Orthodontic retainer cleaning case
AssigneeMary Julia Prewitt
InventorMary Julia Prewitt
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A lidded plastic container has a plunger in the lid which pushes dental appliances down into a cleaning solution. The container includes vent holes in its lid to allow gas-evolving cleaning agents to vent without building up pressure inside the container and to drain the fluid from the container.
Claims20
A cleaning container for holding a retainer or a retainer tray which floats in a liquid under the surface of the liquid, the cleaning container comprising:
- a base adapted to hold the liquid and having a bottom and sides;
- a lid adapted to close against the base and having a top, an underside, and a vent;
- a hinge attaching the lid to the base;
- a vent closure component;
- wherein the base and the lid fit together to seal the container, wherein the vent includes a plurality of curved slots arranged in a circular configuration and the vent closure component is inserted into the curved slots and is operable to rotate to open and close the curved slots;
- a plunger with a disc and a stem, wherein the plunger is immovably affixed to the underside of the lid by the stem, and wherein the disc is slotted to facilitate downward and upward movement of the disc through the liquid and the disc is concave downward so as to prevent the retainer or the retainer tray from slipping off the disc when the inverted container is opened;
- the disc adapted to hold the retainer or the retainer tray below the surface of the liquid by physically contacting the retainer or the retainer tray from above.
A cleaning container for holding and cleaning a buoyant dental or orthodontic device, the container comprising:
- a base adapted to hold the liquid and having a bottom and sides;
- a lid adapted to close against the base and having a top, an underside, and a vent;
- a hinge attaching the lid to the base;
- a vent closure component;
- a plunger with a disc and a stem, wherein the plunger is affixed to the underside of the lid by the stem, wherein the disc is adapted to hold the buoyant dental or orthodontic device below the surface of the liquid by physically contacting the buoyant dental or orthodontic device from above;
- wherein the vent includes a plurality of curved slots arranged in a circular configuration, and the vent closure component includes a slot that allows the vent closure component to be slipped around the stem of the plunger, wherein rotation of the vent closure component around the stem of the plunger is operable to open and close the curved slots;
- wherein the disc is concave downward so as to prevent the retainer or retainer tray from slipping off the disc when the cleaning container is inverted and opened;
- and
- a sonicator, wherein the sonicator is configured to receive the base and the sonicator is operable to emit ultrasonic waves which agitate particulates on the buoyant dental or orthodontic device.
A cleaning container for holding a buoyant retainer or a buoyant retainer tray under the surface of a cleaning solution, comprising:
- a base with a bottom and sides, the base adapted to hold the cleaning solution;
- a lid adapted to close against the base and having a top, an underside, and vent holes;
- and
- a hinge attaching the lid to the base;
- a vent closure component for closing the vent holes, wherein the vent closure component includes handles that fit through the vent holes in the lid to provide external handles for rotating the vent closure component to different positions;
- a plunger with a disc and a stem, wherein the plunger is affixed to the underside of the lid by the stem;
- and
- wherein the disc is concave downward so as to prevent the retainer or retainer tray from slipping off the disc when the cleaning container is inverted and opened.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.