US3815244A

US3815244A - Dental instruction device

Info

Publication number: US3815244A
Application number: US00138626A
Authority: US
Inventors: J Hein
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1971-04-29
Filing date: 1971-04-29
Publication date: 1974-06-11
Anticipated expiration: 1991-06-11

Abstract

A dental device to provide instructions for cleaning of the teeth and gums wherein a series of instructions are set forth on an endless strip or band. The strip, with the instructions exposed to the viewer, is driven at constant speed. The window comprises a tinted and a clear portion. The instruction being followed passes first under the clear portion and then under the tinted portion and then out of view. This window arrangement allows the viewer to be carrying out one instruction while anticipating the next instruction. At the initiation of each step in the cycle an alarm, light and buzzer, is actuated to advise the viewer the next instruction in the time sequence of instructions should be followed.

Description

United States Patent 1191 Hein [ 1 DENTAL INSTRUCTION DEVICE [76] Inventor: John W. Hein, 3 Bridge St,

Medfield, Mass. 02215 [22] Filed: Apr. 29, 1971 [211 Appl. No.: 138,626

[ June 11, 1974 Primary Examiner-Robert Peshock Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Richard P. Crowley [5 7] ABSTRACT A dental device to provide instructions for cleaning of the teeth and gums wherein a series of instructions are set forth on an endless strip or band. The strip, with the instructions'exposed to the viewer,ris;driven at constant speed. The window comprises a tinted and a clear portion. The instruction being followed passes first under the clear portion and then under the tinted portion and then out of view. This window arrangement allows the viewer to be carrying out one instruction while anticipating the next instruction. At the initiation of each step in the cycle an alarm, light and buzzer, is actuated to advise the viewer the next instruction in the time sequence of instructions should be followed.

10 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures wimamum m4 3815244 SHEET 1 OF 3 16 l I l l i i 36 JP FIG. 2C INVENTOR JOHN W. HEIN BY I ATTORNEYS 1 DENTAL INSTRUCTION DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION While many types of toothbrushes and other toothcleansing instruments have been available to the public and dental profession for centuries, and while many of these instruments are capable of producing a high level of oral hygiene if used with thoroughness and diligence, it is common knowledge amongst those concerned with professional dental care and oral health education that the majority of persons, young and old alike, do not achieve a high level of oral hygiene in their routine efforts to clean their teeth and gums. Studies have revealed several reasons for the publics failure in this regard. Many people do not devote sufficient time to cleaning their teeth to permit the particular instrument in use to do a thorough job of cleansing the teeth and gums. On the other hand, many people who do devote considerable time to oral hygiene fail to follow routinely a thorough pattern of usage, and thus they either overlook the cleaning of certain accessible surfaces of their teeth and gums or concentrate an excessive portion of their total oral hygiene effort on certain regions of the dentition and gums at the expense of others.

Since thorough cleaning of the teeth and gums on a regular basis is recognized by both the public and the dental profession as an essential personal hygiene pro cedure for the prevention of common diseases of the teeth and gums and the maintenance of oral health, it is therefore obvious that any device which can assist and encourage the average person, young or old alike to overcome the common errors most frequently responsible for faulty oral hygiene will be of great service and value.

While currently the most widely accepted instructions for toothbrushing involve directions that persons should brush their teeth for 3 minutes, three times a day, it is clear that a device which improved the thoroughness and uniformity of toothbrushing, or other hygiene procedures would also result in a less time consuming personal hygiene procedure, thus helping to motivate more people to practice a better level of oral hygiene care. I y

The instructionofpersons in proper toothbrushing procedures is a time-consuming task and, as has been pointed out, the results of this instruction to date in re spect to the general public have left much to be de sired. Some of the reasons that oral health education programs in the school system of the world have not resulted in wide spread adoption of thorough and efficient oral hygiene habits is that insufficient time is available for the proper instructions of the pupils, the existing techniques of instruction are not highly interesting and motivating, and the teaching is not easily reinforced by comparable oral health education in the home. Under these circumstances, therefore, it is clear that a simple device which can be used both in the school systems and at home, and which provides an interesting method for achieving thorough and uniform cleaning of the teeth, will be of great value in the teaching of good oral hygiene practices.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention provides for the first time a device combining the elements essential to systematizing the cleaning of the oral cavity, i.e., providing for cleaning all appropriate structures of the mouth, and at the same time pacing the cleaning in all appropriate areas, thus assuring adequate cleaning time in each area and reclucing the ofttimes evident tendency to spend too much time cleaning some areas and too little time cleaning others. i

The pacing feature of this device may have 'various overall time periods, to provide the most appropriate good oral hygiene regiment for a variety of individuals and states of oral development and oral health, varying from a fraction of a minute to many minutes for the total cleaning time. The allocation of segments of the total cleaning time to various'appropriate regions of the oral cavity can vary from 0 seconds to several minutes, and the allocations can be standardized in devices for general use by different age groups of users or the allocations of time can be individualized in certain models of the device to provide a specialized pattern of cleaning for a specific individual. Such specialized cases might vary from the requirements for cleaning an edentulous mouth to a mouth with a full complement of natural teeth or any and all intermediate combinations of missing, natural and artificial teeth in misalignment or the presence or absence of oral diseases.

The instructional features of this device perform the dual functions of instructing and reminding user of the device of the systematic pattern of cleaning to be followed in the performance of personal oral hygiene procedures. The instructions pertain to the cleaning of the appropriate structures of the oral cavity including the accessible surfaces of natural and artifically restored teeth, the gums, the tongue, the gingival crevices and,

when pertinent, periodontal pockets. The instructions may or may not include directions for the systematic use of all oral hygiene devices including but not limited to toothbrushes, tooth picks, dental floss, gingival stimulators, and irrigation devices. The instructions provide by visual and/or audio means a series of directions to be followed by the user which when followed will pro vide a systematic and thorough application of the oral hygiene device in use to all appropriate structures and areas of the oral cavity. When more than one oral hygiene device is to be used (for example, toothbrush followed by dental floss) a separate series of instructions and an appropiate time'pacing. pattern may be provided for each.

The instructions may be audio, visual and audiovisual timing systems in combination with and incorporating in each subdivisions, each of which subdivision designates the area and structure of the oral cavity to be cleaned during that period of time.

Audio, visual, and audiovisual timing systems include but are not limited to: conventional electrical and mechanical clocks and timing devices with circular dials, such as wherein the instructions are on the dial face; numeral indications; bands arranged horizontally, vertically, circularly, or as a segment of an arc; hour glass; tape recorder; phonograph record; timed slide projector and audio-visual systems such as incorporated in open and closed circuit television. Locations of use for these devices are readily apparent as in: the home; schools, private, public, parochial; clinics, public, private; eductionalinstitutions of higher learning as dental schools, institutes; dental offices and clinics; armed forces dental and general health clinics; institu- .tional, public and private living quarters and in such sanitary facilities as are customarily associated with them.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the invention;

FIGS. 2a. b, and c are front, top and side elevations of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a front view of certain portions of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a circuit diagram; and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view of the instructional tape.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S) v The dental instruction device is shown generally at and includes a start button 12, instructional light change signal 14, viewing area 16 comprising a clear window 18 and a tinted window 20 on the front portion of the device 10. Disposed below the .viewing area 16 is a pacing speed selector 22. Referring to FIG. 2b, a top view of the device If), an instructional strip 24 on which the complete set of instructions are carried is shown. The path which the instructional strip 24 travels within the device 10 is defined by the rollers 260, b, c, d, e, and f. A tension roller 28 is secured to idler arm 29 and is biased upwardly as shown in FIG. 2b against the instructional strip 24. A drive roller 30 to move the instructional strip 24 through the device is shown in combination with a snub roller 32. A microswitch MS! in combination with a microswitch roller 34 and a backup roller 36 are disposed in the lower portion of the device. As shown in FIG. 2, a light box 38 in combination with light source 40 provides the illumination of the instructional strip 24 and viewing area 16. A motor 42 in combination with a gear reduction box 44 drives a gear 46 secured to the shaft of the drive roller 30.

Contacts to complete the electrical communication between the motor 42 and the microswitch MSl are shown at 48 in FIGS. 2a and 2b. Spring 50 maintains tension on snub roller 32 and the snub roller 32 is biased against drive roller 30. A buzzer 52 as shown in FIG. 3 is disposed in the upper portion of the device 10. The brush 60 as shown in FIGS. 2a and 2c is adapted to engage the contact strip 62.

A sectional view of the strip chart is shown in FIG. 5 and the upper portion of the instructional strip is characterized by a plurality of spaced signal holes 54. The lower portion of the instructional strip is characterized by a microswitch roller hole 56 and the front or exposed portion of the instructional strip is characterized by a plurality of separate instructions relating to the cleaning or irrigation of the oral cavity.

In the operation of my invention pacing speed selector switch 22 is set to a position as shown, the-2 position, that is the brushing speed, which controls the speed of the electric motor 42 thereby the drive of the gear reduction box and the drive roller 46 which moves the instructional strip through its path. The starter button 12 is then actuated as shown in FIGS. 2a and 4 closing the microswitch M51. The power from the batteries in series drives the motor 42, gear reduction box 44, which turns gear 46 secured to drive roller 30. While the starter switch 12 is held in a depressed position, the instructional strip and more specifically the microswitch roller hole 56 shown in FIG. 5 moves out of register with the microswitch roller 34 and the backup roller. The combination of the instructional strip 24 held in position by backup roller 36 biases the microswitch roller 34 to the left as shown in FIG. 20 and accordingly, the microswitch is held in the on or closed position by the instructional strip 24. This is shown more clearly in the schematic of FIG. 4.

The light source 40, such as a 3.5 volt bulb, disposed in the light box 38 as the electric motor 46 remains in an on or actuated condition through one cycle of instructions or until the microswitch roller hole 56 is in register with the microswitch roller 34 and the backup roller 36 at which time the microswitch MSl moves to the off position. During the cycle the instructions to be followed are shown through the clear window 18 while the previous instructions can be seen through the tinted window 20. As shown in the drawing, the instructions move from right to left. The concept of the tinted and clear window combination allows the viewer to complete a first instruction while anticipating the second or next instruction. The drive roller 30 as shown in FIG. 2b rotates counterclockwise. As shown, the instructional strip is an endless band and its path is defined by rollers 26a-f. Snub roller 32is biased into the drive roller 30 by spring 33. This maximizes the driving frictional engagement between the drive roller 30 and the instructional strip 24. Disposed adjacent the drive roller is guide roller 35 and to maintain the proper tension on the instructional strip 24 is tension roller 28 in combination with idler arm 29 which is biased upwardly as shown in FIG. 2b to maintain the desired tension on the instructional strip 24 by spring 31.

As shown in FIG. 5, the signal holes 54 are disposed at approximately the beginning of each instruction and positioned in the upper portion of the instructional strip 24. The larger holes, such as shown for instructions a and b are to give a longer signal and are used primarily for major changes in instructions while the smaller holes give a brief signal used for intrainstruction pacing. The instructional strip employed in the preferred embodiment is made of a translucent plasticlike material which is flexible, stretch set, resistant, and tough, such as sand-blasted Mylar.

Referring to FIGS. 20, 4, and 5, when the initial instruction is complete and the next instruction is about to or is just commencing, the signal hole 54 at the top of the instructional strip registers with the brush 60 and the contact strip 62 which allows the brush to make contact with the strip 62. This allows the buzzer 52, shown in FIG. 3, and the signal light 14, shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, to be actuated for the duration of the contact between the brush and contact strip while the signal hole 54 is in register with the same. As the instructional strip continues its movement, the signal hole 54 moves out of register with the brush and contact strip breaking the electrical communication therebetween in removing the current from the buzzer 52 and signal light 14. Therefore, through the spacing and size of the signal holes in the top of the strip 24 the signal light and buzzer are actuated periodically and for predetermined periods of time to signal what the next instruction is.

The duration of the specific instructions of the series of instructions are thus determined in the preferred embodiment by the length of the instruction on a segment of the instructional strip. The strip continues through the path defined by the rollers 26a f, 28, 30, and 35., until such time as the microswitch roller hole 56 registers with the microswitch roller 34 and backup roller 36 at which time the microswitch MSl moves to the off position removing the current from the light source 40 and electric motor 42.

Although described with three batteries in series, it is of course possible to use any power supply, such as that commonly derived from an electric outlet in com bination with a transformer to convert l AC to 6 volt AC and then a rectifier, such as a solid state rectifier, to convert the 6 volt AC to 6 volt DC. The signal light in an alternative embodiment may be used alone or in combination with the buzzer, or other signaling means may be used, either audio and/or visual. The viewing area 16 secured to the front of the instrument It) as shown comprises a clear window 18 and a tinted win dow 20 to allow the user of the device to anticipate the next instruction. Of course, any light source may be used or none at all, and the instructional strip used may be made of any suitable material and may either be translucent as described with the instructions printed thereon or may be opaque with the instructions printed thereon as long as the viewer may easily read the instructions. The strip 24 has been shown as an endless band, but of course it may assume other embodiments such as moving through the viewing area once and then being rewound, such as a movie film cartridge, prior to the next cycle. The signal holes and microswitch roller holes are used merely to ensure electrical communication at the proper time. The holes may be filled with an electrically conducting material to accomplish the same purpose. Gptionally, various instructional strips may be inserted, depending upon the user, i.e., different inserts for children, the elderly, etc. The duration of each of the instructions has been determined by the actual length the particular instruction occupies on the strip with the strip driven at constant speed. Each of the sets of instructions may occupy a uniform portion of the strip with the strip driven a variable speed correlated to the specific instruction.

Having described my invention, what I now claim is:

l. A visual instruction device which comprises in combination:

a. means to display in continuous timed sequence at least one of a plurality of visual instructional units wherein the means includes a display window, the window having a tinted portion and a clear portion, and the tinted and clear sections dimensioned such that at least a portion of two instructional units are positioned in the window at any time;

b. means to commence a cycle of said instructional units;

c. means to control the time of display of each of said instructional units within the cycle, the time of dis play controlled to approximate the time for the viewer to carry out the instructional unit displayed in the clear portion of the window; and

d. means to terminate said cycle of instructional units. I

2. The device of claim 1 wherein the means to display the instructions includes band means having the instructions thereon.

3. The device of claim 1 wherein the instructional units are set forth in sequence on the display means, and the means to display the instructional units in timed sequence includes means to display said instructional units at a fixed rate, the rate selected to provide the viewer time to carry out the instructional unit displayed. i

4. The device of claim 1 wherein at least one of said instructional units occupies a nonuniform portion of said display means and said display means are driven at a constant speed rate, whereby at least one of said instructional units is displayed for a different duration of time than another of said instructional units.

5. The device of claim 1 which includes signal means to indicate the initiation or termination of each of said instructional units.

6. The device ofclaim 1 wherein the means to display includes:

a. an endless strip with instructional units thereon;

b. a single unidirectional motor means to drive the strip so as to display sequentially the instructional units in the clear portion of the window;

c. means to illuminate the instructional units displayed in the clear portion of the window; and

(1. gear means to control the drive rate of the strip.

7. The device of claim 6 wherein the edge portion of the strip is characterized by a plurality of signal holes spaced-at the start and end of each unit of instruction, and which device includes a signal means to indicate the commencement or termination of each unit of instructions displayed in the clear portion of the window and a microswitch means adapted to activate the signal means and responsive to the signal holes in the strip.

8. A dental instruction device which comprises in combinationf an instructional strip having a plurality of separate visual instructional units therein;

means to move the strip continuously for a timed sequence along a predetermined path; means to display in a continuous time sequence the time of display of at least one of said instructional units to the viewer for a predetermined time period, the time period related to the time required for the viewer to perform the instructional unit, the means to display the instructional units includes a window, said window having a tinted portion and a clear portion and dimensioned such that at least two instructional units are in the window, whereby the viewer may follow a first instructional unit passing by the clear portion and into the tinted portion while anticipating the following instructional unit passing into the clear portion; signal means to indicate when each of said instructional units is commencing or terminating; and

means to control the display of each of said instructional units, the time display controlled to the time required for the viewer to carry out the instructions.

9. The device of claim 8 wherein the instructional strip includes means thereon to initiate or terminate means to actuate a signal on the start or termination .of each instructional unit. I

10. The device of claim 8 wherein the instructional strip is an endless band and wherein the device includes a plurality of guide rollers, the strip in contacting engagement with the rollers. said rollers defining the path through which the strip is moved.

Claims

1. A visual instruction device which comprises in combination: a. means to display in continuous timed sequence at least one of a plurality of visual instructional units wherein the means includes a display window, the window having a tinted portion and a clear portion, and the tinted and clear sections dimensioned such that at least a portion of two instructional units are positioned in the window at any time; b. means to commence a cycle of said instructional units; c. means to control the time of display of each of said instructional units within the cycle, the time of display controlled to approximate the time for the viewer to carry out the instructional unit displayed in the clear portion of the window; and d. means to terminate said cycle of instructional units.

3. The device of claim 1 wherein the instructional units are set forth in sequence on the display means, and the means to display the instructional units in timed sequence includes means to display said instructional units at a fixed rate, the rate selected to provide the viewer time to carry out the instructional unit displayed.

6. The device of claim 1 wherein the means to display includes: a. an endless strip with instructional units thereon; b. a single unidirectional motor means to drive the strip so as to display sequentially the instructional units in the clear portion of the window; c. means to illuminate the instructional units displayed in the clear portion of the window; and d. gear means to control the drive rate of the strip.

7. The device of claim 6 wherein the edge portion of the strip is characterized by a plurality of signal holes spaced at the start and end of each unit of instruction, and which device includes a signal means to indicate the commencement or termination of each unit of instructions displayed in the clear portion of the window and a microswitch means adapted to activate the signal means and responsive to the signal holes in the strip.

8. A dental instruction device which comprises in combination: an instructional strip having a plurality of separate visual instructional units therein; means to move the strip continuously for a timed sequence aLong a predetermined path; means to display in a continuous time sequence the time of display of at least one of said instructional units to the viewer for a predetermined time period, the time period related to the time required for the viewer to perform the instructional unit, the means to display the instructional units includes a window, said window having a tinted portion and a clear portion and dimensioned such that at least two instructional units are in the window, whereby the viewer may follow a first instructional unit passing by the clear portion and into the tinted portion while anticipating the following instructional unit passing into the clear portion; signal means to indicate when each of said instructional units is commencing or terminating; and means to control the display of each of said instructional units, the time display controlled to the time required for the viewer to carry out the instructions.

9. The device of claim 8 wherein the instructional strip includes means thereon to initiate or terminate means to actuate a signal on the start or termination of each instructional unit.

10. The device of claim 8 wherein the instructional strip is an endless band and wherein the device includes a plurality of guide rollers, the strip in contacting engagement with the rollers, said rollers defining the path through which the strip is moved.