Tooth brushing device and method

Claim 1

A straddle-type tooth brushing device comprising: means including a pair of elongated arms having tooth brushing means on the distal end portions thereof forming a head for straddling about a row of teeth to be cleaned, elongated support means including a handle for supporting the head adjacent the row of teeth, and biasing means acting on the distal end portions of the arms from within the head to yieldably bias the tooth brushing means into engagement with the inside and outside faces of the teeth when the head is straddled about the row thereof, said support means having a distal end, said arms having longitudinal axes and being rigidly interconnected with the support means at the distal end thereof so as to form relatively rigid longitudinal extensions of the support means which project from the distal end of the support means in generally spaced parallel relationship to one another, and have an elongated slot in the space therebetween which is coextensive with the arms and opens to the outside of the device between the distal end of the support means and the distal end portions of the arms in a central plane of the slot extending between the longitudinal axes of the arms generally parallel thereto, the distal end portions of the arms having generally laterally inwardly directed surfaces thereon which are relatively opposed to one another across the central plane of the slot, extend in planes generally parallel to the longitudinal axes of the arms, and have relatively upper, lower and forward edges formed thereabout at the peripheries thereof, which are disposed relatively remote from, and adjacent to the gum lines of the respective row of teeth being brushed, and forwardly of the surface, respectively, when in an operational mode of the device, the head is straddled about the row of teeth so that the central plane of the slot is aligned with the row of teeth, the arms are generally parallel to the row, and the surfaces of the distal end portions of the arms are generally opposed to the inside and outside faces of the teeth in the row, the tooth brushing means comprising a pair of brush forming members which are supported on the distal end portions of the arms at the surfaces thereof to oppose one another across the central plane of the slot and engage the faces of the teeth when the head of the device is straddled abut the row of teeth in the operational mode of the device, the brush forming members comprising skirts of plastic resin material which are secured to the distal end portions of the arms so as to overlie the surfaces thereof, and have oppositely disposed fields of birstle thereon, the bristles of which are formed by strands of the plastic resin material that upstand monolithically on the skirts and are so individually spaced apart from one another on the skirts as to be individually laterally deflectable in relation to one another, yet collectively operable to form brushes for the faces of the teeth, the arms being constructed of a stiff but resiliently flexible material terminating at the relatively upper, lower and forward peripheral edges of the relatively laterally inwardly directed surfaces of the distal end portions of the arms, so that the respective arms are independent of one another transverse the central plane of the slot, and the distal end portions of the arms being so closely spaced apart from one another at the relatively laterally inwardly directed surfaces thereof, and so yieldably biased relatively toward one another by the biasing means, transverse the central plane of the slot in the relaxed state of the arms, that the user must forcibly wedge the teeth between the brush forming members when inserting the teeth between the surfaces of the distal end portions of the arms to straddle the head about the row of teeth in the operational mode of the device.