Angled Interdental Bristles for Low-Resistance Plaque Scraping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing interdental cleaning tools face increased resistance during insertion and withdrawal due to larger protruding portions or higher rigidity, compromising their effectiveness in scraping out deposits from interdental spaces.
Innovation Solution
The interdental cleaning tool features bristles that tilt either towards the top end or base end, reducing resistance during insertion or withdrawal respectively, while maintaining high scraping capabilities, and is made of a composite material for added rigidity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If protruding portions are made larger or given higher rigidity to enhance scraping capability, then the capability of scraping out deposits is improved, but the resistance during insertion and withdrawal increases
Solution Approach 1:
The bristles are designed with asymmetric tilt orientations - some tilting toward the top end and others toward the base end. This asymmetric configuration allows different bristles to engage deposits during insertion and withdrawal respectively, maintaining scraping capability while reducing resistance through optimized contact geometry
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the cleaning portion have bristles with different tilt directions tailored to their specific functional requirements. Top end-oriented bristles optimize for insertion-phase cleaning while base end-oriented bristles optimize for withdrawal-phase cleaning, creating localized functional zones that address the contradiction regionally
2Strength
If protruding portions are made larger to enhance scraping capability, then the capability of scraping out deposits is improved, but the resistance during insertion increases
Solution Approach 1:
The asymmetric tilt of bristles creates a geometric configuration where the leading edge during insertion presents a smaller effective profile, reducing insertion resistance while the bristle tips maintain sufficient length and rigidity to effectively engage and scrape deposits from tooth surfaces
3Strength
If protruding portions are made larger to enhance scraping capability, then the capability of scraping out deposits is improved, but the resistance during withdrawal increases
Solution Approach 1:
During withdrawal, bristles tilted toward the base end present their smaller profile to the direction of motion, reducing resistance. Meanwhile, bristles tilted toward the top end continue to engage deposits on the withdrawal path, maintaining cleaning effectiveness without compromising ease of removal
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is an interdental cleaning tool that can reduce at least one of a resistance against insertion in an interdental space and a resistance against withdrawal from an interdental space, and has a high capability of scraping out deposit from an interdental space. The interdental cleaning tool includes a base portion including a shaft portion (20) and a cleaning portion (40). The cleaning portion (40) includes a cleaning portion body (50) and a plurality of bristles (60). The plurality of bristles (60) include at least one of a type of top end-oriented bristles and a type of base end-oriented bristles. The top end-oriented bristle has a shape titling to a top end side of the shaft portion (20) as advancing away from an outer circumferential surface of the cleaning portion body (50). The base end-oriented bristle has a shape tilting to a base end side of the shall portion (20) as advancing away from the outer circumferential surface of the cleaning portion body (50).