Oral hygiene device having plaque collection and quantification capabilities
AssigneesClifford A. Yudelman, Gillian C. Yudelman
InventorClifford A. Yudelman
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A dual-use tongue scraper is described, which can be used for routine oral hygiene maintenance and also research collection, quantification and analysis of plaque deposited on a subject's tongue. The scraper includes structure such as protuberances, apertures and porous bodies which collect plaque as it is scraped from a subject's tongue. In some embodiments such structure also arrays the plaque in a manner for visual quantification. The plaque may also be removed from the device for direct measurement and analysis. The method of the device's use for collection, quantification and analysis of plaque, as well as the method of its use for application of compositions to a subject's tongue, are also described.
Claims33
An oral hygiene device for scraping a human user's tongue within said user's mouth, comprising:
- a handle having two opposite ends;
- an elongated scraping blade having two ends and being attached at one of said ends to one of said handle ends;
- a combination of said handle and said scraping blade having sufficient length to be inserted into said user's mouth and extend from a point exteriorly of said user's mouth to the posterior dorsal surface of said user's tongue;
- and
- plaque collection means adjacent the end of said scraping blade distal from said handle attachment, said plaque collection means being configured to receive and retain plaque dislodged from said user's tongue during operation of said device, and to permit removal of retained plaque for inspection or analysis;
- such that as said user's tongue is scraped with said device the plaque removed from said tongue is collected and retained.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.