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US 8,539,630 B2Granted
Oral care implement with air flossing system
AssigneeColgate-Palmolive Company
InventorsJohn Gatzemeyer, Eduardo Jimenez, Steve Sorrel, Philip Durocher, Bruce Russell, Thomas Boyd
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An oral care implement with an air flossing system cleans debris from the teeth of a user. The oral care implement may include an oral care region having cleaning elements for engaging oral tissue. A body is provided for gripping the implement. An air source is disposed in the body for proving pressurized air to an air outlet. The air outlet is disposed in the oral care region for injecting the pressurized air to clean debris from the oral tissue.
Claims17
An oral care system comprising:
- an oral care implement comprising:
- an oral care region having cleaning elements for engaging oral tissue;
- a body for gripping the oral care implement;
- a first air reservoir disposed in the body for storing pressurized air;
- a first air outlet operatively connected to the first air reservoir, the first air outlet disposed in the oral care region for injecting pressurized air for cleaning debris from the oral tissue;
- an active agent reservoir disposed in the body for storing an active agent;
- and
- an active agent outlet operatively connected to the active agent reservoir, the active agent outlet disposed in the oral care region for delivering the active agent to the oral tissue, wherein the active agent outlet is isolated from the first air outlet;
- and
- a docking station comprising:
- a second air reservoir for storing pressurized air;
- and
- a compressor operably coupled to the second air reservoir;
- wherein when the oral care implement is coupled to the docking station, the pressurized air stored in the second air reservoir of the docking station flows into the first air reservoir of the oral care implement, wherein the oral care implement comprises a vibratory device for vibrating the cleaning elements and wherein the body of the oral care implement includes a third actuator;
- and wherein actuation of the third actuator changes a mode of operation of the oral care implement between an air floss mode, a vibratory mode, and a combination of air floss/vibratory mode.
12 more elements
An oral care implement, comprising:
- a motion-producing device;
- a body coupled to an oral care region having at least one cleaning element for engaging oral tissue;
- an air outlet disposed in the oral care region for providing an air stream to the oral tissue;
- an air pump operatively connected to the air outlet;
- an elastomeric tooth cleaning element comprising a plurality of arcuate wall segments extending from a surface of the oral care region, each of the arcuate wall segments spaced from adjacent arcuate wall segments by a gap, each of the gaps extending from the surface of the oral care region to distal tips of the arcuate wall segments;
- wherein the elastomeric tooth cleaning element is positioned on the oral care region adjacent the air outlet so that the air stream causes a dynamic vibratory flexing action of the arcuate wall segments of the elastomeric tooth cleaning element;
- and
- the body comprising an actuator, wherein actuation of the actuator changes a mode of operation of the oral care implement between an air floss mode, a cleaning element motion mode, and a combination of air floss/cleaning element motion mode.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.