bristle bundle cross-sectional shape and a bristle bundle arrangement pattern can be manufactured by a method of directly embedding the bristle bundle in the toothbrush handle without using a flat wire or by an adhering means. The hair tips of the hair bundle 1 may be cut with a metal blade, or may be formed by aligning the tips of the hair bundle with each shape.

The present invention also includes the following characteristic configurations. A toothbrush having a bristle bundle having a rectangular and / or elliptical cross-sectional shape arranged in a hair-implanting portion, and having adjacent bristle bundles, the bristle tips having a chevron shape in the longitudinal direction of the toothbrush head. A toothbrush in which the tips of bristles arranged in the flocking portion are made stepwise and are arranged in a mountain valley shape in the longitudinal direction of the toothbrush head. A toothbrush in which bristles arranged inside the flocked portion are arranged in parallel in a plurality of rows.

[0015]

Industrial Applicability According to the present invention, the bristle bundle has a flat cross-sectional shape, and the longitudinal direction of the bristle bundle is arranged substantially at right angles to the major axis direction of the toothbrush head portion to form a flocked portion, and The toothbrush is applied to the teeth by repeatedly arranging a plurality of bristle bundle groups in which the bristle tips at the tip of the bristle bundle are inclined or stepped in the longitudinal direction of the toothbrush head portion, and the toothbrush is applied to the tooth to perform the scrub method. By brushing with the or rolling method, many bristle tips enter the interdental part, and interdental cleaning can be effectively performed, that is, by applying a toothbrush to the tooth surface and giving a small stroke, Brushes with long bristles effectively reach the interdental part and gums, and brushes with a short bristles catch the tooth surface securely, and you can easily clean without using special brushing technology. And it can greatly improve the feeling of cleaning. Can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial enlarged plan view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the example of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of a flocked part according to another embodiment of the present invention,
(A) shows a bristle bundle having an elliptical cross section, and (b) shows a bristle having a rectangular cross section, which is arranged in parallel to form a hair-implanted portion.

FIG. 4 shows another example of the tip of the hair bundle of the present invention, (a)
Is a chevron type, and (b) is a chevron-shaped tuft with adjacent hair bundles, which is further formed in a stepped shape.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 bunch of hair 2 bristles 3 toothbrush head 4 bristles 4 ₁ stepped bristles

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A toothbrush in which a bristle bundle having a cross-sectional shape of flocked hair is arranged in a toothbrush head portion at a plurality of intervals to form a flocked portion. The bristles are formed by arranging the longitudinal direction of the bundle at substantially right angles to the long axis direction of the toothbrush head, and the bristle tips at the tip of the bunch are inclined or inclined with respect to the long axis of the toothbrush head. A toothbrush characterized in that a plurality of bristles formed in a stepped mountain shape are repeatedly arranged in the longitudinal direction.