Ridged Dental Floss Structure for Variable Tooth Spacing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional dental floss fails to effectively accommodate the space and size differences between individuals' teeth, and is difficult to package efficiently and cost-effectively.
Innovation Solution
A ridged dental floss design with varying sections of elastic polymeric ridges of different diameters, each section having progressively larger ridges to adapt to diverse tooth spacings, packaged in a container with demarcation lines for easy segment removal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If conventional floss is used, then it is simple and easy to manufacture, but it fails to accommodate space and size differences among individuals' teeth
Solution Approach 1:
The floss is divided into multiple sections, each with ridges of different diameters (first section with smaller ridges, second section with medium ridges, third section with larger ridges). This segmentation allows different portions of the floss to accommodate different interproximal spaces, providing adaptability without requiring completely different floss products for each tooth type.
Solution Approach 2:
Different sections of the floss have locally optimized ridge diameters tailored to specific needs. The first section has smaller ridges for tighter spaces, the second section has medium ridges for average spaces, and the third section has larger ridges for wider spaces. This local differentiation enables the single floss to adapt to various tooth configurations along its length.
2Adaptability or versatility
If spaced spherical protuberances are added to increase cleaning ability and holdability, then cleaning effectiveness improves, but packaging becomes difficult and impracticable
Solution Approach 1:
The invention uses spherical ridges formed by swaging spherical objects (such as marbles or glass beads) against the floss string. These spherical protrusions provide effective cleaning action and improved holdability while maintaining a compact form factor that allows efficient packaging in conventional dental floss containers, unlike larger spaced spherical protuberances.
Solution Approach 2:
The diameter of the spherical ridges is controlled to be within a specific range (0.05-0.50 mm for first section, 0.63-1.13 mm for second section, 1.25-1.75 mm for third section). This parameter optimization ensures the ridges are small enough for effective packaging while large enough to provide cleaning effectiveness and user holdability.
3Adaptability or versatility
If tightly spaced spherical ridges of varying diameters are created, then adaptability to diverse tooth spacings improves, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Spherical objects (marbles or glass beads) of different diameters are prepared in advance and sequentially swaged onto the floss string to create the ridged sections. This preliminary preparation and sequential application simplifies the manufacturing process compared to attempting to form complex ridge patterns in a single step, while still achieving the desired varying ridge diameters for different tooth spacings.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The ridged dental floss efficiently cleans teeth with varying spacings, is cost-effective, and practical for packaging, providing versatility and ease of use.
Implementation Method 1
a first section along the string length with a tightly spaced series of spherical ridges each of an elastic polymeric material and directly coupled to opposing sides of the dental floss string
Data Source
AI summary
A ridged dental floss that includes a flexible dental floss string of a polymeric material that includes multiple sections of ridges, wherein a first section includes a tightly spaced series of spherical ridges each of an elastic polymeric material and directly coupled to opposing sides of the dental floss string to define a diameter and a second section adjacent to the first section includes a tightly spaced series of spherical ridges each of an elastic polymeric material and directly coupled to opposing sides of the dental floss string to define a diameter, wherein the diameters of each of the tightly spaced series of spherical ridges in the second section are greater than the diameters of each of the tightly spaced series of spherical ridges in the first section.