Patent Application
20170347790
The following documents are incorporated herein by reference—U.S. Pat. No. 8,453,285, U.S. Pat. No. 6,766,548 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,920,659. Any feature or combination of features disclosed in any of The following documents are incorporated by reference—U.S. Pat. No. 8,453,285, U.S. Pat. No. 6,766,548 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,920,659 may be combined with any feature disclosed herein.
Embodiments of the present invention relate to systems, methods and kits for cleaning the oral cavity and/or teeth of a subject, including but not limited to an intubated subject.
The invention is herein described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings. With specific reference now to the drawings in detail, it is stressed that the particulars shown are by way of example and for purposes of illustrative discussion of the preferred embodiments of the exemplary system only and are presented in the cause of providing what is believed to be a useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of the invention. In this regard, no attempt is made to show structural details of the invention in more detail than is necessary for a fundamental understanding of the invention, the description taken with the drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how several forms of the invention may be embodied in practice and how to make and use the embodiments.
For brevity, some explicit combinations of various features are not explicitly illustrated in the figures and/or described. It is now disclosed that any combination of the method or device features disclosed herein can be combined in any manner—including any combination of features—any combination of features can be included in any embodiment and/or omitted from any embodiments.
In relation to the figures the following numbers indicate:
As shown in the figures, the power-brush device comprises head 150 and base 100 assemblies that are detachable attached to each other. The power-brush device cleans both (i) by motion (e.g. rotational and/or vibrational motion) of brush 165 (e.g. by dislodging material on the subject's teeth or gums)—for example, motion induced and/or sustained by an electric motor as known in the art of electric toothbrushes and (ii) by suctioning matter (e.g. debris, cleaning material such as toothpaste or cleaning fluids) into suction lumen 170 via one or more suction-orifice(s) 172 at a distal end of suction lumen 170 and disposed 172 on or alongside a main body 160 of head assembly. Towards this end, a source 200 of negative pressure is disposed at a proximal end suction lumen 170 (e.g. so that negative pressure is detachably attached to a proximate end of suction lumen 170 or to a suction connection 170).
During use of the power-brush device, the head assembly 150 including brush 165 is mounted is typically more exposed to potentially-non-sterile material (e.g. debris or biofilm) than the base assembly 100. As will be discussed below, at least some of this potentially non-sterile material is also proximally transported, through a suction lumen 170) towards and then proximally past base assembly 100.
Embodiments of the present invention relate to two potentially-contradictory design considerations: (i) (DESIGN CONSIDERATION “A”) a desire to minimize exposure of the base assembly 100 to non-sterile material when this material is transported through suction lumen 170 around or past or through the base assembly 100 (ii) (DESIGN CONSIDERATION “B”) a desire to achieve this goal without sacrificing (or with at most a minimum sacrifice of) the overall ‘compactness’ of the power-brush device.
Without limitation and not wishing to be bound by theory, it is possible to achieve these goals by the following features:
Thus, in some embodiments, both the distal 270A and proximal 270B portions of the suction lumen may be completely brought out of contact from the base assembly main body 110 while remaining attached to each other and to the head-assembly main body 160;
As noted above, the brush may be disassembled into head 150 and base assemblies. Head assembly 150 comprises a head assembly main body 160 ; base assembly 100 comprises base assembly main body 110.
In some embodiments, head main body 160 is elongate. Axis 159, illustrated in
As is common in the art of power toothbrushes, when the power brush is assembled and during operation thereof, head main body 160 is located distal to a brush main body 110.
In some embodiments and as illustrated in
Any attachment mechanism may be employed—for example, any mechanical mechanism (e.g. fastener, snap, or magnetic mechanism).
Illustrated in
As is known in the art of electric toothbrushes and in the non-limiting example of the drawings, motion (e.g. vibrational and/or translational motion) of brush 165 may be provided by the following elements in combination with each other: (i) head-drive shaft 166, at least a portion of which is within head shaft lumen 162; (ii) base-drive shaft 114 at least a portion of which is within base shaft lumen 186; (iv) shaft link 169 (v) brush shaft transmission 164; (vi) electric motor 116 and (vi) battery 112.
Electric motor 116 (e.g. electrically powered by current received from battery 112 via electric line 188) forces longitudinal motion (e.g. reciprocating motion) base shaft drive shaft 114 within base shaft lumen 186. In some embodiments, motor 116 is disposed within the base-assembly main body 110.
Because base shaft drive shaft 114 is rigidly attached to head-drive shaft 166 (e.g. detachably attached and/or attached via shaft link 169), this longitudinal motion of base drive shaft 114 causes longitudinal motion of head-drive shaft 166 in head shaft lumen 162. There is no requirement for an entirety of base shaft drive shaft 114 to be within base shaft lumen 186—in some embodiments, only a portion of base shaft drive shaft 114 is disposed within base shaft lumen 186 (e.g. so a distal portion of base shaft drive shaft 114 distally protrudes from base shaft lumen 186). In fact, this is the situation illustrated in
There is no requirement for an entirety of head shaft drive shaft 166 to be within head shaft lumen 162—in some embodiments (NOT SHOWN), only a portion of head shaft drive shaft 166 is disposed within head shaft lumen 162 (e.g. so a proximal portion of head shaft drive shaft 166 proximally protrudes from head shaft lumen 162—for example, past a proximal end 199 of head shaft lumen.
As noted above, motor 116 is mechanically coupled to head drive-shaft 166 (e.g. via base drive shaft 114 and shaft link 169) to induce longitudinal motion (e.g. reciprocating motion) of head drive-shaft 166. In some embodiments and as is well-known in the art of electrical toothbrushes, this longitudinal motion is converted into vibrational and/or rotational motion of brush 165—e.g. head drive-shaft 166 is mechanically coupled to brush 165—for example, via brush transmission 164.
In some embodiments, head-assembly shaft lumen 162 has a length L1 of which alongside is or formed within the head-assembly main body 160 and oriented along the elongate and/or central axis 159 thereof.
In some embodiments, in addition to conventional ‘electrical toothbrush’ functionality, the power toothbrush provides a ‘suctioning functionality’—for example, to remove matter (e.g. debris or biofilms) from the subject's mouth.
As illustrated in the figures, suction orifice 172 is a distal opening of suction lumen 170—thus suction lumen 170 may be said to define a distal suction-orifice 172 disposed at a distal end of suction lumen 170.
As shown in
In some embodiments, at the other end (i.e. proximal end) of suction lumen 170 is suction connector 171—for example, the proximal end of suction lumen 170 is connected via the suction connector 171. In some embodiments, suction connector 171 is a tapered connector, tapered in the proximal direction. Suction connector 171 may be permanently attached to suction lumen 170 (e.g. integrally formed with) or detachable attached to suction lumen 170 at a proximal end thereof. For example, a kit may comprise suction lumen 170 and suction connector 171 as separate elements and the suction connector 171 is attached to (e.g. mounted onto) suction lumen 170 at a proximal end thereof.
As shown in
By definition, proximal portion 270B that is located proximal to the distal portion 270A. As shown in
In some embodiments, the proximal 270B and distal 270A portions of the suction lumen 170 are permanently attached to each other. Alternatively, they are detachably attachable to each other.
Head-assembly shaft lumen 162 has a length L1 of which alongside is or formed within the head-assembly main body 160 and oriented along the elongate and/or central axis 159 thereof.
In some embodiments, L2 is a length of distal portion 270A of suction lumen 170, L3 is a length of proximal portion 270B of suction lumen 170.
In some embodiments, a length ratio L3/L1 is at least 0.5 or at least 0.75 or at least 1 or at least 1.25 or at least 1.5. Alternatively or additionally, a ratio (L2+L3)/L1 is at least 1 or at least 1.25 or at least 1.4 or at least 1.5 or at least 1.75 or at least 2.
In some embodiments, A. the proximal portion of the suction lumen is: i. attached to both the distal portion of the suction lumen and to the brush-head main body; and can remain attached to the head main body 160 while being detached from the base main body.
Also illustrated in the figures is a sideways-facing brush 165 mounted to the head-assembly main body 160—for example, mounted to a distal half of head-assembly main body 160. As will be discussed below, bristles of the brush 165 collectively defining a bristle-alignment direction 196.
As is known in the art of toothbrushes, brush 165 comprises an array of bristles—in non-limiting embodiments, a width of each bristle is at most 0.25 mm or at most 0.1 mm and/or length of each bristles is at most 2 cm or at most 1.5 cm or at most 1 cm.
In some embodiments and as illustrated by brushes 165A (schematic illustration) and 165C (more accurate illustration of an actual brush) of
As illustrated in the figures, brush 165 (i.e. whose orientation is defined by brush orientation axis 196) is sideways-facing relative to a proximal-distal and/or to a central axis 159 of the head main body 160.
One salient feature provided by some embodiments of the invention relates to relative orientations of (i) orientation vector 173 of distal suction-orifice 172 (discussed above); and (ii) bristle-alignment direction 196. In some embodiments, orientation vector 173 is non-parallel to bristle-alignment direction 196 so that an angle α between orientation vector 173 and bristle-alignment direction 196 is non-zero. In different embodiments, this angle α is at least 10 degrees or at least 20 degrees or at least 30 degrees. For the present disclosure, if this angle is defined as at least “X” degrees (where “X” is a positive number less than 90) this means that the angle α is between “X” degrees and 90 degrees.
In the particular example illustrated the drawings, orientation vector 173 and bristle-alignment direction 196 are perpendicular to each other.
In some embodiments, the device includes a display assembly (e.g. a display screen or a plurality of indicators—e.g. 141/142 which may be mounted to the base as shown in the drawings or to the head—in another example, the display assembly is mounted to a one-piece electric toothbrush or any toothbrush that does not rely on the head/base that are detachable from each other).
Immediately after use (i.e. after the motor is shut off), the display assembly has a first mode—e.g. a ‘green’ indicating that the brush was last used relatively recently and that there is no current need to brush the subject's teeth. At a later time, the display assembly may indicate that the amount of time since the most recent use is ‘too long’ (e.g. exceeded some sort of pre-set threshold—e.g. about 6 hours or about 8 hours or about 10 hours). At that point, the display assembly may transition from the first mode (e.g. green indicating that ‘the situation is good’ and that there is no need to brush teeth) to a second mode (e.g. red indicating that in fact there is need to operate the brush again to brush the subject's teeth). Thus, in some embodiments, timing circuitry (NOT SHOWN) (e.g. implemented as analog or digital electronics and/or in software) measures the elapsed time since the most recent brush use—e.g. the most recent time since the motor was shut off (e.g. by a user control such as a switch 140 which may be located anywhere—e.g. on base main body 110 or on head main body 160 or anywhere on a multi-piece or single piece electrical toothbrush). Thus in one example, in response to the user shutting off the motor (e.g. using a manual switch or in any other manner—e.g. a user puts down the brush and a sensor responds by shutting off the motor), the timing circuitry ‘begins’ to count the elapsed time since this happened.
In the example of
Until the amount of time reaches a threshold (e.g. immediately after brush usage), the display assembly may remain in a first state (e.g. green LED illuminated. Once the amount of time exceeds a threshold (e.g. a pre-determined value) (e.g. as measured by timing circuitry) this may be detected and in response the display assembly may perform a display transition—e.g. a red LED is shut off and a green LED turned on, or the LED color changes, or the display screen adopts a new state.
In some embodiments, display control circuitry (e.g. operatively linked to the timing circuitry to receive input therefrom) regulates a display state of the display screen.
In some embodiments, the timing circuitry and/or display control circuitry receives power from the battery even when the motor is shut off. For example, a switch may have 3 mode—(i) motor on [MODE A] (ii) entire device off (i.e. including timing and/or display control circuitry [MODE B] and (iii) motor off but circuitry receiving power from the battery and on (e.g. display optionally on) [MODE C]. In another example, there may be only two modes—MODES A and C without MODE B where the only way to get MODE B is to disconnect the battery.
Although this ‘display assembly’ and ‘display mode’ invention is explained in the context of a toothbrush having a head and a base, it is appreciated that his may apply to any electrical toothbrush including those having a suction lumen and those lacking a suction lumen.
In some embodiments, the device is bendable—e.g. instead of an elongate and/or central axis 181 of base main body 110 remaining aligned with (e.g. parallel to) an elongate axis 159 of head main body 160, they can bend and/or pivot relative to each other.
For example, the head drive shaft 166 and the base drive shaft 114 are connected to each other via shaft link 169, and the shaft link 169 is configured to allow pivoting in a direction perpendicular to the both of the respective elongate axes of the head drive shaft 166 and the base drive shaft 114.
In the example of
This is not a limitation. In the example of
In an alternative example (NOT SHOWN), the offset/non-symmetric mass is within or on the head main body.
In the example of
In some embodiments, the base may be modified to provide a degree of flexiblity—thus, it may not be necessary to rely on shaft link 169. For example, elastic neck 189 may provide at least 10 degrees or at least 20 degrees of flexibility—see
Some embodiments relate to a base assembly of an oral care system comprising:
At a location distal thereto, there may be a fork 87 such that: (i) distal to the fork 87, the fluid delivery lumen 214 and suction lumen 170 are alongside each other and generally aligned with each other while (ii) at the fork 87 (and proximal thereto), the respective directions of fluid delivery lumen 214 and suction lumen 170 diverge from each other.
In some embodiments (see
Nevertheless, base main body 110 may define a compartment or recess that is dimensioned to store reservoir 120—see, for example,
FIG.7 illustrates the fluid delivery distal orifice and fluid delivery lumen and reservoir where fluid is stored.
The present application claims priority to the following patent applications, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety: U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/336,793 filed on May 16, 2016 and U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/337,251 filed on May 16, 2016. The present application is also a continuation in part of U.S. Non-Provisional application Ser. No. 15/454,897 filed on Mar. 9, 2017 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62337251 | May 2016 | US | |
| 62305706 | Mar 2016 | US | |
| 62305821 | Mar 2016 | US | |
| 62305993 | Mar 2016 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 15454897 | Mar 2017 | US |
| Child | 15594689 | US |
