Patent Application
20170239025
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
The present application relates to cleaning between teeth, and specifically to prophylaxis strips.
There are numerous devices for cleaning between your teeth: toothpicks, dental floss and more recently prophylaxis strips for cleaning interproximal surfaces and contact areas between teeth.
Tooth picks are used to push objects that are stuck between someone's teeth, from the outside into the mouth. However, they are actually more typically used to pry out materials from between. The technique used to pry an object out is inserting the tip of the toothpick near the gumline, and under the suck object, and then trying to pry the object up and out. While toothpicks can be used to effectively remove objects, they lack the ability to effectively clean the interior surfaces between teeth.
Typically, dental floss comprises a string material, such as cotton, that is of an appropriate diameter to pass between the teeth as aid in cleaning the surfaces between someone's teeth. The technique used is that the floss is inserted between the teeth down below the gum line and then rubbed along the teeth from the bottom to the top. Foreign material is then dragged out from between the teeth by either adhering to the cotton material or being pulled along with it. However, dental floss lacks the ability to push objects into the mouth. Additionally, the fiber material of dental floss is too soft to effectively remove tartar and other stain material from the surface of teeth.
Prophylaxis strips are more efficient at cleaning the interior surfaces of teeth in that they clean the entire interior surface of the teeth by moving the strip back and forth between the teeth (rather than up and down). As a of the back and forth motion they simultaneously clean the interior surfaces and drag foreign material out from between the teeth. However, like dental floss prophylaxis strips lack the structural stiffness to be used to push objects out from between teeth.
With prophylaxis strips, if the object is too big, such that the object and the strip cannot fit simultaneously between the teeth, then there is little hope of removing the foreign material other than dragging the strip over top of it and potentially risking further imbedding the object or potentially pushing the object below the gumline.
Attempts, to provide structural support to a prophylaxis strips typically involve inserting the prophylaxis strip into a device similar to a miniature hacksaw, where the strip is anchored at both ends by a support member. While this configuration does provide additional stability to the strip, the anchors at the ends prevent the strip from being used to push objects from between the teeth and into the mouth. As a result of the ends being constrained, the strip can only inserted between the teeth from the crown of the teeth towards the gumline and not from the side.
Therefore, there continues to be a need for prophylaxis strips that have sufficient structural support to allow foreign material to be pushed into the mouth, using materials that are safe for use by consumers.
In order to overcome the deficiencies in the prior art, systems and methods are described herein.
One aspect of the claimed invention involves a device for cleaning interproximal surfaces and contact areas between someone's teeth comprising at least one thin flexible strip with an overall thickness that fits between the teeth and a support member integral with the strip along its longitudinal length, which provides structural support, without impeding the ability of at least one end of the strip to be inserted between the teeth from the side and wherein the at least one end can be used to push material from between the teeth.
Another aspect involves a multisided prophylaxis strip that is separated by a structural support that does impede the ends of the multisided prophylaxis strip from being inserted between someone's teeth from the side.
These and other aspects described herein present in the claims result in features and/or can provide advantages over current technology.
The advantages and features described herein are a few of the many advantages and features available from representative embodiments and are presented only to assist in understanding the invention. It should be understood that they are not to be considered limitations on the invention as defined by the claims, or limitations on equivalents to the claims. For instance, some of these advantages or features are mutually exclusive or contradictory, in that they cannot be simultaneously present in a single embodiment. Similarly, some advantages are applicable to one aspect of the invention, and inapplicable to others. Thus, the elaborated features and advantages should not be considered dispositive in determining equivalence. Additional features and advantages of the invention will become apparent in the following description, from the drawings, and from the claims.
This disclosure is further described in the detailed description that follows, with reference to the drawings, in which:
The instant devices and approach provide a way for cleaning interproximal surfaces and contact areas between teeth using a prophylaxis strip that has an added structural support longitudinally that still allows the end of the strip to be inserted between teeth to push foreign material from between the teeth.
In order to understand the advantages of the instant devices it is helpful to examine current techniques for using prophylaxis strips.
In the case of
In contrast, the instant devices provide structural support along the longitudinal length of prophylaxis strip and leaves the ends clear such that the ends of the prophylaxis strip can be used to push foreign objects from between the person's teeth.
This configuration is advantageous because it provides enough structural support such that objects can be pushed from between a person's teeth while still allowing flexible materials to be used for the prophylaxis strip so that is can bend around the contours of the patient's teeth to allow the walls of the teeth to be effectively cleaned. [Note: the structural supports herein need not be configure to produce a consistent depth of the prophylaxis strip and bowed configuration as well as angled configuration are also anticipated, the point being that at least some portion of the end of the prophylaxis strip is unblocked by the structural support.
While a one-sided prophylaxis strip offer numerous advantageous, a multi-sided prophylaxis strip adds even more advantageous.
Additionally, in
It should be noted that the methods of attachment of any of the structural supports to the prophylaxis strip (or vice versa) presented herein include both standard and proprietary techniques such as a physical adhesive; chemical bonding, heat sealing, ultra sonic bonding, and (with the exception of
Additionally, it is worth pointing out that the structural supports presented herein need not necessarily be a separate component and may simply be a thicker areas of the prophylaxis strip or represent areas of the prophylaxis strip that have been folded over and then bonded. The point being that the structural support in combination with the prophylaxis strip provide enough rigidity such that the end of the prophylaxis strip can be used to push objects from between someone's teeth.
Finally, it is to be understood that various different variants of the invention, including representative embodiments and extensions have been presented to assist in understanding the invention. It should be understood that such implementations are not to be considered limitations on either the invention or equivalents except to the extent they are expressly in the claims. It should therefore be understood that, for the convenience of the reader, the above description has only focused on a representative sample of all possible embodiments, a sample that teaches the principles of the invention. The description has not attempted to exhaustively enumerate all possible permutations, combinations or variations of the invention, since others will necessarily arise out of combining aspects of different variants described herein to form new variants, through the use of particular hardware or software, or through specific types of applications in which the invention can be used. That alternate embodiments may not have been presented for a specific portion of the description, or that further undescribed alternate or variant embodiments may be available for a portion of the invention, is not to be considered a disclaimer of those alternate or variant embodiments to the extent they also incorporate the minimum essential aspects of the invention, as claimed in the appended claims, or an equivalent thereof.
