Dental Flossing Handles with Adjustable Length and Seamless Tips
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing dental flossing devices are inefficient, unhygienic, and difficult to use, particularly for users with dexterity challenges or large hands, due to unpredictable spooling mechanisms, seams that harbor bacteria, and fixed floss lengths.
Innovation Solution
A dental flossing device with interchangeable handles, an actuator button for precise floss length control, a solid unibody tip to prevent bacterial growth, and ergonomic design for easy gripping, allowing variable floss length and C-shape adaptation for better interproximal cleaning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a spooling mechanism is used to dispense dental floss, then floss can be dispensed from the device, but the finger pressure or friction required makes the mechanism less predictable and less accurate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the manual spooling mechanism requiring finger pressure with a motor-driven spooling system. The motor provides consistent, controlled rotational force to dispense and retrieve floss, eliminating the unpredictability of manual friction-based operation and enabling precise length control through electronic actuation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an actuator button that controls the motor to dispense a predetermined length of floss. By changing the operational parameter from continuous manual cranking to discrete button-actuated motor control, the system achieves both ease of operation (single button press) and measurement precision (predetermined length delivery).
2Ease of manufacture
If plastic seams extend into the tip of the device, then the device structure is formed, but these seams create potential locations for bacterial growth
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the problematic plastic seams from the tip area by redesigning the floss dispensing mechanism. Instead of having seams extend into the tip, the invention uses a smooth-bore tube or channel that provides a seamless passage for floss, eliminating the crevices where bacteria could accumulate while maintaining structural integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a seamless, homogeneous material construction for the tip and floss passage. By using a uniform material without seams or joints in the critical tip area, the design eliminates heterogeneity that creates bacterial harbors, while the homogeneous structure remains easy to manufacture as a single molded piece.
Data Source
AI summary
A dental flossing device for cleaning the teeth of a user is provided. The dental flossing device includes a pair of handles interconnected together by floss. Each handle includes a top body and a bottom body. The bottom body includes a tip and a dispensing hole to allow dental floss to be dispensed. A depressible actuator button is disposed at the top of the top body to wind and unwind/release a predetermined length of floss. The top body and the bottom body are removably connected to define a cavity. A floss spool, a spool rest, and a spring are positioned inside the cavity. The dental flossing device allows the user to vary the length of floss between two handles, allowing for a better flossing technique. Further, the solid single-structure tip of the dental flossing device is hygienic and without any seams, thus helping to avoid potential bacteria traps.