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US 8,474,467 B2Granted
Teeth cleaning apparatus
OwnerEric Leonard Coatesinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Teeth cleaning apparatus comprises a cylindrical cleaning implement. The cleaning implement includes a resilient support shaft and an engagement thread and is drivingly rotatable. The implement is so configured that, when presented between a pair of adjacent teeth, a rotating implement threads itself into the interproximal space and extracts interproximal debris.
Claims15
Teeth cleaning apparatus comprising:
- an interproximal cleaning implement having:
- an elongate resilient support shaft having a fixed and free tip end portion;
- a continuous helical engagement thread formed around the support shaft, the thread being flexible, extending to the free tip end portion of the support shaft, and having a helix angle between 1 and 20 degrees at the free tip end portion, said helix angle being with respect to a plane transverse to a longitudinal axis of the implement;
- and
- a drive interface at one end of the support shaft for connecting the cleaning implement to a rotatable drive shaft,
- wherein, in use, when the tip of the cleaning implement is presented between a pair of adjacent teeth, the helical engagement thread causes the rotating cleaning implement to thread itself into an interproximal space and extracts interproximal debris.
3 more elements
Teeth cleaning apparatus comprising:
- an elongate housing;
- a driving mechanism disposed in the housing;
- and
- an interproximal cleaning implement being, at least partially, laterally supported within the housing, the cleaning implement comprising:
- a resilient support shaft;
- a continuous helical engagement thread formed around the support shaft, the thread being flexible, extending to the free tip end portion of the support shaft, and having a helix angle between 1 and 20 degrees at the free tip end portion, said helix angle being with respect to a plane transverse to a longitudinal axis of the implement;
- and
- a drive interface at one end of the support shaft for connecting the cleaning implement to a rotatable drive shaft,
- wherein the cleaning implement is axially movable between a retracted configuration, wherein the implement is enclosed in the housing, and an operative configuration, wherein the implement extends, at least partially, outside the housing, and
- wherein, in use, when presented between a pair of adjacent teeth, the helical engagement thread causes the rotating cleaning implement to thread itself into an interproximal space and extracts interproximal debris.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.