Patent Application
20110041271
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an interdental brush, and more particularly to an interdental brush having soft and elastic bristles that clean without hurting gums.
2. Description of Related Art
Keeping mouth and teeth clean and healthy is a critical part of personal hygiene. The basic tools used by ordinary people to clean teeth are normally tooth brushes, tooth picks and dental floss picks. Tooth brushes are usually applied to routine cleaning work such as brushing teeth after getting up and before going to bed while tooth picks and dental floss picks are applied to clean food debris left between teeth after meals. Because tooth picks and dental floss picks are long and thin in shape and the tip or dental floss thereof are smaller than gaps between teeth, they can be easily and deeply slid in between teeth to remove the food debris lodged between teeth. However, tooth picks and dental floss picks are dedicated to clean up food debris between teeth only and have no other cleaning effect to the portions between teeth, which are also inaccessible to conventional tooth brushes.
To solve the foregoing issue, so-called interdental brushs were introduced to the market for cleaning between teeth. With reference to
As a result of the long and thin shape of the interdental brush, the interdental brush can be easily slid in between teeth and by reciprocal movement, the bristles (82) brush and clean portions between neighboring teeth.
Despite certain cleaning effects, a line diameter of the strands of steel wires are quite small because bristles (82) of the bristle structure (80) are inserted in between the twisted strands of steel wires (81), the steel wire (81) is a rigid material and the bristle structure (80) takes a slender form. All these mean that the twisted stands of steel wires (81) resemble a saw with a plurality of sawteeth. Once the steel wire directly contacts with gum and an applied force is inappropriate, it may very likely injure the gum. Therefore, existing interdental brushes need to be further refined accordingly.
The main objective of the present invention is to provide an interdental brush having a plurality of soft and elastic bristles ensuring effective cleaning and safe operation while brushing between teeth.
To achieve the main objective, an interdental brush in accordance with the present invention has a hard body, an encapsulation layer and a plurality of soft and elastic bristles.
The hard body takes a straight form and has a grip portion and a slender bristle portion.
The encapsulation layer is formed by a soft and elastic material and sheathed on the grip portion and the slender bristle portion of the hard body.
The plural soft and elastic bristles are integrally extended from an outside surface of the encapsulation layer corresponding to the bristle portion.
The slender bristle portion can be deeply inserted in between teeth. The elastic bristles of the encapsulation layer corresponding to the bristle portion can effectively perform cleaning between teeth. Owing to the soft and elastic nature of the encapsulation layer on the bristle portion, gums are not injured when the interdental brush passes between teeth. As such, the interdental brush having the foregoing structure makes cleaning between teeth safe and easy.
Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
With reference to
With reference to
The slender bristle portion (12) of the hard body (10) serves as a foundation of the plural bristles (22) of the interdental brush in accordance with the present invention. As the bristle portion (12) and the grip portion (11) are integrally formed, the bristle portion (12) has proper rigidity to support a smoothly reciprocal movement of the bristles between teeth.
Furthermore, the encapsulation layer (20) is formed on the hard body (10) by using a soft and elastic material (e.g. silica gel) processed by insert molding. With reference to
The substantial structure of the interdental brush in accordance with the present invention can be comprehended by the foregoing description. Soft and elastic bristles (22) are corresponding to the bristle portion (12) of the hard body (10). The slender bristle portion (12) can be deeply inserted in between teeth. The elastic bristles (22) formed on the bristle portion (12) can effectively perform cleaning between teeth. Owing to the soft and elastic nature of the encapsulation layer (20) on the bristle portion (12), gums are not injured when the interdental brush passes between teeth. Besides, as the grip portion of the hard body is further not completely sheathed by the encapsulation layer, both the rigidity and elasticity of the grip can be balanced to enhance a holding comfort. As such, the interdental brush having the foregoing structure makes cleaning between teeth safe and easy.
Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and features of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made in the details, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.
