Oral Hygiene Display Feedback for Brushing Compliance

Solution Overview

Problem

Compliance with proper oral hygiene regimens, including brushing and flossing, is particularly poor among children and adolescents, leading to issues such as tooth decay and gum disease, despite the importance of removing plaque through effective brushing techniques.

Innovation Solution

An oral hygiene system that includes a device with sensors and a display, using processors to track brushing compliance by overlaying indicia on a representation of teeth, removing the indicium when the device is positioned correctly and for a sufficient time, providing feedback through a display device.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If traditional oral hygiene education and manual brushing are used, then users can perform brushing activities, but compliance is poor and brushing efficacy is insufficient

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecompliance with oral hygiene regimenVSAvoiddifficulty of maintaining proper brushing technique

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The system provides real-time visual feedback through a display device showing a representation of teeth with indicia indicating which sections need brushing. The feedback loop continues by removing indicia when brushing is detected, guiding users to maintain proper technique and ensuring complete coverage of all tooth surfaces.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

Solution Approach 2:

The patent replaces manual self-monitoring of brushing technique with an automated sensor system that uses sensors, processors, and display devices to detect and guide brushing actions, substituting mechanical human judgment with electronic detection and guidance systems.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

2Duration of action of moving object

If brushing time is extended, then more teeth surfaces may be covered, but users still miss specific areas due to poor technique

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvebrushing durationVSAvoidcoverage accuracy of tooth surfaces

Core Design Contradiction:

Duration of action of moving objectVSManufacturing precision

Solution Approach 1:

The system provides real-time visual feedback through a display device showing a representation of teeth with indicia indicating which sections need brushing. The feedback loop continues by removing indicia when brushing is detected, guiding users to maintain proper technique and ensuring complete coverage of all tooth surfaces.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

Solution Approach 2:

The system pre-maps the tooth surfaces and prepares a visual guide showing which areas need attention before brushing begins. This preliminary action allows users to know exactly what areas to target, improving coverage accuracy from the start of brushing.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

3Reliability

If visual guidance systems are added to monitor brushing, then brushing efficacy improves, but system complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvebrushing efficacyVSAvoidcomplexity of monitoring system

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces manual self-monitoring of brushing technique with an automated sensor system that uses sensors, processors, and display devices to detect and guide brushing actions, substituting mechanical human judgment with electronic detection and guidance systems.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Solution Approach 2:

The system creates a visual copy or representation of the user's actual teeth on the display device, allowing users to see a mapped model of their tooth surfaces with indicia indicating brushing needs, rather than requiring direct complex monitoring of the physical brushing process.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #26Copying

Data Source

PatentUS12349784B2Oral hygiene systems and methods

Publication Date: 2025.07.08 COLGATE PALMOLIVE CO

AI summary

A method for promoting compliance with an oral hygiene regimen includes displaying, on a display device, a representation of at least a portion of a set of teeth of a user. The method also includes overlaying an indicium on the representation such that the indicium is associated with a first section of the representation. Responsive to a determination, via at least one of one or more processors, that a head of an oral hygiene device is positioned directly adjacent to a first section of the set of teeth that corresponds to the first section of the representation for at least a predetermined amount of time, the indicium is removed from the display device.