Toothbrush suction apparatus and method

A suction toothbrush device comprising:

• a toothbrush including a toothbrush body with a toothbrush head, a toothbrush neck, and a toothbrush handle;
• a housing configured to couple to the toothbrush body, the housing including:
• a suction head portion sized to extend around sides and along a back of the toothbrush head, and be spaced from the sides and back of the toothbrush head by a gap;
• and
• a neck portion configured to snap-fit to the toothbrush neck so that the suction head portion extends around the sides and along the back of the toothbrush head;
• a vacuum pump coupled to the toothbrush body;
• a collection reservoir coupled to the toothbrush body;
• one or more conduits coupling the vacuum pump, the suction head portion, and the collection reservoir to apply a suction around the toothbrush head through the gap and deposit a suctioned material in the collection reservoir;
• and
• a one-way valve configured to prevent back flow of the suctioned material from the collection reservoir;
• wherein the one or more conduits include a vacuum tube fluidly coupling the vacuum pump to the collection reservoir and a waste tube fluidly coupling the suction head portion to the collection reservoir;
• and
• wherein the one-way valve comprises at least one of:
• the waste tube extending to a position adjacent a bottom wall of the collection reservoir and the vacuum tube extending to an intermediate position within the collection reservoir;
• or the vacuum and waste tubes flexibly coupling the collection reservoir to the toothbrush such that the collection reservoir hangs in an upright configuration.