Short Wavelength Visible Light-Emitting Toothbrush With An Electronic Signal Interlock Control

A light emitting oral care instrument comprising:

• a battery and a light source with a wavelength in the range of about 400 nm to about 500 nm, electronics coupled to the battery and the light source to supply electricity from the battery to the source at current and voltage that causes the light source to emit light, the device including a handle and a distal end;
• at least a portion of the instrument being equipped with one or more sensors to determine whenever the distal end is outside the environment of the mouth and permits activation of the source of light only when the one or more sensors detect that the distal end of the device has been placed in the mouth, and a ramp-up sequence adapted to modify the power of the light source before it reaches full power.

The toothbrush as claimed in claim 108, wherein the beam-steering component is a lens.

A light emitting oral care instrument comprising:

• a battery and a therapeutic light source with a wavelength in the range of about 400 nm to about 500 nm, electronics coupled to the battery and source of light to supply electricity from the battery to the source at current and voltage that causes the light source to emit light, the device including a handle and a distal end;
• at least a portion of the instrument being equipped with electronics and with one or more sensors used to determine whenever the distal end is outside the environment of the mouth and permits activation of the source of light only when the one or more sensors detect that distal end of the device has been placed in the mouth and generates and stores data about the light therapy events and is wirelessly connected to an external computing device to store therapeutic data about the user's light therapy.