Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
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DENTAL PROSTHESIS CLEANING INSTRUMENT
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a dental prosthesis
cleaning instrument having a brush end portion with an angled
brushing surface and a scraping tool at an opposed end of a
handle and adapted to scrape cavitated areas which are hard to
reach in a dental prosthesis.
BACKGROUND ART
Various shapes of toothbrushes are known for
cleaning normal teeth and these comprise a brushing head on
which soft bristles are disposed whereby not to damage the
sensitive gums of a user person. The brush may have a variety
of bristle stiffness but as a whole these are generally
considered soft bristles. It is also known, as for example
disclosed in U.S. Patent Nos. 2,028,519 and 2,083,217 to
provide a dental brush with an instrument provided at the
opposed end of the brush head, such as a spoon whereby
medicated products can be dispensed as such products are
usually found in bathroom pharmacy cabinets. However, such
spoon is of a size similar to that which we normally find in
household utensils but is more convenient to the user when
provided at the end of a toothbrush. The toothbrush may also
be provided with a removable covering to massage the gums as
shown in U.S. Patent No. 4,486,109.
Most prior art toothbrushes are used for the
cleaning of normal teeth and have been found unsatisfactory
for the proper cleaning of dental prosthesis.
A dental prosthesis is formed of hard plastic
materials which is set on a mold which carries the imprint of
the wearer's upper pallet and upper and lower gums. This
imprint contains distorted cavities which are useful for the
retention of the dental prosthesis in the wearer's mouth.
Without such cavities the dental prosthesis would be loose and
would not be retained by the gums and upper pallet. It is
known to provide a prosthesis brush which is comprised of a
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handle portion and a brush head formed of stiff bristles, much
like the conventional toothbrush, but the head being
relatively larger. This known dental prosthesis brush has a
head similar to the conventional brush but formed of stiffer
bristles and defining a flat brushing surface. However, hard-
to-reach cavitated areas of the dental prosthesis are not
cleaned by such brush.
It is essential for good hygiene to be able to clean
these hard-to-reach areas on the inner surface of the dental
prosthesis and also on the exterior surfaces in the cavities
between the synthetic teeth as it is in those areas that
plaque develops and hardens. The hardened plaque also forms
surfaces which can be irritant to the wearer and may also
affect the retention capacity of the dental prosthesis.
Another disadvantage of the formation of plaque is that it
carries bacteria and this bacteria generates unpleasant mouth
odors.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
It is therefore a feature of the present invention
to provide a dental prosthesis cleaning instrument which is
capable of effectively cleaning a dental prosthesis in hard-
to-reach areas thereof and which substantially overcomes the
above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art.
Another feature of the present invention is to
provide a dental prosthesis cleaning instrument having a brush
end portion and a scraping tool provided at an opposed of a
handle portion end whereby to clean hard-to-reach areas of a
dental prosthesis.
Another feature of the present invention is to
provide a dental prosthesis having a brush end and a spatula-
shaped scraping tool at an opposed end and on which an
abrasive cover may be removably secured and discarded after
use.
Another feature of the present invention is to
provide a dental prosthesis cleaning instrument wherein a file
member may be secured to a surface area of the handle portion
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whereby to file away excessive plastics material on surface
portions of a dental prosthesis.
According to the above features, from a broad
aspect, the present invention provides a dental prosthesis
cleaning instrument which is comprised of an elongated member
having a brush portion and a handle portion. The brush
portion has a head formation formed at one end of the handle
and has a plurality of bristles extending from a surface
portion thereof. The bristles terminate in an angled brushing
surface defining an apex brush ridge adapted to clean hard-to-
reach surfaces of a dental prosthesis. A small scraping tool
is provided at an opposed end of the handle portion. The
scraping tool is dimensioned to scrape cavitated areas of the
dental prosthesis usually not accessible by the brush.
According to a further broad aspect of the present
invention the scraping tool is a spatula-shaped tool having a
rounded end portion.
According to a still further broad aspect of the
present invention an abrasive cover is removably securable
over the spatula-shaped tool.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
A preferred embodiment of the present invention will
now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings
in which:
FIG. l is a perspective view of the dental
prosthesis cleaning instrument of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a plan view of the cleaning instrument of
FIG. l and showing an abrasive cover which is removably
securable over the spatula-shaped tooli
FIG. 3 is an end view of the brush end of the
cleaning instrument;
FIG. 4 is a fragmented side end view of the cleaning
instrument showing the shape of the scraping tool;
FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 but showing the
scraping tool integrally formed with the handle portion;
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FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the
construction of the abrasive cover;
FIG. 7 is a side end view of the cleaning instrument
handle showing another embodiment wherein the scraping tool
S may have different shapes and may be removably securable in
the free end portion of the brush handle;
FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a dental prosthesis
illustrating cavitated areas thereof;
FIG. 9 is a section view of a dental prosthesis
showing curved surfaces thereof and the use of the brush head
of the cleaning instrument of the present invention; and
FIGS. 10 and 11 are section views of a dental
prosthesis showing hard-to-reach cavitated areas thereof.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring now to the drawings and more particularly
to Figs. 1 to 3, there is shown generally at 10 the dental
prosthesis cleaning instrument of the present invention. The
instrument is comprised of an elongated member 11 having a
brush end portion 12 and a handle portion 13. The brush
portion 12 has a head formation 14 formed at one end of the
handle portion 13 and has a plurality of stiff bristles 15
extending from a flat top surface 16 of the head formation 14.
As shown in Fig. 3, the bristles 15 terminate in an
angled brushing surface 17 defining an apex brush ridge 18
which is adapted to clean angled surfaces and hard-to-reach
areas, as will be described later, of a dental prosthesis.
As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, a small scraping tool 19
is provided at an opposed end 20 of the handle portion 13 and
is dimensioned to scrape cavitated areas, as will be described
later, of a dental prosthesis. The scraping tool as
hereinshown is a spatula-shaped tool having a spatula end 21
which has a rounded free end 22. An abrasive cover 23 may be
removably secured over the spatula-shaped tool 19.
As shown in Fig. 6, the abrasive cover 23 is formed
as a pouch of stretchable material having an open end 24 which
fits over the rounded end 22 of the spatula-shaped end 21. An
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abrasive surface 25 is provided about the pouch and this may
be a soft abrasive whereby to remove plaque from hard-to-reach
areas of a dental prosthesis. A cleaning paste or similar
substance (not shown) may also be placed over the pouch to
help in the removal of plaque and the sanitation of the dental
prosthesis, particularly in hard-to-reach cavitated areas
thereof. A polish material may also be applied to polish the
teeth, including the natural teeth of the user. This pouch is
usually discarded after use as it will contain bacteria which
is present in the plaque or foodstuff. The pouch may also be
provided with abrasives of different grades depending on the
intended use and it could also be used to file away plastic
material from the prosthesis in areas which may be irritable
to the user. However, for this latter use there could also be
provided an abrasive file surface 26, as shown in Fig. 7, on
the back face 27 of the scraping tool 19.
Referring now to Figs. 4, 5 and 7, there will be
described various embodiments of the construction of the
scraping tool 19. As shown in Fig. 4, which is a side view of
the end portion of the handle portion 13 on which the scraping
tool 19 is secured, the tool may have an arcuate shape portion
28 with a shallow depression 29 in an end area forming a spoon
on which plaque or other materials, such as foodstuff, which
is lodged within cavitated areas of a dental prosthesis,
accumulate during a scraping operation. The scraping tool as
hereinshown is formed as a metal insert which is injection
molded in the end 20 of the brush 10.
As shown in Fig. 5, the scraping tool 13 may be
integrally molded with the handle portion 13 and formed of
rigid plastic material. The tool may also have a sharp end
portion 30 to provide better scraping. However, it is
preferable that this tool be formed of metal as it does not
wear as easily as plastic.
As shown in Fig. 7, a connecting insert 31 may be
molded inside the end portion 30 of the handle portion 13 of
the brush whereby to removably connect therein scraping tools
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19' of different shapes whereby to reach various types of
difficult cavitated areas of dental prosthesis.
Referring to Fig. 2 which illustrates a preferred
embodiment of the present invention, it can be seen that the
brush portion 12 is formed as a generally rectangular brushing
surface having a straight flat angled surface 17 as shown in
Fig. 3, and with an apex brush ridge 18 located at an
elongated side edge of the surface and sloping in a generally
flat plane to a short bristled opposed side edge 18'. The
bristles are formed of stiff filamentary fibers disposed in
groups 32. As shown in Fig. 2 there are four rows of seven
groups of bristles extending from the flat top surface portion
16.
Referring now to Fig. 8 there is illustrated the
construction of a dental prosthesis 40 which is comprised
essentially of a plastic molded mouthpiece 41 having a
plurality of teeth shaped formations 42 molded therein. The
mouthpiece 41 has a pallet portion 39 which has a curvature,
as shown in Fig. 9, to fit the pallet of the user's mouth. It
also has a gum surrounding portion 43 which has a variety of
shapes to fit about the gums of the user. Depending on the
shape of the gum of a user, this portion 43 may have deep
cavities or hardly any cavities, and in this latter case it
becomes difficult to secure dental prosthesis to a person's
mouth. However, these cavities provide good retention to the
gums in the mouth of the wearer. Such deep cavities are
usually located in the frontal side areas 44 of the mouth, as
shown in Fig. 8, or in the side areas 45 of the prosthesis.
Although Fig. 8 shows a full denture prosthesis, it is also
known that partial dentures may be provided and these usually
also have hard-to-reach cavitated areas to receive the gums or
portions thereof.
As shown in Fig. 9, because the angled brush portion
12 is angled, it is easy to clean the opposed surfaces of the
pallet portion 42, which is arcuate, and depending on the
shape of the prosthesis the brush may be suitable to clean the
entire prosthesis. However, there are also hard-to-reach
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areas of a prosthesis between the teeth which define cavities
as shown at 46 in Fig. 8, and these areas can develop plaque
and the brush head is not sufficient to remove this plaque.
As shown in Figs. lO and ll, hard-to-reach cavities are
designated by reference numerals 47 and these are usually
lodged on the backside of the gum cavities 48. The angled
bristles 15 (see Fig. lO) are not suitable to reach these
areas and this is where foodstuff accumulates and plaque forms
to eventually reshape the gum cavities 48 causing irritation
to the wearer and also resulting in bad mouth odors due to the
bacteria which is retained in the plaque. The shape of the
scraping instrument makes it possible to remove plaque in
these areas. Chemical products may also be used to soften the
plaque to permit easy removal thereof by the spatula-shaped
tool l9 which may have a variety of shapes to reach these
areas. The abrasive cover or the file 26 may also be used to
reshape the irritable edges 49 of the dental prosthesis, as
shown in Figs. 8 and 9.
It is within the ambit of the present invention to
cover any obvious modifications of the preferred embodiment
described herein, provided such modifications fall within the
scope of the appended claims.
