Edible Animal Chew with Segmented Arms for Dental Cleaning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing animal chews lack control over which teeth are cleaned during use, leading to inefficient dental cleaning due to their elongated geometry, which does not optimally align with the shape of a dog's mouth, resulting in incomplete tooth cleaning and potential overfeeding.
Innovation Solution
The development of an edible animal chew with a body comprising a base portion and spaced apart arms oriented at angles to fit within a dog's mouth, contacting teeth on both sides and the front, allowing for controlled positioning through removable handles or self-positioning features, ensuring maximum tooth contact during chewing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If an elongated geometry chew is used, then the animal can hold it between their paws and get a large number of bites, but the chew does not provide optimal orientation to clean all teeth within the dog's mouth
Solution Approach 1:
The chew is segmented into multiple functional zones including a head region, body region, and tail region, each with different geometries and textures. The head region has a wider geometry for cleaning front teeth, the body region has a narrower geometry for cleaning side teeth, and the tail region has a tapered geometry for final chewing. This segmentation allows different parts of the chew to contact different teeth simultaneously, improving cleaning effectiveness while maintaining multiple bite points.
Solution Approach 2:
The chew transitions from a simple one-dimensional elongated shape to a three-dimensional form with varying cross-sectional geometries along its length. The head region has a wider, more complex geometry that can engage multiple teeth at once, while the body and tail regions have progressively narrower geometries. This dimensional variation allows the chew to contact teeth on both sides and the front of the mouth simultaneously, resolving the contradiction between bite count and cleaning effectiveness.
2Ease of manufacture
If a standardized elongated chew is used, then manufacturing is simple, but the chew does not account for diversity in shape and size of dogs' mouths between breeds
Solution Approach 1:
The chew incorporates different local qualities along its length, with the head region having a wider, more complex geometry and texture for engaging front and side teeth, the body region having a narrower geometry for mid-section teeth contact, and the tail region having a tapered geometry. This local variation in geometry and texture allows a single chew design to adapt to different mouth sizes and shapes across dog breeds while maintaining manufacturing efficiency through a unified molding process.
3Ease of operation
If the chew geometry does not align with the shape of a dog's mouth, then positioning control is lost, but this results in incomplete tooth cleaning and potential overfeeding
Solution Approach 1:
The chew is designed with pre-configured geometry that automatically positions itself optimally in the dog's mouth during placement. The wider head region naturally engages the front teeth first, while the body and tail regions engage side teeth, creating a self-positioning effect that eliminates the need for owner manipulation. This preliminary geometric configuration ensures complete tooth contact from the first bite, preventing overfeeding while maintaining ease of operation.
Data Source
AI summary
Edible animal chews (100, 800, 900) are provided. The chews (100, 800, 900) are configured to fit within, and to contact front teeth, as well as teeth on both sides of, a dog's mouth. The chews (100, 800, 900) may be provided with self-positioning features, or may be provided with features for use by the animal's owner for positioning the chew (1000, 100, 1102, 1202, 1302, 1402, 1500, 1600, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 850, 900) within the animal's mouth. Methods of cleaning the teeth of an animal are also provided and comprise positioning the chew (1000, 100, 1102, 1202, 1302, 1402, 1500, 1600, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 850, 900) within the mouth of an animal, removing any reusable positioning feature, and allowing the animal to consume the chew (1000, 100, 1102, 1202, 1302, 1402, 1500, 1600, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 850, 900), wherein the consumption of the chew (1000, 100, 1102, 1202, 1302, 1402, 1500, 1600, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 850, 900) cleans the animal's teeth.