Electric Toothbrush and Method for Operating an Electric Toothbrush

    公开(公告)号:US20210068934A1

    公开(公告)日:2021-03-11

    申请号:US16949926

    申请日:2020-11-20

    IPC分类号: A61C17/22 A61B5/00 A61C17/34

    摘要: An electric toothbrush that detects plaque on the teeth, ensures accurate plaque detection, and performs cleaning of plaque. The electric toothbrush may include a body having a gripping part and a stem with a brush unit detachably coupled to the body. The electric toothbrush may include a light emitting element for emitting light onto the tooth and a light receiving element for receiving light that reflects off of the tooth. A controller may be included to determine an amount of plaque on the tooth based on the amount of reflected light detected. The electric toothbrush may also include a fluid dispensing system that dispenses fluid based on the amount of reflected light detected. In some aspects, the electric toothbrush may operate in multiple oscillation modes, and it may only dispense fluid in some of the modes but not all of the modes.

    Electric toothbrush, brush unit, and method for operating an electric toothbrush

    公开(公告)号:US10765323B2

    公开(公告)日:2020-09-08

    申请号:US15735335

    申请日:2016-06-09

    摘要: In one embodiment, the invention can be an electric toothbrush including a trajectory detecting module configured to detect a trajectory of movement of a brush, the trajectory including a plurality of positions; an attitude detecting module configured to detect an attitude of the brush; a site estimating module configured to estimate a brushing site for each of the plurality of positions of the trajectory, each estimated brushing site being based on the trajectory detected by the trajectory detecting module; and a back most tooth detecting module configured to detect a back most tooth based on a change of the attitude detected by the attitude detecting module; wherein the site estimating module is further configured to correct the estimated brushing site for each of the plurality of positions of the trajectory based on the estimated site of the detected back most tooth.

    Plaque detecting device and toothbrush

    公开(公告)号:US10743649B2

    公开(公告)日:2020-08-18

    申请号:US16087938

    申请日:2017-03-15

    IPC分类号: A46B15/00 A61B5/00

    摘要: The plaque detecting device of the present invention comprises a light emitting unit (450) which irradiates ultraviolet or blue excitation light (L) toward the tooth surface (99a), and a first and second light receiving units (402) which receive radiated light (L′) from the tooth surface (99a). The first light receiving unit extracts the spectral component of a first wavelength region including the wavelength range of fluorescent light specific to plaque from the radiated light (L′), and obtains a first output value corresponding to the intensity of that spectral component. The second light receiving unit extracts, from the radiated light (L′), the spectral component of a second wavelength region containing the wavelength range of the fluorescent light specific to enamel and having a predetermined lower limit wavelength below the lower limit wavelength of the first wavelength region, and obtains a second output value corresponding to the intensity of this spectral component. Determination of the relative magnitude of the ratio between the first output value and the second output value as compared to a first threshold value is performed. Determination of the relative magnitude of the difference between the first output value and the second output value as compared to a second threshold value is performed.

    Oral Care Implement Body and Replacement Head Therefor

    公开(公告)号:US20210121276A1

    公开(公告)日:2021-04-29

    申请号:US17247964

    申请日:2021-01-04

    摘要: An oral care implement body to which a replacement head can be detachably coupled. In one embodiment, the oral care implement body includes a gripping portion having a shoulder, a stem extending from the shoulder along a longitudinal axis, and a boss protruding from an outer surface of the stem. The boss may have a locking rib section having an undercut surface that is axially spaced from the shoulder and a positioning rib section extending from the locking rib section to the shoulder. The undercut surface may circumferentially protrude from a first side surface of the positioning rib section. The locking rib section may extend along a first rib axis and the positioning rib section may extend along a second rib axis, the first rib axis oriented obliquely to the second rib axis.

    Electric toothbrush device and method

    公开(公告)号:US10779924B2

    公开(公告)日:2020-09-22

    申请号:US16358859

    申请日:2019-03-20

    IPC分类号: A61C17/22 A61C17/34

    摘要: In one embodiment, the invention can be an electric toothbrush. The electric toothbrush may include a driving module configured to oscillate a brush unit; an acceleration sensor configured to generate an output signal; a signal extraction module configured to extract from the output signal (a) a first signal having a frequency at a first threshold or higher and (b) a second signal having a frequency at a second threshold or lower; a brushing site estimation module configured to estimate a brushing site of the brush unit based on the output signal of the acceleration sensor; and a correction module configured to correct the brushing site estimated by the brushing site estimation module based on an amplitude of the first signal and an amplitude of the second signal.

    Electric toothbrush device and method

    公开(公告)号:US10271933B2

    公开(公告)日:2019-04-30

    申请号:US15735414

    申请日:2016-06-09

    IPC分类号: A61C17/22 A61C17/34

    摘要: In one embodiment, the invention can be an electric toothbrush including a trajectory detecting module configured to detect a trajectory of movement of a brush, the trajectory including a plurality of positions; an attitude detecting module configured to detect an attitude of the brush; a site estimating module configured to estimate a brushing site for each of the plurality of positions of the trajectory, each estimated brushing site being based on the trajectory detected by the trajectory detecting module; and a back most tooth detecting module configured to detect a back most tooth based on a change of the attitude detected by the attitude detecting module; wherein the site estimating module is further configured to correct the estimated brushing site for each of the plurality of positions of the trajectory based on the estimated site of the detected back most tooth.