Dental floss bundle floss pick and production process thereof
By employing a high-precision control process involving multiple dental floss bundles, a net-like covering and lateral cleaning are formed, solving the problems of low friction and gum damage associated with existing dental floss picks, and achieving highly efficient interdental cleaning.
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2026-02-02
- Publication Date
- 2026-03-10
- Estimated Expiration
- Not applicable · inactive patent
AI Technical Summary
Existing dental floss picks have low friction when cleaning, making it difficult to effectively remove food debris and plaque from between teeth, and they can easily damage gums. They also cannot clean food debris that is stuck together horizontally.
Dental floss bundles consisting of 2 to 8 flosses are made up of floss through high-precision control technology so that the floss bundles are tightly overlapped at the floss clamping part, achieving net-like coverage and lateral cleaning. Combined with up-and-down rolling cleaning, this enhances friction and cleaning efficiency.
It improves the effectiveness of cleaning food debris and plaque, reduces damage to the gums, and achieves dual functions of horizontal cleaning and up-and-down rolling cleaning, significantly improving cleaning ability and efficiency.
Smart Images
Figure CN121622294A_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] This invention belongs to the field of oral care technology, specifically a dental floss pick for cleaning teeth. Background Technology
[0002] Dental floss picks typically consist of a roughly U-shaped floss holder, dental floss, and a handle. The two ends of the floss are fixed to the two arms of the U-shaped opening of the floss holder. The fixing points between the floss ends and the arms of the U-shaped opening of the floss holder are the floss clamping parts. The floss on a dental floss pick is usually single-strand single-piece floss, multi-strand single-piece floss, or multi-fiber bundle floss. Multi-fiber bundle floss consists of hundreds or more single-filament fibers bundled together. Each single fiber within a multi-fiber bundle has extremely low strength and a very thin diameter, making it easily broken; it is merely a raw material unit for the multi-fiber bundle floss and cannot be considered floss on its own. The manufacturing process of dental floss picks involves two stages: single-stage molding and double-stage molding. Single-stage molding involves: 1. Floss being pulled from the spool and passing through guide wheels into the tension control system; 2. The tension system automatically adjusts to maintain the set tension; 3. The active feed wheel delivers the floss to the floss positioning grooves at both ends of the floss pick cavity according to the length set by the controller; 4. The floss is then injection molded into a single, integrated floss pick. Double-stage molding involves: First, injection molding a U-shaped floss holder with floss positioning grooves at both ends. Then: 1. Floss is pulled from the spool and passes through guide wheels into the tension control system; 2. The tension system automatically adjusts to maintain the set tension; 3. The active feed wheel delivers the floss to the floss positioning grooves at both ends of the floss pick body according to the length set by the controller; 4. The pressing mechanism presses the floss into the grooves; 5. A hot-pressing / ultrasonic device cures and fixes the positioning grooves, completing the floss pick. The main difference between the two processes is as follows: In the first-stage molding, the floss is positioned using positioning grooves. These grooves are symmetrically located at both ends of the floss rod cavity in the mold and extend through the cavity. The floss falls into the positioning grooves, which corresponds to the position at the two ends of the U-shaped opening in the floss rod cavity. After injection molding and overmolding, the floss is fixed in the designated position, forming the floss clamping part. In the second-stage molding, the floss holder first injection molds a rod with positioning grooves at both ends of the U-shaped opening. Then, the floss is positioned using these grooves. After curing, the positioning grooves become the floss clamping part. The second-stage molding adds a pressing mechanism to insert the floss. The floss positioning grooves and clamping points are mainly of two types: "V"-shaped and "U"-shaped. The narrowing corner at the bottom of the "V"-shaped groove is the lowest point, and the rounded bottom point at the bottom of the "U"-shaped groove is the lowest point. Under the taut tension of the system, the dental floss automatically falls into the bottom of the "V" or "U" shaped groove and remains stably centered, ensuring the floss is positioned centrally in the floss clamping part. Both the floss positioning groove and the floss positioning slot serve to center, straighten, and prevent deviation of the floss in the floss clamping parts of the two arms of the floss pick. They are arranged symmetrically in pairs, with one set of positioning grooves or slots positioning one piece of floss. If producing double-floss floss picks, two sets are arranged side-by-side.Because the U-shaped opening of dental floss picks has very narrow ends, setting up two independent positioning grooves or positioning slots is technically difficult. Therefore, sometimes the "V" or "U" shaped groove is deepened and widened, and then a limiting rib is set inside the groove (dividing it into two recesses). Two pieces of dental floss enter the "V" or "U" groove in parallel, with each piece of floss falling into one groove for positioning. In this case, each partitioned groove is essentially a dental floss positioning groove or dental floss positioning slot. The function of dental floss picks is twofold: to remove food debris from between teeth and to remove plaque and soft deposits from the tooth surfaces on both sides of the interdental spaces. The dental floss on dental floss picks is usually linear with a smooth outer surface. When scraping food debris, plaque, and soft deposits up and down along the interdental spaces, it is a rolling friction of line contact with relatively low friction. When scraping left and right along the inner and outer sides of the interdental spaces, the friction is point contact with minimal friction. Double-line dental floss picks add a dental floss, but the two flosses are spaced far apart, and each floss works independently during scraping and cleaning. The elasticity of dental floss and the manufacturing process of floss picks result in some looseness and tension between the two flosses on the finished floss pick. During scraping, the two flosses cannot provide equal friction, and many corner areas between teeth cannot be cleaned simultaneously. Therefore, although double-floss picks contain an extra floss, their scraping and cleaning ability and efficiency are not doubled. The method of using floss picks is to press them into the interdental space from top to bottom until they reach the gum line, then hold the floss close to one side of the teeth and repeatedly pull the pick back and forth towards the top of the interdental space. Food debris, plaque, and soft deposits are flattened and removed from the top of the interdental space as the floss is pulled upwards. If the floss pick is pulled horizontally along the interdental space, food debris, plaque, and soft deposits are only subjected to point-contact sliding friction, resulting in minimal pulling force and no cleaning effect. Floss picks lack the function of horizontal pulling and cleaning between teeth. Therefore, existing floss picks have the following three disadvantages: Disadvantage 1: The rolling friction provided during cleaning is relatively small, requiring repeated up-and-down cleaning to remove food residue. In particular, the rolling friction is too small to effectively remove plaque and soft deposits.
[0003] Disadvantage 2: When using dental floss picks, it is necessary to press them into the gaps between teeth multiple times until they reach the gums, which may injure the gums or even cause bleeding and inflammation. Long-term use can damage the gums, making it a dental floss pick that can damage the gums.
[0004] Disadvantage 3: The characteristic of interdental spaces is that the lower gap is wide and the upper gap is narrow. When food debris gets stuck in the gap, it is difficult to clean it out through the narrow upper gap. The smoothest way to clean food debris stuck in the gap should be through the wide lower gap, but dental floss picks do not have the function of pulling laterally to clean the gap. Summary of the Invention
[0005] (a) Technical problems to be solved To address the shortcomings of existing technologies, this invention provides a dental floss pick that retains the existing upward lifting cleaning function while forming a net-like cover for food debris. This allows the floss pick to horizontally hold food debris along the interdental spaces and clean it out through the wide gaps at the bottom of the interdental spaces, solving the problem of existing technologies struggling to clean food debris that is clogged with food. When cleaning horizontally on the inside and outside of the interdental spaces, the floss can complete the task with almost no contact with the gums, causing no damage to the gums. When repeatedly lifting and pulling back and forth to clean the top of the interdental spaces, the floss rolls up and down, creating a certain degree of entanglement. The uneven outer surface of the entangled floss provides friction from the rolling contact, significantly improving cleaning ability and efficiency, especially for removing plaque and soft deposits, thus greatly enhancing the cleaning effect on plaque and soft deposits.
[0006] (II) Technical Solution To achieve the above objectives, the present invention is implemented in the following ways: 1. A dental floss bundle and floss stick, comprising a dental floss holder, dental floss clamping parts at the two arms of the U-shaped opening of the dental floss holder, and dental floss, characterized in that: the dental floss is a dental floss bundle composed of 2 to 8 dental flosses, the two ends of the dental floss bundle are fixed to the dental floss clamping parts at the two arms of the U-shaped opening of the dental floss holder, and the distance X between the center points of the cross sections of adjacent dental flosses at the intersection of the dental floss clamping parts at the two arms and the two ends of the dental floss bundle is less than or equal to the sum of the radii D of the two adjacent dental flosses, i.e., X≤D.
[0007] 2. A dental floss bundle and floss stick, comprising a dental floss holder, floss clamping parts at the two arms of the U-shaped opening of the dental floss holder, and dental floss, characterized in that: the dental floss is a dental floss bundle composed of 2 to 8 dental flosses, the two ends of the dental floss bundle are fixed to the dental floss clamping parts at the two arms of the U-shaped opening of the dental floss holder, and the distance X between the center points of the cross sections of adjacent dental flosses at the intersection of the dental floss clamping parts at the two arms and the two ends of the dental floss bundle is greater than or equal to the sum of the radii of the two adjacent dental flosses D to less than or equal to D plus 0.25 mm, i.e., D≤X≤(D+0.25) mm.
[0008] 3. A dental floss bundle and floss stick, comprising a dental floss holder, floss clamping parts at the two arms of the U-shaped opening of the dental floss holder, and dental floss, characterized in that: the dental floss is a bundle of 2 to 8 flosses, the two ends of the floss bundle are fixed to the floss clamping parts at the two arms of the U-shaped opening of the dental floss holder, and the distance X between the center points of the cross-sections of adjacent flosses at the intersection of the floss clamping parts at the two arms and the two ends of the floss bundle is greater than the sum of the radii of the two adjacent flosses D plus 0.25 mm to less than D plus 0.5 mm, i.e., (D+0.25). <X<(D+0.5)mm。
[0009] 4. A dental floss bundle and floss stick, comprising a dental floss holder, floss clamping parts at the two ends of the U-shaped opening of the dental floss holder, and dental floss, characterized in that: the dental floss is a dental floss bundle composed of 3 to 8 pieces of dental floss, the two ends of the dental floss bundle are fixed to the floss clamping parts at the two ends of the U-shaped opening of the dental floss holder, at least one pair of the lines connecting the center points of the cross-sections of adjacent dental flosses at the intersection of the floss clamping parts at the two ends of the dental floss bundle form an included angle, and the distance X between the center points of the cross-sections of adjacent dental flosses at the intersection of the floss clamping parts at the two ends of the dental floss bundle is less than or equal to the sum of the radii D of the two adjacent dental flosses, i.e., X≤D.
[0010] 5. A dental floss bundle and floss stick, comprising a dental floss holder, floss clamping parts at the two ends of the U-shaped opening of the dental floss holder, and dental floss, characterized in that: the dental floss is a bundle of 3 to 8 dental flosses, the two ends of the dental floss bundle are fixed to the floss clamping parts at the two ends of the U-shaped opening of the dental floss holder, at least one pair of the lines connecting the center points of the cross sections of adjacent dental flosses at the intersection of the floss clamping parts at the two ends of the dental floss bundle form an included angle, and the distance X between the center points of the cross sections of adjacent dental flosses at the intersection of the floss clamping parts at the two ends of the dental floss bundle is greater than or equal to the sum of the radii of the two adjacent dental flosses D to less than or equal to D plus 0.25 mm, i.e., D≤X≤(D+0.25) mm.
[0011] 6. A dental floss bundle and floss stick, comprising a dental floss holder, floss clamping parts at the two arms of the U-shaped opening of the dental floss holder, and dental floss, characterized in that: the dental floss is a bundle of 3 to 8 flosses, the two ends of the floss bundle are correspondingly fixed to the floss clamping parts at the two arms of the U-shaped opening of the dental floss holder, at least one pair of lines connecting the center points of the cross-sections of adjacent flosses at the intersection of the floss clamping parts at the two arms and the two ends of the floss bundle form an included angle, and the distance X between the center points of the cross-sections of adjacent flosses at the intersection of the floss clamping parts at the two arms and the two ends of the floss bundle is greater than the sum of the radii of the two adjacent flosses D plus 0.25 mm to less than D plus 0.5 mm, i.e., (D+0.25). <X<(D+0.5)mm。
[0012] 7. The manufacturing process of dental floss bundles and floss sticks according to any one of the above 1 to 6 is characterized in that: the manufacturing process includes the following steps: multiple dental flosses are pulled out from the spool of the feeding device by the pulling device; multiple dental flosses are gathered at the guide wheel to form a loose dental floss bundle and then enter the tension control system; the active feeding wheel delivers the dental floss bundle to the dental floss positioning slots at both ends of the dental floss stick body; the pressure mechanism presses the dental floss bundle into the bottom of the dental floss positioning slot to form a close and overlapping dental floss bundle; high-temperature pressing or welding fixes the dental floss bundle to the dental floss clamping part, and the dental floss bundle and floss stick are formed.
[0013] 8. The manufacturing process of dental floss bundles and floss sticks according to any one of the above 1 to 6 is characterized in that: the manufacturing process includes the following steps: multiple dental flosses are pulled out from the spool of the feeding device by the pulling device; multiple dental flosses are gathered to the guide wheel to form a loose dental floss bundle and then enter the tension control system; the active feeding wheel delivers the dental floss bundle to the dental floss positioning grooves opened at the two ends of the hanging posts of the dental floss stick cavity; the dental floss bundles are formed close together and overlapping at the bottom of the dental floss positioning grooves; after injection molding and overmolding, the dental floss bundles are fixed at the positions set at the two arms of the U-shaped opening of the dental floss stick cavity, i.e., the dental floss clamping part, and the dental floss bundle and the dental floss stick body are integrally formed.
[0014] The "intersection of the two-arm end dental floss clamping part and the two ends of the two bundles of dental floss" in the present invention refers to the intersection of the inner arm of the arm end where the two-arm end dental floss clamping part is located and the two ends of the two bundles of dental floss. The two ends of the two bundles of dental floss refer to the ends of the bundles at this intersection. In the existing production process of dental floss rods, a set of positioning wire grooves or a set of positioning card slots are used to position one dental floss. For several dental flosses, several sets of positioning wire grooves or several sets of positioning card slots are set. For composite dental floss positioning wire grooves or dental floss positioning card slots, several隔断凹槽 are set for several dental flosses. Due to the spacer ribs between the positioning wire grooves, positioning card slots, and隔断凹槽, there must be a relatively large interval between the positioned dental flosses. Therefore, the existing production process of dental floss rods cannot produce the dental floss rod of the present invention. In the production process of the present invention, multiple dental flosses are pulled out from the bobbin by a wire pulling device, and the multiple dental flosses converge on the guide wheel to form a loose dental floss bundle. Then, each dental floss in the dental floss bundle automatically converges to the lowest point at the bottom of the dental floss positioning wire groove or dental floss positioning card slot under the action of the gravity wheel of the wire pulling device and finally converges into a tightly靠拢重叠 dental floss bundle at the lowest point at the bottom. The present invention endows the original positioning wire grooves and positioning card slots with the use function of converging multiple dental flosses into a tightly靠拢重叠 dental floss bundle. Such a dental floss bundle is placed in the positioning wire grooves and positioning card slots, and after injection molding and curing and shaping, the dental floss bundle dental floss rod of the present invention is obtained. For secondary molding, there is a process of pressing the dental floss bundle into the lowest point at the bottom of the dental floss positioning card slot by a pressing mechanism. The cross-section of the dental floss in the dental floss bundle will undergo a certain compression deformation, and the cross-sections of two adjacent dental flosses intersect or are externally tangent. After high-temperature pressing or fusion welding and fixing and shaping, the distance X between the central points of the cross-sections of adjacent dental flosses at the end of the dental floss bundle has the technical feature of "X≤D". For primary molding, there is no process of pressing the dental floss bundle into the dental floss card slot by a pressing mechanism. Only the dental floss bundle is pre-buried in the rod-shaped cavity through the dental floss wire groove. The degree of靠拢 between the dental flosses in the dental floss bundle after being encapsulated and solidified is lower than that of the secondary molding process. Under the condition of high-precision control of each production process link, the finished product of the present invention produced can achieve that the cross-sections of adjacent dental flosses at the end of the dental floss bundle are externally tangent or externally separated, and the distance X between the central points of the cross-sections of adjacent dental flosses at the end of the dental floss bundle presents the technical feature of "(D≤ X≤(D+0.25))" mm; if the precision control level of the production process is average, the cross-sections of adjacent dental flosses at the end of the dental floss bundle of the finished dental floss rod are completely externally separated, and the distance X between the central points of the cross-sections of adjacent dental flosses at the end of the dental floss bundle is "(D+0.25) <X<(D+0.5)" mm technical feature. The reason why the distance X between the central points of the cross-sections of adjacent dental flosses at the end of the dental floss bundle in the dental floss rod product produced by the same production process presents in different numerical ranges rather than a fixed value is that the corresponding parameters of the finished dental floss rod production are affected by factors such as dental floss quality, wire diameter, mold precision, control precision of each process link, and even production environment such as air cleanliness, temperature, relative humidity, and equipment cleanliness.Referring to Figure 1, the distance between the center points of the cross-sections of adjacent dental flosses at the ends of the dental floss bundle refers to the distance between the center points of the cross-sections of adjacent dental flosses at the intersection of dental floss bundles 5 and 3 and 10. In this invention, "adjacent dental flosses" refers to at least one pair of adjacent dental flosses in a dental floss bundle. For the secondary forming process, since there is a pressing mechanism to press the dental floss bundle into the bottommost point of the dental floss positioning slot, the technical feature that "at least one pair of the connecting lines between the center points of the cross-sections of adjacent dental flosses at the intersection of the dental floss clamping parts at both ends of the two arms and the two ends of the dental floss bundle can form an included angle" can be fully achieved. The primary forming process can also meet this technical feature under high-precision control. The dental floss spools on the feeding device can be two or more spools simultaneously feeding out two or more dental flosses, or one spool can simultaneously wind two or more dental flosses and simultaneously feed out two or more dental flosses.
[0015] In this invention, each piece of dental floss in the floss bundle has two ends. The ends on the same side of each floss are brought together to form the floss bundle end, which is fixed in the floss holder. The other parts of the floss in the bundle are not connected or tangled. When the floss bundle is pressed into the interdental space and comes into contact with food debris, simply pressing it lightly against the surface of the food debris and moving it back and forth causes the elasticity and tension of the floss to relax, separating the floss pieces in the middle of the bundle due to the trapped food debris. This creates a net-like cover, with the two bundles in the middle converging. Then, by pulling along the inside and outside of the interdental space, the two converging ends of the floss bundle exert a strong pulling force on the food debris, loosening it and tearing apart its surface layer, pulling it out through the wide gap at the bottom of the interdental space. Through this repeated cleaning process of first forming a net-like cover and then pulling, the food debris is continuously torn apart layer by layer and cleaned out of the interdental space. After the floss bundle forms a net-like cover, it is only pulled horizontally on the inside and outside of the interdental spaces, without pressing down on the gums, thus causing no damage to the gums. When the floss stick is repeatedly pulled back and forth to clean the top of the interdental spaces, the multiple flosses in the bundle are positioned close enough that they become entangled during the up-and-down rolling and pulling. The outer surface of the entangled floss is uneven, which greatly increases the friction force of the floss when cleaning food debris, especially plaque and soft deposits. Compared with cleaning with two floss sticks, the cleaning force, efficiency, and effect are multiplied. When the present invention is used for repeated up-and-down lifting and cleaning, the floss bundle is made up of multiple flosses twisted into a thicker floss. The same pressure is applied to the gums, but the pressure on the gums is greatly reduced, and the damage to the gums is also greatly reduced. Existing floss picks have relatively short floss designs, and the floss bundle of this invention is no exception. When cleaning between the upper and lower teeth using this invention, the floss within the bundle intertwines in alternating forward and backward rolling motions. Furthermore, the two gathered ends constrain the intertwining of the floss, ensuring that one floss does not wrap around the other more than half a turn. At this point, a slight stirring motion within the interdental space allows the intertwined floss to easily separate, enabling a net-like covering and pulling clean of the inner and outer sides of the interdental spaces. The distance X between the center points of the cross-sections of adjacent floss at the intersection of the two gathered ends (i.e., the floss clamping parts at both ends) and the two bundle ends meets the requirements of this invention. This is essential to achieving the invention's purpose and effect. If only one end is gathered and the other end is separated, the floss cannot effectively encapsulate food debris in a net-like manner, nor can it consistently achieve a net-like covering and cleaning. Furthermore, the floss cannot be twisted into a single, more friction-generating strand when cleaning up and down. This invention achieves better results when the dental floss is bundled with 2 to 4 pieces, with 3 pieces being the most effective. The number of floss pieces in the bundle should not be too many, and should not exceed 8. Otherwise, it will be difficult to press the floss into the gaps between teeth, and because the gaps are narrow, too many floss pieces will not spread out sufficiently, resulting in severe entanglement and preventing them from dispersing and forming a net-like coverage.The effect of the present invention depends on the distance X between the central points of the cross-sections of adjacent dental flosses at the end of the dental floss bundle. When X ≥ (D + 0.5) mm, the dental flosses in the dental floss bundle are too far apart, and when cleaning the dental gaps, each dental floss is not related to each other and is cleaned independently, and a net-like coverage cannot be formed and cannot be wound into a thicker dental floss. When X < (D + 0.5) mm, the ends of the dental floss bundle begin to converge, and the net-like coverage begins to form. When pulling horizontally inside and outside the dental gap, a certain pulling force can be exerted on the food residues at both ends. Especially when X ≤ D, the cross-sections of two adjacent dental flosses at the ends of the dental floss bundle intersect or are externally tangent, and the net-like coverage formed by the dental floss bundle generates the largest pulling force when pulling the food residues horizontally, and the cleaning effect is the best. When "(D ≤ X ≤ (D + 0.25))" mm, the cross-sections of two adjacent dental flosses at the ends of the dental floss bundle are externally tangent or externally separated, and a net-like coverage can generate a relatively large horizontal pulling force. When "(D + 0.25) < X < (D + 0.5)" mm, the cross-sections of two adjacent dental flosses at the ends of the dental floss bundle are completely externally separated, and there will be gaps between the adjacent dental flosses outside the dental floss clamping part. Although a net-like coverage can also be formed, the pulling force generated when pulling the food residues horizontally decreases as X increases, and the ability to clean the food residues also becomes smaller and smaller. The phenomenon that the dental floss bundle is wound into a thicker dental floss during cleaning occurs when the distance X between the central points of the cross-sections of adjacent dental flosses in the dental floss bundle is < (D + 0.5). As X decreases, it becomes easier for the dental floss bundle to be wound, and the rolling friction force on the outer surface of the wound thicker dental floss becomes larger. If at least one pair of the connection lines between the central points of the cross-sections of the adjacent dental flosses at the intersection of the dental floss clamping parts at both arm ends and the two ends of the dental floss bundle form an angle, it is ensured that the dental flosses at the ends of the dental floss bundle not only approach each other but also overlap and agglomerate, becoming a more compact end of the dental floss bundle. The more pairs of connection lines forming an angle, the more the dental flosses in the dental floss bundle overlap, and the better the effect of the present invention.
[0016] (III) Beneficial Effects Due to the adoption of the above technical solutions, the present invention has the following main features: (1). The dental floss holder has the function of horizontally cleaning food residues along the inner and outer dental gaps, solving the problem that it is difficult to clean the food residues stuffed by upward lifting, and becoming a dual-functional dental floss holder that can both lift upward and pull horizontally for cleaning.
[0017] (2). When the dental floss holder is used for upward lifting and cleaning, it will be wound into a dental floss with a larger rolling friction force when rolling back and forth for lifting, and the cleaning ability, cleaning efficiency, and cleaning effect are increased several times.
[0018] (3). When the dental floss holder horizontally cleans food residues, it hardly touches and presses the gums and causes no damage to the gums, being a gum-damaging-free dental floss holder. Description of the Drawings
[0019] Figure 1 is a schematic structural diagram of the front view of the present invention.
[0020] Figure 2 is a right view of the intersection of the floss clamping part at the left arm end of the floss holder and the left end of the floss bundle (the left view of the intersection of the floss clamping part at the right arm end of the floss holder and the right end of the floss bundle is the same).
[0021] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram showing that when the dental thread bundle is used in this invention, it is split in the middle to form a net-like cover. Detailed Implementation
[0022] The present invention will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments: In the attached diagram, 1 is the floss holder, 2 is the handle, 3 is the right arm of the floss holder, 4 is the floss clamping part where the right end of the floss bundle intersects with the right arm of the floss holder, 5 is the floss bundle, 6 is floss one, 7 is floss two, 8 is floss three, 9 is the intersection of the floss clamping parts at both arms and the two ends of the floss bundle, 10 is the left arm of the floss holder, 11 is the floss clamping part where the left end of the floss bundle intersects with the left arm of the floss holder, 12 is the inner arm of the left arm of the floss holder (corresponding to the inner arm of the right arm), 13 is the center point of the cross-section of floss one (6), 14 is the center point of the cross-section of floss two (7), and 15 is the center point of the cross-section of floss three (8). The distance between 13, 14, and 15 is the distance X between the center points of the cross-sections of two adjacent flosses (the dashed line between the three center points in attached diagram 2). (Attached diagram 2) The dotted lines between the three center points 13, 14, and 15 are also the connecting lines between the centers of dental flosses 6, 7, and 8, with at least one pair intersecting at an angle. The invention employs a two-stage molding process: First, the dental floss stick body 1 is injection molded. The dental floss stick body includes dental floss positioning grooves at both ends. Before high-temperature pressing or welding, the dental floss positioning grooves are open. Multiple dental flosses are pulled out from the thread spool of the thread feeding device by the thread pulling device. The multiple dental flosses converge at the guide wheel to form a dental floss bundle, which then enters the tension control system. The active thread feeding wheel delivers the dental floss bundle 5 to the dental floss positioning grooves 4 and 11. The pressure mechanism presses the dental floss bundle 5 into the bottommost point of the dental floss positioning groove, forming a tightly packed and overlapping dental floss bundle. High-temperature pressing or welding closes and presses the dental floss positioning groove to form a dental floss clamping part, thus forming the dental floss stick. The one-time molding process is basically the same as the two-time molding process, except that the dental floss bundle 5 is positioned by positioning grooves. The cavity of the injection mold for the dental floss stick is shaped like a dental floss holder 1. The dental floss positioning grooves are symmetrically arranged on the outside of the dental floss clamping parts 4 and 11 and run through and connect to the cavity of the dental floss stick. When the dental floss bundle falls into the dental floss positioning groove, it also falls into the set position of the dental floss clamping parts 4 and 11. The injection molding machine injects the dental floss stick cavity. After injection molding and overmolding, the dental floss bundle is fixed in the dental floss clamping part, and the dental floss stick is integrally formed. The dental floss stick produced by the one-time and two-time molding processes has the following structure: the left end of dental floss 1 6, dental floss 2 7, and dental floss 3 8 forms a dental floss bundle, with the left end fixed at the dental floss clamping part 11 on the left arm of the dental floss holder; the right end of dental floss 1 6, dental floss 2 7, and dental floss 3 8 forms a dental floss bundle, with the right end fixed at the dental floss clamping part 4 on the right arm of the dental floss holder. In this embodiment, a dental floss bundle 5 consists of three flosses (floss 1, floss 2, floss 7, and floss 3, 8). Since the other parts of the three flosses are not connected, the floss bundle is pressed into the interdental spaces. Regardless of the direction from which it contacts food debris, simply pressing lightly against the surface of the food debris and moving it back and forth will cause the flosses in the middle of the bundle to elastically separate due to the food debris being trapped. This creates a net-like coverage of the food debris, separated in the middle and gathered at both ends, as shown in Figure 3, where floss 1, floss 2, and floss 3, comprising the dental floss bundle 5, are separated.Because this invention retains the up-and-down cleaning function of existing dental floss picks, it is particularly effective when used in combination with horizontal back-and-forth cleaning. First, the floss pick is pressed into the interdental space from top to bottom and comes into contact with food debris. Then, it is gently pressed against the surface of the food debris and moved horizontally back and forth, combined with repeated up-and-down lifting, scraping away the surface layer of food debris layer by layer until the food debris is scraped into a surface of a certain width. At the same time, the floss pick also enters the deeper and wider part of the interdental space from the top of the gap. The floss in the middle section of the floss pick elastically separates due to the food debris trapped inside, thus forming a net-like coverage of the food debris. At this point, pulling the floss pick horizontally back and forth will loosen the food debris, tearing the surface layer apart and pulling it out from the wide gaps on both sides of the lower part of the interdental space. With each layer of cleaning, the floss pick enters deeper and deeper into the interdental space, the gaps become wider and wider, and the net-like coverage becomes wider and wider, resulting in increasingly better cleaning effects from the repeated pulling and scooping motion. When implementing this invention, since the dental floss placed in the floss positioning groove or dental floss positioning card slot is changed from a single strip to two or more strips, the technical parameters of the groove shape of the dental floss positioning groove or dental floss positioning card slot need to be adjusted accordingly based on the actual number and diameter of dental floss. Due to the nature of dental floss, the floss on existing double-floss picks cannot be subjected to excessive tension. Furthermore, the elasticity of the floss itself means that the floss on the pick is not taut but rather somewhat loose. This is a disadvantage for double-floss picks because the excessive looseness means that the force exerted by the two strips on the teeth during cleaning cannot be the same. Therefore, double-floss picks cannot achieve twice the effectiveness of single-floss picks. However, the looseness of the floss becomes an advantage for this invention. Floss 1 (6), floss 2 (7), and floss 3 (8) are not connected to each other, and the looseness means that the floss bundle is easier to separate in the middle section, allowing it to enter and exit the interdental spaces sequentially. This is comparable to the ease with which the two strips of floss are pressed into and pulled out of the interdental spaces in existing double-floss picks.
[0023] In practical applications, the present invention can be further improved by setting two or more bundles of dental floss on the dental floss holder based on the above embodiments. However, these designs are not fundamentally different from the present invention and are all within the scope of protection of the present invention.
Claims
1. A dental floss bundle / floss stick, comprising a dental floss holder, a dental floss clamping part at both ends of the U-shaped opening of the dental floss holder, and dental floss, characterized in that: The dental floss is a floss bundle composed of 2 to 8 flosses, and the two ends of the floss bundle are fixed on the floss clamping portions at the two arm ends of the U-shaped opening of the floss holder. The distance X between the center points of the cross sections of the adjacent flosses at the intersection of the two arm end floss clamping portions and the two ends of the floss bundle is less than or equal to the sum of the radii of the two adjacent flosses D, that is, X≤D.
2. A dental flossing device comprising a floss holder, a U-shaped opening of the floss holder having two arms, each arm having a floss holder end, and a floss, wherein the floss is held by the floss holder end of each arm. The dental floss is a floss bundle composed of 2 to 8 flosses, and the two ends of the floss bundle are fixed on the floss clamping portions at the two arm ends of the U-shaped opening of the floss holder. The distance X between the center points of the cross sections of the adjacent flosses at the intersection of the two arm end floss clamping portions and the two ends of the floss bundle is greater than or equal to the sum of the radii of the two adjacent flosses D to less than or equal to D plus 0.25 mm, that is, D≤X≤(D+0.25) mm.
3. A dental floss bundle / floss stick, comprising a dental floss holder, a dental floss clamping part at both ends of the U-shaped opening of the dental floss holder, and dental floss, characterized in that: The dental floss is a floss bundle composed of 2 to 8 flosses, and the two ends of the floss bundle are fixed on the floss clamping portions at the two arm ends of the U-shaped opening of the floss holder. The distance X between the center points of the cross sections of the adjacent flosses at the intersection of the two arm end floss clamping portions and the two ends of the floss bundle is greater than the sum of the radii of the two adjacent flosses D plus 0.25 mm to less than D plus 0.5 mm, that is, (D+0.25)<X<(D+0.5) mm.
4. A dental flossing device comprising a flosser, a U-shaped opening of the flosser having two arms, each arm having a floss holder, and a floss, wherein the floss is held by the floss holders. The dental floss is a floss bundle composed of 3 to 8 flosses, and the two ends of the floss bundle are fixed on the floss clamping portions at the two arm ends of the U-shaped opening of the floss holder. At least one pair of the connecting lines between the center points of the cross sections of the adjacent flosses at the intersection of the two arm end floss clamping portions and the two ends of the floss bundle forms an included angle, and the distance X between the center points of the cross sections of the adjacent flosses at the intersection of the two arm end floss clamping portions and the two ends of the floss bundle is less than or equal to the sum of the radii of the two adjacent flosses D, that is, X≤D.
5. A dental flossing device comprising a flosser, a U-shaped opening of the flosser having two arms, each arm having a floss holder, and a floss, wherein the floss is held by the floss holders. The dental floss is a floss bundle composed of 3 to 8 flosses, and the two ends of the floss bundle are fixed on the floss clamping portions at the two arm ends of the U-shaped opening of the floss holder. At least one pair of the connecting lines between the center points of the cross sections of the adjacent flosses at the intersection of the two arm end floss clamping portions and the two ends of the floss bundle forms an included angle, and the distance X between the center points of the cross sections of the adjacent flosses at the intersection of the two arm end floss clamping portions and the two ends of the floss bundle is greater than or equal to the sum of the radii of the two adjacent flosses D to less than or equal to D plus 0.25 mm, that is, D≤X≤(D+0.25) mm.
6. A dental flossing device comprising a floss holder, a U-shaped opening in the floss holder, arms of the U-shaped opening having a floss gripping portion at the end of each arm, and a floss, wherein the floss is held by the floss gripping portions of the arms of the U-shaped opening. The dental floss is a floss bundle composed of 3 to 8 flosses, and the two ends of the floss bundle are fixed on the floss clamping portions at the two arm ends of the U-shaped opening of the floss holder. At least one pair of the connecting lines between the center points of the cross sections of the adjacent flosses at the intersection of the two arm end floss clamping portions and the two ends of the floss bundle forms an included angle, and the distance X between the center points of the cross sections of the adjacent flosses at the intersection of the two arm end floss clamping portions and the two ends of the floss bundle is greater than the sum of the radii of the two adjacent flosses D plus 0.25 mm to less than D plus 0.5 mm, that is, (D+0.25)<X<(D+0.5) mm.
7. The process for producing a dental floss pick according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: The manufacturing process comprises the following steps: a plurality of dental flosses are drawn out from the wire drum of the pay-off device by the wire drawing device; the plurality of dental flosses are gathered to the guide wheel to form a loose dental floss bundle and then enter the tension control system; the active wire feeding wheel sends the dental floss bundle to the dental floss stick body two-arm-end dental floss positioning slot position; the pressure mechanism presses the dental floss bundle into the bottom most point of the dental floss positioning slot to form the dental floss bundle which is closed and overlapped; the high-temperature pressing or welding fixes the dental floss bundle in the dental floss clamping part, and the dental floss bundle is formed into a dental floss stick.
8. The process for producing a dental floss pick according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: The manufacturing process comprises the following steps: a plurality of dental flosses are drawn out from the wire drum of the pay-off device by the wire drawing device; the plurality of dental flosses are gathered to the guide wheel to form a loose dental floss bundle and then enter the tension control system; the active wire feeding wheel sends the dental floss bundle to the dental floss stick body two-arm-end dental floss positioning slot position; the pressure mechanism presses the dental floss bundle into the bottom most point of the dental floss positioning slot to form the dental floss bundle which is closed and overlapped; the high-temperature pressing or welding fixes the dental floss bundle in the dental floss clamping part, and the dental floss bundle is formed into a dental floss stick.