Oral care mouthpiece connected to larger mass for increased vibration

Abstract

In a device that includes a vibrating mouthpiece, a source of vibratory movement is connected to a relatively large, relatively stationary mass, or anchor, so the equal and opposite vibrational momentum of the handpiece (plus large mass) results in very little vibrational amplitude of the handpiece-plus-mass, while the active mouthpiece has high vibrational amplitude. In an example, a mouthpiece which engages with a part of a dental arch, is actively cleaning, while a block on the other side of the dental arch acts to anchor the vibration source to the much larger mass of the user's jaw (and head). When the user's jaws grip the block, there will be very little vibration of the handpiece or the user's teeth-jaw-head mass and consequently, the mouthpiece will vibrate at a greater amplitude than it would without the anchor. This leads to greater efficiency of the device.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.