Patent Application
20210145556
Human teeth are highly susceptible to inflammatory diseases known as gingivitis and periodontitis; dental implants are highly susceptible to inflammatory diseases known as peri-implant mucositis and peri-implantitis; these diseases can result in the loss of the supporting bone, which houses and retains both natural teeth and implants. Fixed dental prostheses may replace a single natural tooth crown or multiple natural tooth crowns, and are anchored to and supported by natural teeth and/or dental implants. These fixed prostheses may then potentially obstruct the ideal access desired to permit adequate cleansing of their supporting teeth and/or implant(s), thereby permitting gingivitis, periodontitis, peri-implant mucositis and peri-implantitis—which begins at the gum line, to develop and progress. Oral irrigator tips are typically not well-proportioned or contoured to adequately and effectively reach/access and flush/cleanse the most complex and extensive fixed dental prostheses and/or their supporting natural teeth and/or implants, and their respective gum lines.
Oral health is an important component to overall health, since periodontal and peri-implant diseases are highly correlated with many serious and potentially fatal diseases, including heart, lung, kidney, liver, and pregnancy diseases, diabetes, and even tumors, to name a few. As such, the use of oral hygiene implements—beginning with toothbrushes and dental floss—to maintain good oral health, is routinely understood and accepted. However, due to physical restrictions and/or limitations, toothbrushes and dental floss may prove insufficient to adequately access all areas of the mouth and around all natural teeth, dental implants, and/or fixed dental prostheses, and/or fixed orthodontic appliances, so oral irrigators were developed—as supplemental devices, to flush away food debris and dental plaque.
Typical irrigator tips have a single straight shaft and a single “pre-nozzle” bend/elbow of approximately 20-45 degrees, which is adequate for flushing/cleansing around natural teeth—either without any supporting bone loss, or with mild or moderate loss of supporting bone. However, the positions of the gum line around natural teeth with severe amounts of supporting bone loss and/or around a large percentage of dental implants, is much further away from the “occlusal” (chewing) surfaces of their respective teeth and/or fixed prostheses, such that a typical irrigator tip—with a straight shaft and a single “pre-nozzle” bend/elbow cannot adequately reach/access and flush/cleanse that gum line.
According to an exemplary embodiment, an oral irrigator tip having a base/connector portion, a proximal shaft portion, a distal shaft portion, and a nozzle portion—offset in multiple planes, for flushing/cleansing gum lines and around fixed dental prostheses, may be shown and described. The oral irrigator tip may be hollow along its entire length, permitting the flow of irrigating fluids, from an oral irrigation unit or other fluid source, to the targeted intraoral areas. The oral irrigator tip may have multiple elbows/bends, along its length—to provide improved reach/access and flushing/cleansing, and it may be comprised of a single, continuous piece or of multiple, coupled components.
Advantages of embodiments of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the exemplary embodiments. The following detailed description should be considered in conjunction with the accompanying figures in which:
Aspects of the invention are disclosed in the following description and related drawings directed to specific embodiments of the invention. Alternate embodiments may be devised without departing from the spirit or the scope of the invention. Additionally, well-known elements of exemplary embodiments of the invention will not be described in detail or will be omitted so as not to obscure the relevant details of the invention. Further, to facilitate an understanding of the description, discussion of several terms used herein follows.
As used herein, the word “exemplary” means “serving as an example, instance or illustration.” The embodiments described herein are not limiting, but rather are exemplary only. It should be understood that the described embodiments are not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. Moreover, the terms “embodiments of the invention”, “embodiments” or “invention” do not require that all embodiments of the invention include the discussed feature, advantage or mode of operation.
Described herein are embodiments of an oral irrigator tip, for an oral irrigator. The oral irrigator tip can be formed in a variety of designs and utilize various combinations of bases, connector portions, shaft portions, nozzle portions, and elbows/bends to provide desired oral hygiene capabilities. The oral irrigator tip may include a hollow shaft, which includes a retention component for joining the oral irrigator tip to an oral irrigator unit—either to a hand-held irrigator unit or to the control handle of a countertop irrigator unit. The shaft may include a fluid inlet opening, a fluid outlet opening, and a fluid channel, with the fluid inlet opening communicating with a fluid reservoir of an oral irrigator unit and the fluid channel for passage of the fluid from the fluid inlet to the fluid outlet, for delivering a fluid stream from the oral irrigator tip. Fluid from the oral irrigator tip may be used to irrigate or otherwise cleanse a user's mouth. The shaft may be comprised of one continuous construction—from inlet opening to outlet opening, or may be comprised of two or more components, removably and/or non-removably attached to one another, and of either homogeneous or heterogeneous materials, which may each have the potential to pivot on the longitudinal axes of the shaft. An oral irrigator tip may be attached to an oral irrigator unit, to deliver a fluid stream, to clean the teeth, dental implants, and/or fixed dental prostheses of a user, and/or to irrigate the gingival sulci of teeth or the peri-implant crevices of dental implants.
Referring now to exemplary
Still referring to exemplary
Referring to exemplary
A retaining component 65 may be formed on the connector shaft portion 30, as shown in
An anti-rotation component 70 may be formed on the connector shaft portion 30, to permit the control of the rotational position of the nozzle portion 25, around the longitudinal axis, of the proximal shaft 35, during use. This anti-rotation component 70 may be of a polygonal shape and mate with a recess of a matching polygonal shape within an oral irrigator, oral irrigator handle, or a coupler from an aforementioned alternative fluid source.
The foregoing description and accompanying figures illustrate the principles, preferred embodiments, and modes of operation of the invention. However, the invention should not be construed as being limited to the particular embodiments discussed above. Additional variations of the embodiments discussed above will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.
Therefore, the above-described embodiments should be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive. Accordingly, it should be appreciated that variations to those embodiments can be made by those skilled in the art, without departing from the scope of the invention, as defined by the following claims.
This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/768,918, entitled “ORAL IRRIGATOR TIP” and filed on Nov. 18, 2018, which is hereby incorporated, by reference, herein.
