Movable Cleaning Element Actuator for Interdental Cleaning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current toothbrush designs lack an effective mechanism to enhance interdental cleaning while maintaining aesthetic appeal and ensuring the removal of bacteria from teeth surfaces.
Innovation Solution
An oral care implement with a movable cleaning element coupled to an actuator, allowing the element to adjust between two positions, enabling deeper cleaning between teeth by altering its distance from the toothbrush head's surface, thereby enhancing interdental cleaning without compromising the standard cleaning function.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a movable cleaning element is added to enable interdental cleaning, then oral hygiene effectiveness is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The movable cleaning element is positioned within a loop formed by fixed cleaning elements on the toothbrush head. This nesting arrangement allows the interdental cleaner to be integrated into the existing brush structure without adding significant external complexity, while still providing the additional function of cleaning between teeth.
Solution Approach 2:
The cleaning element is designed to be movable rather than fixed, allowing it to extend between teeth for interdental cleaning and retract for standard tooth brushing. This dynamic capability enables the device to perform multiple functions (standard brushing and interdental cleaning) without requiring separate devices, thereby improving oral hygiene effectiveness while managing device complexity through a single integrated mechanism.
2Reliability
If the movable cleaning element extends further from the head, then interdental cleaning capability is improved, but aesthetic appeal deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The cleaning element dynamically adjusts its position, extending further from the head only when needed for interdental cleaning and retracting to a streamlined position during standard brushing. This dynamic positioning allows the device to achieve superior interdental cleaning capability when required while maintaining a more aesthetically pleasing, compact appearance during normal use and storage.
Data Source
Figure 1
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Figure 3A~3B
AI summary
An oral care implement having a handle, a head, and at least one movable cleaning element coupled to the head. The movable cleaning element may be used as an interdental cleaner. The movable cleaning element may be positioned within a loop formed by fixed cleaning elements on the head. The movable cleaning element may be coupled to an actuator that moves the movable cleaning element between a first position wherein a distal tip of the movable cleaning element is spaced a first distance from a front surface of the head and a second position wherein the distal tip of the movable cleaning element is spaced a second distance from the front surface of the head, the second distance being greater than the first distance. The movable cleaning element may maintain the first and second positions until subsequent actuation of the actuator.