US-12622772-B2 - Mouthpiece for a dental cleaning device, method of brushing teeth, and dental cleaning device comprising the mouthpiece

Abstract

A mouthpiece for a dental cleaning device comprises a supporting structure configured to encompass a plurality of teeth of a dental arch. The supporting structure has an inner surface facing a tooth surface. At least one brushing chamber is provided at the inner surface side. The brushing chamber comprises a flexible wall part being deformable by pressurizing or depressurizing the brushing chamber. Bristles extend externally from the flexible wall part. In a method of brushing teeth, a plurality of teeth is encompassed by the mouthpiece, and the at least one brushing chamber is alternatingly pressurized and depressurized.

Inventors

• Joppe Gideon VAN DIJK

Assignees

• DENTAL ROBOTICS GROUP B.V.

Dates

Publication Date

20260512

Application Date

20211027

Priority Date

20170426

Claims (2)

1. 1 . A mouthpiece for brushing teeth, the mouthpiece comprising: a support structure configured to receive a plurality of teeth of a dental arch, the support structure comprising a first inner surface facing the plurality of teeth; a first positioning chamber located between the first brushing chamber and the first inner surface of the support structure, coupled to the first inner surface of the support structure, configured to pressurized and depressurized; a first brushing chamber coupled to the first positioning chamber, the first brushing chamber comprising a flexible wall part, the flexible wall part having an outer side opposite the first inner surface of the support structure; and a plurality of bristles extending from the outer side of the flexible wall part of the first brushing chamber; wherein the flexible wall part of the first brushing chamber is configured to be deformed by alternately pressurizing and depressurizing a fluid in the first brushing chamber.
2. 2 . The mouthpiece of claim 1 wherein: the support structure comprises a first side part, a second side part, and an intermediate part connecting the first and second side parts, the first side part comprising the first inner surface and the second side part comprising a second inner surface; a second positioning chamber is coupled to the second inner surface of the support structure; a second brushing chamber is coupled to the first positioning chamber, the second brushing chamber comprising a flexible wall part, the flexible wall part having an outer side opposite the second inner surface of the support structure; a second plurality of bristles extending from the outer side of the flexible wall part of the second brushing chamber; and the flexible wall part of the second brushing chamber is configured to be deformed by alternately pressurizing and depressurizing a fluid in the first brushing chamber.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/608,164, filed on Oct. 24, 2019, which is a U.S. national stage application under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of PCT Application No. PCT/NL2018/050276, filed on Apr. 26, 2018, which claims priority to Netherlands Patent Application No. 2018786, filed on Apr. 26, 2017, the entireties of which are incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to the field of dental cleaning devices, in particular to a mouthpiece for a dental cleaning device. The invention further relates to a method of brushing teeth. The invention further relates to a dental cleaning device comprising the mouthpiece of the invention. The mouthpiece may be configured to brush a number of, or all teeth of a human or animal mouth at the same time. Cleaning of teeth of humans and animals is a prerequisite for oral health, and health of internal organs. Various dental cleaning devices are available, such as manual and powered toothbrushes. With these typical toothbrushes, it is advised to brush the teeth by a prescribed method for at least two minutes per day to effectively remove plaque. Yet, an average person does not spend all of the prescribed time cleaning his or her teeth, and does not always brush according to an effective method. Additionally, for elderly or disabled persons or children it can be difficult to brush the teeth with a toothbrush, since typical toothbrushes require precise positioning of the brush bristles on various surfaces of the teeth. Additionally, persons may exert too much pressure on brush bristles during brushing the teeth, whereby not only the bristles wear rapidly and excessively, but also the brushing process is not effective, teeth may be damaged, and tooth gum may withdraw which has adverse consequences for the dental health. There is a need to automatically clean the teeth, whereby the time and effort required for effective brushing is reduced. In addition, there is a need to avoid carefully manoeuvring the brush. Dental cleaning devices are known comprising mouthpieces which cover both the maxillary dental arch and the mandibular dental arch. Such a mouthpiece comprises brushing surfaces with bristles, which are automatically moved, to clean the complete set of teeth. The mouthpiece and the brushing surfaces of the known dental cleaning devices require adjustment to fit closely to the shape of a user's dental arch. The mouthpiece should be able to clean every tooth surface. However, dental arches vary greatly among different users due to varying sizes of the dental arch, malocclusion, missing teeth, and the like. So, there is a need for a dental cleaning device with an adjustable mouthpiece. Reference US 2010/0062397 A1 discloses an electric dental cleaning device with a mouthpiece. This known mouthpiece has an upper part for cleaning the maxillary/upper arch of the teeth and a lower part for cleaning the mandibular/lower arch of the teeth. Both the upper part and the lower part of this known mouthpiece each have a brush pad, which brush pads each have a U-shaped cross section and bristles on the inside of the U-shape. These two brush pads are positioned with the bottoms of the U-shape of the pads facing towards each other and the legs of the U of the upper brush pad pointing in an upward direction opposite to the legs of the U-shape of the lower brush pad, which point in downward direction. The brush-pads comprise rigid brush plates on the outside of the U-shape. These U-shaped brush pads are driven up and down relative to the free ends/tops of the teeth in the direction of the legs of the U shape. In some embodiments, a bladder may be positioned between the maxillary/upper arch and mandibular/lower arch of the mouthpiece, and alternating or oscillating pneumatic pressure and suction may be applied to the bladder to move upper and lower bottom brush plates, which in turn causes an up and down movement of the U-shaped brush pads, thereby brushing the teeth. In one embodiment of the mouthpiece according to the reference US 2010/0062397 A1, the mouthpiece is adjustable in that side brush plates are positioned against the lingual and facial side of teeth by the use of flexible fingers and/or bladders which are configured to exert a static pressure to cause the tips of the bristles of the brush plates to engage the lingual and facial side of the teeth whilst moving up and down, transverse to the direction of the static pressure, along the lingual and facial side of the teeth in a direction. In US 2010/0062397 A1 the brushing movement is only a 1-D-movement (one dimensional movement) as the U-shaped brush pads are only moved towards and away from each other. The mouthpiece according to US 2010/0062397 A1 has a drawback of a limited brushing action, since the bristles on the brush pads have a limited capability to reach all surfaces of the teeth since they are mounted on