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EP-4536036-B1 - ELECTROLYSIS DEVICE

EP4536036B1EP 4536036 B1EP4536036 B1EP 4536036B1EP-4536036-B1

Inventors

  • PANDE, Nakul
  • GERHARDT, Lutz, Christian

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20230602

Claims (15)

  1. A personal oral care device (100) for use by a subject in their own home, the oral care device comprising: a control arrangement (102) configured to provide an electrical signal; and a pair of electrodes (104A, 104B) for contacting an aqueous solution, the pair of electrodes being connected to the control arrangement, the electrical signal and the pair of electrodes being configured such that at least one of the electrodes, responsive to said electrical signal, generates hydrogen ions from water in the aqueous solution to deliver within a subject's oral cavity, a variation of the electrical signal controlling said generation of hydrogen ions, wherein the electrical signal is a pulsed electrical signal.
  2. The oral care device (100) according to claim 1, wherein the variation of the electrical signal limits a rate of change of generation of the hydrogen ions and/or promotes hydrogen ion neutralization.
  3. The oral care device (100) according to claim 1 or claim 2, comprising an actuator (112) configured to move in accordance with the electrical signal.
  4. The oral care device (100) according to claim 3, wherein the control arrangement (102) is configured to generate an actuator control signal to control the movement of the actuator (112), the actuator control signal being in phase with the electrical signal, or a phase difference being defined between the actuator control signal and the electrical signal.
  5. The oral care device (100) according to claim 3 or claim 4, comprising at least one cleaning element (114) for mechanically or fluidically cleaning inside the subject's oral cavity, said at least one cleaning element being arranged such that said movement of the actuator respectively causes movement of or fluid delivery from the at least one cleaning element; optionally wherein the at least one cleaning element (114) comprises bristles or a fluid-delivering nozzle for cleaning surfaces inside the subject's oral cavity.
  6. The oral care device (100) according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein said electrical signal comprises a periodic variation in at least one of amplitude, polarity and frequency.
  7. The oral care device (100) according to any of claims 1 to 6, wherein a duty cycle of the pulsed electrical signal is less than or equal to 90%, preferably less than or equal to 50%.
  8. The oral care device (100) according to any of claims 1 to 7, wherein the electrical signal comprises a bidirectional waveform supplied to the electrodes.
  9. The oral care device (100) according to claim 8, wherein a positive peak amplitude (152) of the bidirectional waveform is different from a negative peak amplitude (154) of the bidirectional waveform.
  10. The oral care device (100) according to claim 9, wherein one of the positive and negative peak amplitudes is at least 1.1 times the other of the positive and negative peak amplitudes.
  11. The oral care device (100) according to any of claims 1 to 10, wherein the control arrangement (102) is configured to provide the electrical signal to the pair of electrodes (104A, 104B) for a predetermined time period before terminating the provision of the electrical signal to the pair of electrodes.
  12. The oral care device (100) according to any of claims 1 to 11, wherein the pair of electrodes (104A, 104B) are insertable into the subject's oral cavity, said aqueous solution comprising the subject's saliva and/or one or more oral care agents.
  13. The oral care device (10) according to any of claims 1 to 12, comprising a cleaning unit (132) for inserting into the subject's oral cavity, said cleaning unit having a recess in which one or both of the pair of electrodes (104A, 104B) is or are mounted.
  14. The oral care device (10) according to any of claims 1 to 13, wherein the pair of electrodes are arranged with one of the electrodes defining an outer electrode which at least partially surrounds the other of the electrodes that defines an inner electrode and/or wherein the pair of electrodes are interdigitated.
  15. The oral care device (10) according to any of claims 1 to 14, wherein the personal oral care device is a toothbrush, a mouthpiece or an irrigator.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a device, in particular an oral care device, comprising a pair of electrodes for electrolysing water to generate hydrogen ions. The invention further relates to a method of operating the device. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Build-up of calcified deposits in the body can be problematic. An example of a calcified deposit is dental tartar. Dental tartar, or early dental calculus, is a risk factor for gingivitis and periodontitis. Dental tartar has different calcium phosphate crystal phases which differ in solubility. The poor aqueous solubility of some of the calcium phosphate crystal phases can make the dental tartar difficult to remove. At present, dental tartar tends to be treated/removed only by dental practitioners and oral hygienists using mechanical or ultrasound scalers. It would be desirable to provide further dental tartar treatment/removal options, particularly ones which can be used in a patient's own home. US 2021/307500 A1 discloses an electric toothbrush including a head and a handle that is couplable to the head and configured to supply a driving voltage to the head according to a user's control. The head includes a toothbrush head in which bristles and first and second electrodes spaced apart from each other are disposed. US 2021/330068 A1 discloses an oral cleaning device including a head portion, RF electrodes located on the head portion that in the presence of saliva alone, can generate hydrogen, oxygen, peroxide and ozone. WO 2014/099064 A1 discloses an electrical discharge irrigator device for irrigating tooth canals during root canal procedures. WO 2007/047568 A1 discloses an oral care device for generating a chemical agent in situ on an as-needed basis via application of an electrical potential across a pair of conductors in communication with an electrolyte. A low voltage setting may produce one or more first chemical agents at a low voltage, such as oxygen and hydrogen ions in the presence of an aqueous dentifrice, and a high voltage setting may produce one or more second chemical agents at a high voltage, such as ozone in addition to oxygen and hydrogen ions. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention is defined by the independent claims. The dependent claims define advantageous embodiments. According to the invention there is provided a personal oral care device for use by a subject in their own home, the oral care device comprising: a control arrangement configured to provide an electrical signal; and a pair of electrodes for contacting an aqueous solution, the pair of electrodes being connected to the control arrangement, the electrical signal and the pair of electrodes being configured such that at least one of the electrodes, responsive to said electrical signal, generates hydrogen ions from water in the aqueous solution to deliver within a subject's oral cavity, a variation of the electrical signal controlling said generation of hydrogen ions, wherein the electrical signal is a pulsed electrical signal. The hydrogen ions may assist to lower a local pH proximal to the subject's teeth to assist dissolution of dental tartar. The variation, for example time-variation, of the electrical signal may provide control over the generation of hydrogen ions which contrasts with, for instance, an uncontrolled generation of hydrogen ions via a non-varying voltage across the pair of electrodes provided by a continuously applied direct current source. This may permit the local pH to which the subject's teeth are exposed to be more closely controlled, thereby facilitating at-home use of the oral care device. It is noted that the term "electrical signal" as used herein may refer to a voltage or a current signal. In some embodiments, the variation of the electrical signal limits a rate of change of generation of the hydrogen ions, for example relative to a non-varying voltage, of equivalent magnitude to the electrical signal's peak amplitude, across the pair of electrodes provided by a direct current source. Alternatively or additionally, the variation of the electrical signal may promote hydrogen ion neutralization, for example by the electrical signal comprising or being defined by a bidirectional waveform supplied to the electrodes. The neutralization promotion provided by such a bidirectional waveform will be explained in more detail herein below. In some embodiments, the oral care device comprises an actuator. Such an actuator may, for example, move a cleaning element for cleaning inside the subject's oral cavity. The movement of the actuator, for example causing movement of a brush head and/or controlling a pump of an irrigator included in the oral care device, may thus be provided alongside the hydrogen ion generation, with concomitant tartar removal enhancement. In embodiments in which the oral care device includes the actuator, the actuator may be configured to move in accordance with the electrical signal. The term "move in accordance with the