Importance

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Abstract

The device is a straddle-type device in which the handle thereof has a pair of elongated arms and a cowling on the distal end thereof. The arms extend from the handle in generally parallel relationship to one another, with a slot therebetween, and the cowling is made of plastic resin material and supported on the arms at the distal end portions thereof. The cowling also bridges the slot and has an inverted U-shaped body, which in turn has endmost sections and a midsection therebetween. The endmost sections are encircled about the distal end portions of the arms in intimate contact with the opposing relatively inwardly directed surfaces thereof, as well as the relatively outwardly directed surfaces thereof and the relatively upper, lower and forward peripheral edges thereof. The midsection is flexibly interconnected with and between the endmost sections to form an articulated linkage across the slot, and yieldable bias is built into the arms which tends to pinch the distal end portions of the arms and thus the endmost sections of the cowling together. Meanwhile, fields of bristles that are monolithically upstanding on the relatively inwardly directed surfaces of the endmost sections, form brushes which engage the relatively inside and outside faces of the teeth when the device is straddled about a row of teeth at the cowling, and then translated along the length of the row while the brushes grip the teeth under the bias on the distal end portions of the arms, and the linkage serves to preserve that bias when the diameter of the teeth varies from one tooth to another.

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First Claim