GB2024630A

GB2024630A - Tooth cleaner

Info

Publication number: GB2024630A
Application number: GB7919061A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Weber AG
Current assignee: Weber AG
Priority date: 1978-06-05
Filing date: 1979-05-31
Publication date: 1980-01-16
Also published as: GB2024630B; SE7904841L; DE2922824A1

Abstract

Dental floss consisting of a carrier thread 1 which is tufted at intervals with small bristles 2. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Tooth cleaner Brushes of various kinds have been suggested for cleaning the teeth and particularly for cleaning the spaces between the teeth. Further, it has long been common practice to use thread known as "dental floss," having a smooth orwax-coated surface, to remove from the interdental spaces microbic plaque and any food residue present. These threads, originally consisting of natural silk fibre, are nowadays mostly made of artificial silk fibre or synthetic fibre.

The normal commercially available brushes for cleaning the interdental spaces, some of them extremely slender, are too large for really narrow interdental spaces. For only slightly widened interdental spaces in the area of the molars, if there has been a slight recession of the gum or following treatment for slight paridontitis, the concave surfaces of the dental roots can no longer be cleaned by means of the dental floss. The normal commercially available brushes for cleaning the interdental spaces, some of them extremely slender, have the disadvantage that the bristles are fixed in place by twisting them into metal wires, as is for example familiar in the case of bottle-cleaning brushes.The disadvantage of this is not only that the bristles are easily loosened if the brush becomes stuck in narrow interdental spaces, but also that the hard metal core may lead to injury to the gum and may irritate the highly sensitive dental necks in the interdental spaces.

In order to obviate these disadvantages there is disclosed in US-PS 3.896.824 a proposal for a tooth cleaner containing between two smooth sections similarto dental floss a partformed of soft, spongy material made by texturing the individualfibres of the thread. Both parts could be used for cleaning the teeth. In cases where the interdental spaces are still practically closed by the gum, the interdental space can be cleaned with the dental floss as usual, while the already slightly open interdental spaces can be cleaned with the tufted portions of the dental floss by moving the cleaner backwards and forwards. In both cases the cleaner, with the untufted portion of the dental floss, is introduced between the interdental spaces by a sawing movemet.

It was found that the effectiveness of such a tooth cleaner can be considerably increased and its manufacture considerably simplified and made cheaper by tufting sections of a carrier thread of normal dental floss material with fine bristles. The resultant tooth cleaner has the advantage of having real bristles firmly connected to a soft and flexible core.

Thanks to the bristles, most of which stand at right angles to the core of the thread, its cleaning capacity is significantly greater than that of the loop-shaped foam-like fibre bodies described in the US patent referred to.Moreover, compared with normal dental floss, the new cleaner has the further advantage that its diameter at the tufted portions is greater and can therefore fill and satisfactorily clean even larger gaps between the teeth.

In the manufacture of the new tooth cleaner, the carrier thread may be made of any of the materials of natural and synthetic fibres that can be used for dental floss, particularly polyamide (nylon), polypropylene, artificial silk or natural silkfibres. Forthe bristles the most suitable are synthetics, principally those that can be worked to produce extremely small bristles, but above all nylon. It is of advantage if the bristles have a length of approx. 0.1 to 1.0 mm, preferably 0.4 to 0.7 mm, and the diameter of the carrier thread is generally of the same order.

The materials used can be colourless or bulkcoloured, as desired. The tufting is done in accordance with well-known process, for example in accordance with Swiss patents 480.094, 500.767 and 564.980, using a suitable adhesive. The tufted portion generally has a length of some 5-6 cm, the untufted portion being 8-10 cm long. It is of advantage if the tufting is done uniformly radially over the whole of the surface of the carrier yarn and generally as densely as possible, although for special uses it can be of advantage to apply the bristles to only one part of the surfaces and/or in varying degrees of density, that is to say, with a varying number of bristles per unit area. At each end of the tufted portions it is of advantage if the tufting tails off, for example, if it is attached to only one side of the carrier yarn.This results in the bristled areas tapering off at the ends. which considerably simplifies the introduction or withdrawal into or from the interdental spaces.

It is of advantage if the tufted thread is freed, for example by means of brushes, of bristles that are not properly attached. Then, if desired, every intermediate space or every second intermediate space can be coated with wax. The tufted thread can the, if necessary, be completely or partially provided with disinfectants, dentifrice or other additives.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure I shows a diagrammatic view of a preferred design of the tooth cleaner in approximately actual size (except for the density of the tufting), and Figure 2 shows an enlarged view of both ends of a tufted portion from Figure 1.

The carrier thread is alternatively untufted for about 8 cm, the following 5 cm being uniformly tufted with bristles 2 over the whole of the outer circumference of the thread. On the ends 3 of the tufted portions, one part of about 0.5 cm is tufted over only one half of the thread, providing a gradual transition from the carrier thread 1 to the bristle portion 2.

For example the carrier thread consists of polyamide 66 dtex 940. The tufting is done in accordance with the details set out in any one of the abovementioned patent specifications, using an acrylate-based adhesive with polyamide 66.7 dtex, bristle length 0.7 mm. Following the tufting the thread is led through a pair of rotating circular brushes, which strip off any bristles not firmly attached. The thread may now, if desired, undergo additional impregnation or some other supplementary treatment of the tufted and/or the untufted portions with wax or the like. The finished product is finally sterilized in the normal way and either cut into lengths ready for use or packed wound on to small spools, as is usual for dental floss. The second method of packing is especially suitable for use by dentists, dental hygienists and others, persons who regularly use dental floss. In contrast to untufted dental floss, which eventually cuts into the fingers around which it is wound while cleaning the teeth, the soft tufted portions of the product according to the invention do not have this disadvantage.

Claims

1. Atooth cleaner, characterized by the provision on a carrier thread of tufts consisting primarily of radial bristles, the tufts being provided at spaced intervals along the length of the carrier thread.

2. Atooth cleaner in accordance with Claim 1, characterized by the fact that the tufting at both ends of the tufted regions is tapered.

3. Atooth cleaner in accordance with Claim 1, characterised by the fact that the carrier thread is only partially tufted at each end of each of the tufted regions.

4. Atooth cleaner in accordance with one of the Claims 1 to 3, characterized by the fact that the carrier thread is at least partially coated with wax.

5. Atooth cleaner as claimed in Claim 4 in which the wax coating is restricted to the untufted regions of the carrier thread.

6. Atooth cleaner in accordance with any one of Claims 1 to 5, characterized by the fact that the carrier thread consists of synethetic fibres.

7. A tooth cleaner in accordance with Claim 6, characterized by the fact that the carrier yarn and the bristles consist of polyamide.

8. Atooth cleaner in accordance with one of Claims 1 to 7, characterized by the fact that at least a portion of the bristles are provided with dentifrice and/or a disinfecting agent.

9. A tooth cleaner substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.