CN107713322B

CN107713322B - Toothbrush bristle with hydrophobicity and toothbrush comprising same

Info

Publication number: CN107713322B
Application number: CN201710929389.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 朴美静; 金圣珍; 安宰贤
Original assignee: LG Household and Health Care Ltd
Current assignee: LG H&H Co Ltd
Priority date: 2013-01-15
Filing date: 2014-01-14
Publication date: 2020-07-10
Anticipated expiration: 2034-01-14
Also published as: WO2014112769A1; KR20140092076A; KR101906574B1; CN107713322A; JP2016502907A; CN104936480A; CN104936480B; JP6430965B2

Abstract

The present invention relates to a toothbrush bristle having hydrophobicity and a toothbrush including the same, in which the toothbrush bristle including a hydrophobic component, preferably including perfluorocarbon, has hydrophobicity with a remarkably reduced water absorption force, so that the residual water in the toothbrush bristle after tooth brushing is greatly reduced and the water evaporation rate is much increased to thereby inhibit bacteria reproduction, thereby preventing bacterial infection in the oral cavity. Also, the present invention relates to a hydrophobic toothbrush comprising the hydrophobic bristles.

Description

Toothbrush bristle with hydrophobicity and toothbrush comprising same

The application is a divisional application of international application filed on 2015, 07, 14 days, with the application number of 201480004811.7, and named as 'a toothbrush bristle with hydrophobicity and a toothbrush comprising the same'.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a toothbrush bristle having a water-repelling force, i.e., hydrophobicity, and a toothbrush including the same.

The present application claims priority based on korean application No. 10-2013 and 0004369, applied on 15/1/2013, the entire contents of which are disclosed in the specification and drawings incorporated herein by reference.

Background

The toothbrush plays a role in removing bacteria in the oral cavity, so that the toothbrush is easily polluted by the bacteria, and particularly, when water remains in the toothbrush bristles, the propagation speed of the bacteria is further accelerated. Therefore, in order to prevent the toothbrush from being contaminated by bacteria, it is particularly important to wash the bristles several times with flowing clean water after brushing the teeth, and dry the bristles in a sunlight-irradiated place or a well-ventilated place to remove the remaining water.

However, most consumers keep the toothbrush after brushing their teeth by washing the toothbrush with running water and spin-drying it 2-3 times, and then putting the toothbrush in a wet state in a toilet, so that the toothbrush is placed in an environment where bristles of the toothbrush are easily contaminated and proliferated by bacteria. The dental association has shown that the bacteria in a toothbrush placed in a wet state correspond to a large bacterial pellet with up to five times the amount of bacteria in rotten meat. Recently, it has been reported that the number of bacteria in a toothbrush is as much as 200 times as that of toilet water, and toothbrush bacteria are not visible to the naked eye, but include various bacteria of more than 700 kinds including coliform bacteria, staphylococcus, pseudomonas aeruginosa, salmonella bacteria, streptococcus mutans (dental caries bacteria), and the like.

Further, bacteria causing tooth decay, halitosis, periodontitis, and the like do not die off even after tooth brushing, but remain on the toothbrush, and the problem becomes more serious. When the toothbrush contaminated with bacteria is used for brushing teeth for a long period of time, the bacteria are repeatedly propagated, and finally oral diseases such as chronic tooth decay and periodontitis are caused.

Conventionally, there has been a problem that a bristle component generally used is a nylon or polybutylene terephthalate component, and the water remaining on the toothbrush is completely absorbed by the bristles 2 to 5 minutes after brushing, so that the time for the bristles to maintain a wet state is extended, thereby providing a sufficient time for bacteria to grow.

Disclosure of Invention

Technical problem

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a toothbrush bristle having hydrophobicity, which can prevent the propagation of bacteria in the toothbrush bristle and the resulting bacterial infection in the oral cavity without changing the storage state of the toothbrush.

Technical scheme

In order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention provides a hydrophobic bristle, which constitutes a toothbrush, comprising a hydrophobic component.

Preferably, the hydrophobic toothbrush bristle of the present invention has a contact angle of 70 degrees or more when a water droplet is dropped on the surface thereof, more preferably, the contact angle of 70 degrees or more may be maintained for 30 seconds or more, more preferably, the contact angle of 70 degrees or more may be maintained for 60 seconds or more, more preferably, the contact angle of 70 degrees or more may be maintained for 120 seconds or more, and most preferably, the contact angle of 70 degrees or more may be maintained for 180 seconds or more.

The present invention has been completed by paying attention to the fact that a hydrophobic component contained as a component of a toothbrush bristle can reduce the amount of water remaining in the toothbrush bristle and can also reduce the water remaining time, and it has been confirmed that such inhibition of water absorption and shortening of the water remaining time in the toothbrush bristle can prevent bacterial growth and bacterial infection in the oral cavity.

The hydrophobic toothbrush bristles are characterized by comprising hydrophobic components, and the hydrophobic components can inhibit water absorption in the toothbrush bristles and can reduce water residual time in the toothbrush bristles, so that the effects of preventing and treating bacterial reproduction in the toothbrush bristles and bacterial infection in an oral cavity can be achieved without special measures in a toothbrush treatment method after tooth brushing.

The toothbrush bristle having hydrophobicity according to the present invention may have a single-layer structure including a hydrophobic component or a multi-layer structure including an inner core layer and an outer shell layer (coating layer) surrounding the inner core layer and including a hydrophobic component.

The term "hydrophobicity" as used herein refers to a property of rejecting or resisting water or moisture, and refers to a substance having hydrophobicity or inducing hydrophobicity. The hydrophobic component is a substance having the above-mentioned properties, and according to various objects of the present invention, a hydrophobic inorganic substance, a hydrophobic organic substance, and a hydrophobic fluorine compound are preferable, and among them, Perfluorocarbons (PFCs) are preferable in consideration of the hydrophobic properties, feeling of use, ease of production, and the like.

Examples of the hydrophobic inorganic substance include polysilane, polysiloxane, polycarbosilane, and polysilazane, but not limited thereto.

The hydrophobic organic material is thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), and representative examples thereof include thermoplastic Styrene-butadiene rubber (SBS), Styrene-Ethylene-butadiene-Styrene polymer (SEBS), and olefin rubber, but are not limited thereto.

Examples of the hydrophobic fluorine compound include, but are not limited to, Perfluorocarbon (PFC), hydrochlorofluorocarbon, polytetrafluoroethylene, Perfluoroalkoxy (Perfluoroalkoxy), Fluorinated ethylene propylene (Fluorinated ethylene propylene), polychlorotrifluoroethylene, ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene (ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene), and ethylene-Fluorinated ethylene propylene.

The hydrophobic component is preferably contained in the hydrophobic bristles in an amount of 0.1 to 50 wt%, more preferably 0.5 to 40 wt%, and still more preferably 1 to 30 wt%, based on the entire weight of the bristles. If the content of the hydrophobic component is less than 0.1 wt%, the hydrophobic effect of the entire toothbrush bristles is difficult to obtain, and if it exceeds 50 wt%, the bristles are difficult to be extruded.

When the hydrophobic bristles of the present invention have a multi-layer structure, including an inner core layer formed of a general bristle material and an outer shell layer mixed with a hydrophobic component, the bristles having such a structure may have two or more layers. Also, the inner core layer may include a hydrophobic component.

More specifically, the bristles of the multi-layered structure may be in the form of a pillar having a predetermined thickness in the center of the bristle along the longitudinal direction of the bristle, and an outer shell surrounding the inner core and having a predetermined thickness outside the inner core.

The main component of the inner core layer is a component for producing general bristles, and examples of such a component include, but are not limited to, water-insoluble polymer materials such as polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polybutylene terephthalate, polytrimethylene terephthalate, polyurethane, and nylon.

The ratio (area ratio) of the thickness of the inner core layer to the thickness of the outer shell layer of the multi-layer toothbrush bristle is 1:1 to 1:10, and can be adjusted according to the purpose of use.

The present invention also provides a hydrophobic toothbrush comprising at least one or more of the above hydrophobic bristles.

The hydrophobic toothbrush bristles and the toothbrush comprising the same according to the present invention are characterized in that they have a hydrophobic property in which the amount of residual water and the water absorption rate are significantly reduced in the toothbrush bristles, even though the toothbrush after brushing is simply washed with running clean water and then spin-dried 2 to 3 times, and then placed in a toilet, as in the conventional treatment methods.

The invention has the following effects:

the hydrophobic toothbrush bristles of the present invention have a hydrophobic property in which the water absorption capacity is significantly reduced, so that the evaporation rate of water is very fast while the residual water in the toothbrush bristles is greatly reduced after tooth brushing, thereby inhibiting the ability to multiply bacteria, thereby preventing bacterial infection in the oral cavity. Thus, the hydrophobic toothbrush comprising such hydrophobic bristles has a superior bacteria-inhibiting effect as compared to a conventional toothbrush.

Drawings

The following drawings attached to the present specification are preferred embodiments of the present invention, and together with the above-described contents of the invention, serve to facilitate understanding of the technical ideas of the present invention, and should not be construed as limiting the present invention to the matters described in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a graph of the change in contact angle (°) over time between the surface of a hydrophobic bristle of the present invention and water as measured in comparison to a conventional nylon bristle.

FIG. 2 is a photograph measurement result showing surface changes with time after water is dropped on the hydrophobic bristles and the nylon bristles according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing the change in the amount of residual moisture in the hydrophobic bristles according to the present invention measured over time as compared to conventional nylon bristles.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to examples and the like in order to facilitate understanding of the present invention. However, the embodiments of the present invention may be variously modified, and the scope of the present invention is not limited by the following embodiments. The embodiments of the present invention are provided to assist those skilled in the art in a more complete understanding of the present invention.

< example 1> manufacture of hydrophobic bristles having a single-layer structure and toothbrush comprising the same

PBT particles containing a hydrophobic substance, PFC, were prepared by mixing a PFC solution having a Perfluorocarbon (PFC) content of 30 wt% with polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) in a powder state (a solution containing 30 wt% of PFC as a solute was mixed in a proportion of 8 wt% compared with the weight of the PBT as a whole). The produced PFC-containing PBT pellet and the general PBT pellet were mixed at a weight ratio of 1:1 and put into a raw material inlet.

After heating, the mixture was injected under ordinary extrusion injection conditions and passed through an extrusion injection molding machine. The particles are formed by a forming machine, and appropriate strength and tensile force are applied thereto by a stretching process and a cooling process, thereby producing bristles containing a hydrophobic component, and producing a toothbrush using the bristles containing the hydrophobic component.

< example 2> measurement of hydrophobic Effect of bristles having hydrophobic Components

In order to evaluate the water-repellent effect of the bristles manufactured in example 1 above, water drops were dropped after the bristles were aligned flat, and the contact angle (°) between water and the surfaces of the bristles over time was measured. The results are shown in table 1 and fig. 1.

In this case, as a comparative example, a general nylon bristle (dupont) was used.

TABLE 1

As shown in table 1, the hydrophobic bristles of the present invention containing PFC as a hydrophobic component have a contact angle of more than 80 ° even after the lapse of time, and thus can maintain hydrophobicity such that water is not absorbed into the bristles. On the contrary, nylon bristles, which have been used most frequently as bristle components in the prior art, exhibit a 76.1 ° state in which moisture is absorbed immediately after dropping water droplets, and a contact angle thereof becomes significantly smaller with time, and it is known that moisture is completely absorbed by the bristles after 200 seconds have elapsed (see fig. 1).

FIG. 2 is a result of a photo measurement of surface changes over time after water is dropped on the hydrophobic bristles and nylon bristles according to the present invention containing PFC. As can be seen from the figure, after dropping water droplets on the surfaces of the nylon bristles, the water droplets were completely absorbed by the bristles after 200 seconds. On the contrary, it was confirmed that the hydrophobic bristles containing PFC according to the present invention maintained almost the same contact angle as the initial one without water being absorbed by the bristles even after 5 minutes from the dropping of water droplets.

< example 3> measurement of residual amount of moisture of bristles containing hydrophobic component

In order to measure the amount of water remaining in the bristles when the toothbrush was treated and stored by a general toothbrush treatment method after brushing, the bristles were sufficiently soaked in distilled water for 10 seconds, then spin-dried 3 times and left at room temperature, and the amount of water remaining in the bristles (mg) was measured over time, and the results are shown in table 2 and fig. 3.

TABLE 2

As shown in Table 2 above, the amount of water remaining in the bristles after being soaked in distilled water and spun three times was 55mg in the hydrophobic bristles containing PFC of the present invention, and 316mg in the nylon bristles, on the contrary, it was found that the amount of water remaining in the hydrophobic bristles containing PFC of the present invention was reduced by about 1/5.7 as compared with the nylon bristles.

When the bristles are left to stand at room temperature and naturally evaporate water, it is confirmed that about 30 minutes is required for the water of the hydrophobic bristles of the present invention to be completely evaporated, whereas about 140 minutes is required for the nylon bristles, which requires about 4.7 times or more time as long as the hydrophobic bristles of the present invention (see fig. 3).

Claims

1. A hydrophobic toothbrush bristle for constituting a toothbrush, characterized in that the toothbrush bristle comprises polybutylene terephthalate as a water-insoluble high molecular substance and perfluorocarbon as a hydrophobic component, and the toothbrush bristle has a single-layer structure formed by mixing the water-insoluble high molecular substance and the hydrophobic component.

2. The hydrophobic toothbrush bristle according to claim 1, wherein when a water droplet is dropped on the surface of the hydrophobic toothbrush bristle, the contact angle is 70 degrees or more, and the contact angle of 70 degrees or more is maintained for 30 seconds or more.

3. The hydrophobic toothbrush bristle of claim 1, wherein the hydrophobic component comprises 0.1 wt% to 50 wt% compared to the overall weight of the bristle.

4. A hydrophobic toothbrush comprising the hydrophobic toothbrush bristles of any one of claims 1 to 3.