Importance

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Abstract

Earlier devices of the genre, had a yoke-like head for brushing the teeth, and a cowling of reentrantly folded flexible material interconnected with the arms of the head so as to straddle the slot between the arms. The midsection at the bight of the cowling had pleats between it and the wings of the cowling, and together they formed an articulated linkage between the wings for preserving the bias on the wings during the tooth brushing operation. In the present device, the arms 12 have only brackets 34 on the terminal end portions thereof, the relatively outboard portions 38 of which elbow out in front of the arms, like cowcatchers, below the terminal ends 20 of the arms. The portions 38 in turn have mitt-like brushes 50 thereon comprised of fields of spaced individual bristle of 0.010 inch in diameter or greater at the bases 64 thereof, collectively firm but individually spaced apart from one another at heights and densities enabling them to laterally deflect within the fields, and made of a thermoplastic resin material which is 47 or less in durometer on the Shore D Scale, so as to be ultra soft to the gums of the teeth. Now, with brackets so equipped, the arms 12 can forcibly pinch the portions 38 of the brackets together to the extent that the brushes 50 maintain a firm but comfortable grip on a row of teeth 3 at the level of the gingival sulcus 51 thereof, notwithstanding the absence of the linkage. Moreover, the arms and brackets can be pivoted crosswise the length of the row, to be oscillated through a pitman arm-like motion more in parallel to the gaps between pairs of teeth.

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First Claim