Interdental Brush Protective Tip for Gum Safety
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional interdental cleaners with twisted wire bristle holders can cause pain, injury, galvanic shock, and damage to dental implants and bridges due to their sharp points and metal contact, and struggle to clean tight spaces without damaging gingival tissues.
Innovation Solution
An interdental brush with a protective tip featuring a ductile cover that envelops the twisted wire end, providing a dome-shaped and chamfered design with protrusions or centering ribs to prevent tissue damage and guide the brush safely between teeth, while also acting as an insulator to prevent galvanic shock.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If the wire is folded over onto itself to hold bristles tightly, then the bristles are secured firmly in the brush, but a sharp point is created that causes pain, sensitivity, or injury to the user and makes it difficult to insert the brush in tight interdental spaces
Solution Approach 1:
A protective tip is introduced as an intermediary element between the sharp folded wire and the gum tissue. This protective tip is formed by folding back a portion of the wire to create a rounded, non-sharp structure that eliminates the harmful sharp point while still allowing the wire to secure bristles effectively.
Solution Approach 2:
The protective tip is designed with a rounded, curved geometry rather than a sharp point. The wire is folded back and shaped to create a smooth, dome-like protective tip that eliminates angular sharp edges, thereby preventing injury to gum tissue while maintaining structural integrity.
2Strength
If the wire is made of metal to provide structural strength, then the brush body is strong and durable, but galvanic shock occurs when two dissimilar metals contact each other in the mouth
Solution Approach 1:
An insulating coating is applied as an intermediary layer between the metal wire and the mouth environment. This coating prevents direct contact between dissimilar metals (such as the metal wire and amalgam or gold fillings), thereby eliminating galvanic shock while maintaining the structural strength of the metal wire.
Solution Approach 2:
The wire structure combines metal with an insulating coating to create a composite material system. The metal provides structural strength and durability, while the insulating coating prevents galvanic shock, achieving both requirements simultaneously through material composition.
3Strength
If the metal wire is used to hold bristles, then the brush structure is strong, but the wire can scratch the post of dental implants, leaving a rough surface that promotes debris and bacteria buildup
Solution Approach 1:
An insulating coating is applied as an intermediary protective layer between the metal wire and the dental implant post. This coating prevents direct metal-to-post contact, eliminating scratching while maintaining the structural integrity and strength of the wire-based brush structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The surface properties of the wire are modified through insulating coating, changing the material interaction parameters between the wire and implant post. This prevents the metal wire from scratching the post surface while preserving the wire's structural strength for brush construction.
4Productivity
If the wire is used to clean under dental bridges and along the gum-line, then cleaning coverage is improved, but the hard wire causes sensitivity and pain to patients with dental bridges
Solution Approach 1:
An insulating coating is applied as a protective intermediary between the hard metal wire and the sensitive gum tissue. This allows the wire to maintain its structural strength for effective cleaning coverage while the coating prevents direct contact that causes sensitivity and pain.
Solution Approach 2:
The surface hardness and friction characteristics of the wire are modified through insulating coating. This changes the interaction parameters with sensitive gum tissue, reducing pain and sensitivity while preserving the wire's ability to provide comprehensive cleaning coverage.
5Productivity
If the wire is used aggressively to clean between teeth, then cleaning effectiveness is improved, but the bridge wire may pull out of the bracket
Solution Approach 1:
An insulating coating is applied as a protective intermediary between the cleaning wire and the bridge wire. This prevents direct metal-to-metal contact and friction that could cause the bridge wire to pull out of the bracket, while still allowing effective cleaning through the coating's protective layer.
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention relates to an interdental brush (21) comprising: a spine of twisted wire (23); bristles (24) projecting from the spine of the twisted wire; a protective tip (10) at the end of the twisted wire above the said bristles characterized 5 in that the protective tip comprises a ductile cover (11) enveloping the end of the twisted wire, molded and attached to the end of the wire and centered around the end of the wire; the said ductile cover having a plurality of protrusions (12) is dome shaped at the closed end (14) and chamfer shaped at the bristle end (16).