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Toothbrush employing acoustic waveguideRelated Patent Categories: Brushing, Scrubbing, And General Cleaning, Machines, Brushing, Handle MountToothbrush employing acoustic waveguide description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20060191086, Toothbrush employing acoustic waveguide. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/981,735, filed Nov. 3, 2004, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/517,638, filed on Nov. 4, 2003. This application also claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/677,577, filed May 3, 2005. The disclosures of the priority patent applications are expressly incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. BACKGROUND [0003] Existing power toothbrushes, even the most effective, leave clinically significant plaque at tooth contact surfaces, at the gingival-tooth contact points, below the gingiva, and beyond the direct reach of the bristles or other toothbrush components. Previous attempts at creating ultrasonic toothbrushes failed to exploit microbubble formation in dental fluid for purposes of facilitating plaque removal or failed to consider microbubbles and macrobubbles as a potential impediment to ultrasound propagation beyond the bristle tips. Some early toothbrushes that employed ultrasound technology attempted propagation of ultrasound waves from the base of the bristles either through the bristles themselves or through the bubbly dental fluid that fills the spaces between the bristles. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,138,733, No. 5,247,716, No. 5,369,831, and No. 5,546,624, to Bock. Because conventional toothbrush bristles and bubbly dental fluid can reduce rather than facilitate the propagation of ultrasound waves, those toothbrushes fell short of achieving efficient ultrasound wave propagation. Also, the ultrasound systems in prior art toothbrushes did not take advantage of the specific bubbly structure within dental fluid. SYNOPSIS OF THE ART [0004] U.S. Pat. No. 3,335,443, to Parisi, discloses a brush that is coupled to an ultrasonic, vibratory, handheld dental instrument that is capable of being vibrated at high sonic and ultrasonic frequencies. [0005] U.S. Pat. No.3,809,977, to Balamuth et al., which reissued as U.S. Pat. No. 28,752, discloses ultrasonic kits, ultrasonic motor constructions, and ultrasonic converter designs for use alone or in combination. The ultrasonic motor may be of piezoelectric material having a removable tip and is contained in a housing having an electrical contact means adapted to be plugged into an adapter that is connected to a converter. [0006] U.S. Pat. No. 3,828,770, to Kuris et al., discloses a method for cleaning teeth employing bursts of ultrasonic mechanical vibration at an applicator repeated at a sonic frequency to produce both ultrasonic and sonic vibratory motion during use. [0007] U.S. Pat. No. 3,840,932 and No. 3,941,424, to Balamuth et al., disclose an ultrasonic toothbrush applicator in a configuration to be ultrasonically vibrated to transmit mechanical vibrations from one end to a bristle element positioned at the other end. [0008] U.S. Pat. No. 4,071,956, to Andress, discloses a device, that is not a toothbrush, for removing dental plaque by ultrasonic vibrations. [0009] U.S. Pat. No. 4,192,035, to Kuris, discloses an apparatus comprising an elongated member formed of a piezoelectric member with a pair of contacting surfaces with a brush member adapted to be received within the human mouth. A casing adapted into a handle is configured to receive the piezoelectric member. [0010] U.S. Pat. No. 4,333,197, to Kuris, discloses an ultrasonic toothbrush that includes an elongated handle member in the form of a hollow housing having disposed therein a low voltage coil and cooperating ferrite core that is driven at ultrasonic frequencies. A brush member is affixed to the core and is adhesively affixed to an impedance transfer device that is adhesively affixed to the core material. The impedance transfer device insures maximum transfer of ultrasonic energy from the core material to the brush. [0011] U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,249 and No. 5,150,492, to Suroff, disclose an ultrasonic toothbrush having an exchangeable toothbrush member that is removably attached to an ultrasonic power member. [0012] U.S. Pat. No. 5,138,733, to Bock, discloses an ultrasonic toothbrush having a handle, a battery pack, an electronics driving module, a piezoelectric member, and a removable brush head. The piezoelectric crystal resonates, expands and contracts volumetrically, in tune with the frequency supplied by the electronic driving modules, thereby converting electronic energy into sound-wave energy. [0013] U.S. Pat. No. 5,247,716, to Bock, discloses a removable brush head for an ultrasonic toothbrush having a plurality of bristle clusters, a substantially tubular body constructed of a flexible material, and tensioning means securing the brush head to the ultrasonic device, providing for the efficient transmission of ultrasonic frequency vibrations from the device via the brush head. [0014] U.S. Pat. No. 5,311,632, to Center, discloses a device for removing plaque from teeth comprising a toothbrush having a thick, cylindrical, hollow handle encompassing (1) an electric motor that is actuable to cause rotation of an eccentrically mounted member and vibration of the entire device, and (2) an ultrasonic transducer actuable to produce high frequency sound waves along the brush. [0015] U.S. Pat. No. 5,369,831, to Bock, discloses a removable brush head for an ultrasonic toothbrush. [0016] U.S. Pat. No. 5,546,624, to Bock, discloses an ultrasonic toothbrush including a handle constructed of a rigid material, a battery pack, an electronics driving module, a piezoelectric member, and a removable brush head. The piezoelectric crystal resonates, expands and contracts volumetrically, in tune with the frequency supplied by the electronic driving module and thereby converts the electronic energy into sound-wave energy. [0017] Japanese Application No. P1996-358359, Patent Laid Open 1998-165228, discloses a toothbrush utilizing ultrasonic waves in which an ultrasonic wave generator is provided in the handle of a manual or electrically powered toothbrush and an ultrasonic wave vibrator is mounted in the brush and wired to the wave generator. [0018] Japanese Application No. P2002-353110, Patent Laid Open 2004-148079, discloses an ultrasonic toothbrush wherein ultrasonic vibration is radiated from a piezoelectric vibrator arranged inside a brush head and transmitted to the teeth via a rubber projection group. [0019] U.S. Pat. No. 6,203,320, to Williams et al., discloses an electrically operated toothbrush and method for cleaning teeth. The toothbrush includes a handle, a brush head connected to the handle having a plurality of hollow filament bristles, passageways through the handle and brush head for transporting fluid into and through the hollow filament bristles, an electrical energy source in the handle, and a vibratory element for imparting a pulsation to the fluid being transported. [0020] U.S. Patent Publication No. 2003/0079305, to Takahata et al., discloses an electric toothbrush in which a brush body is simultaneously oscillated and reciprocated. The electric toothbrush comprises a casing main body, an arm extending above the casing main body, a brush body arranged in a top end of the arm, and an ultrasonic motor arranged in a top end inside of the arm for driving the brush body. [0021] U.S. Pat. No. 35,712, which is a reissue of U.S. Pat. No. 5,343,883, to Murayama, discloses an electric device (i.e., a flosser) for removal of plaque from interproximal surfaces. The device employs sonic energy and dental floss secured between two tines of a flexible fork removably attached to a powered handle. The electric motor revolves at sonic frequencies to generate sonic energy that is transmitted to the flexible fork. [0022] U.S. Pat. No. 6,619,957, to Mosch et al., discloses an ultrasonic scaler comprising a scaler tip, actuator material, a coil, a handpiece housing, and an air-driven electrical current generator. The actuator material, coil, and air-driven electrical current generator are all encompassed within the handpiece housing. 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