Oral Care Implement or Head Plate Therefor and Method of Forming the Same

A method of forming a monolithic head plate for an oral care implement, the head plate comprising a base portion and a plurality of cleaning elements extending from the base portion, the plurality of cleaning elements comprising a body portion and a plurality of micro-sized protuberances extending from the body portion, the method comprising:

• providing a first mold having a first mold cavity, the first mold cavity comprising a first channel section corresponding to the base portion of the head plate, a second channel section comprising a plurality of elongated channels corresponding to the body portions of the plurality of cleaning elements, and a third channel section comprising a plurality of micro-sized channels corresponding to the plurality of micro-sized protuberances of the plurality of cleaning elements, each of the micro-sized channels extending from one of the elongated channels of the second channel section;
• flowing a first material into the first mold cavity until each of the first, second, and third channel sections of the first mold cavity are filled with the first material;
• applying ultrasonic energy to the first material to facilitate flow of the first material into the micro-sized channels of the first mold cavity;
• and
• allowing the first material to harden within the first mold cavity to form the head plate.

An integrally molded head plate for an oral care implement comprising:

• a base portion comprising a first surface and a second surface opposite the first surface;
• a plurality of cleaning elements extending from the first surface of the base portion, each of the cleaning elements comprising a body portion having a length measured from the first surface of the base portion to a distal end of the body portion, the body portion of the cleaning elements having an outer surface;
• a plurality of protuberances extending from the outer surface of the body portion of each of the cleaning elements to a distal end;
• wherein a height of each of the plurality of protuberances measured from the outer surface of the body portion to the distal end of the protuberance is between 0.004 and 0.020 inches;
• and
• wherein a ratio of the length of the body portion of the cleaning elements to the height of the protuberances is in a range of 17.5 to 117.5.