Abstract:
The current document is directed to a dental-hygiene tool to facilitate flossing of teeth, particularly for orthodontics patients wearing braces or other orthodontic devices, fixtures, and appliances that hinder use of standard dental floss. The currently disclosed dental-hygiene tool includes a hook-shaped tip to which a length of dental floss is attached. The hook-shaped tip has a blunt tip to prevent gum injuries during use and is sufficiently rigid to facilitate navigation through orthodontics fixtures and appliances, including braces.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of Provisional Application No. 61/996,308, filed May 5, 2014. 
     
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0002]    The current document is directed to a dental-hygiene tool and, in particular, to a dental-hygiene tool that facilitates teeth cleaning by orthodontics patients wearing braces and other orthodontic devices, fixtures, and appliances that hinder use of standard dental floss. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    Braces are a common orthodontic appliance used for straightening teeth. Braces includes brackets, attached to the front sides of teeth, and wires that fit through slots in the brackets in order to apply force to reposition teeth, over time. Braces may also include metal bands, and other components. Although useful in correcting undesirable positions and arrangements of teeth, braces may inhibit proper cleaning and maintenance of teeth, including both brushing and use of dental floss. Regular use of dental floss ameliorates problems such as gingivitis, cavities, tartar, demineralization, and bad breath due to bacteria and other organisms. While a person without braces can generally floss his or her teeth within around two minutes, an orthodontics patient with braces may spend 15 minutes or more to adequately floss his or her teeth. 
         [0004]    Numerous different dental-floss threading devices have been developed and proposed to facilitate use of dental floss. However, many of these devices have improper dimensions and shapes for use by orthodontics patients and often require tedious threading operations that are difficult and frustrating for younger children and orthodontics patients lacking adequate near vision and dexterity. For this reason, use of dental floss remains a challenging, tedious, and frustrating endeavor for many orthodontics patients. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0005]    The current document is directed to a dental-hygiene tool to facilitate flossing of teeth, particularly for orthodontics patients wearing braces or other orthodontic devices, fixtures, and appliances that hinder use of standard dental floss. The currently disclosed dental-hygiene tool includes a hook-shaped tip to which a length of dental floss is attached. The hook-shaped tip has a blunt tip to prevent gum injuries during use and is sufficiently rigid to facilitate navigation through orthodontics fixtures and appliances, including braces. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0006]      FIG. 1  illustrates one implementation of the dental-hygiene tool to which the current document is directed. 
           [0007]      FIGS. 2A-E  illustrate an example use of the dental-hygiene tool to which the current document is directed. 
           [0008]      FIG. 3  illustrates certain of the dimensions of one implementation of the hook-shaped tip of the currently disclosed dental-hygiene tool. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0009]      FIG. 1  illustrates one implementation of the dental-hygiene tool to which the current document is directed. The dental-hygiene tool includes a hook-shaped tip  102  within which a length of dental floss  104  is attached. In the implementation illustrated in  FIG. 1 , the hook-shaped tip includes an inner cylindrical chamber in the handle end  106  into which the length of dental floss is inserted and attached. In the illustrated implementation, the handle end has a diameter of between 0.9 and 1.2 mm and the hook end  108  is a blunt tip with a diameter of 0.4-0.6 mm. In the illustrated implementation, the hook-shaped tip has a linear length of approximately 45 mm and tapers from a point nearer the handle end than the tip end to a point nearer the tip end than the handle end. In certain implementations, the taper maybe be continuous along the length of the hook-shaped tip. In one implementation, the tip is made of high-impact polystyrene and is sufficiently rigid to maintain its shape while manipulated by a user to thread the floss through braces and other orthodontic appliances. In the illustrated implementation, the length of dental floss  104  is attached within the hook-shaped tip by heating to weld the nylon dental floss to the polystyrene material. In other implementations, the dental floss is attached using adhesives within the cylindrical aperture in the handle end of the hook-shaped tip. The dental floss, in the illustrated implementation, is shred-resistant and waxed to facilitate threading of the dental floss between teeth. Because the dental floss is attached internally within the hook-shaped tip, there are no dimensional discontinuities along the surface of the dental-hygiene tool that could catch or become entangled with orthodontic-appliance components, such as wires and brackets. 
         [0010]    In alternative embodiments, the hook-shaped tip may be hollow, with dental floss running through the hook-shaped tip and out from the tip end  108 . In this implementation, the hook-shaped tip may be advanced along a long stretch of dental floss and excess floss emerging from the tip end can be cut, thus allowing the tip to be continued to be used as worn or soiled dental floss is advanced through the tip and removed in order to a provide a new, fresh stretch of dental floss emerging from the handle end  106 . In this implementation, the dental floss is held in place by a secure constriction at the tip end of the hook-shape tip. In yet additional implementations, the hook-shaped tip and dental floss are formed of a continuous material that is differentially molded and/or treated to provide the hook-shaped semi-rigid tip and a trailing, flexible strand of dental floss. In certain implementations, the dental floss is treated with additional substances to confer various desirable properties to the dental floss, including antibacterial properties. In alternative implementations, the hook-shaped tip may have non-circular cross-sections, such as ellipsoid, rectangular, and other cross-section shapes. Similarly, the internal chamber within the hook-shaped tip may have correspondingly differently shaped walls. In these alternative implementations, the term “diameter” refers to a largest dimension perpendicular to the hook-shaped lengthwise axis of the hook-shaped tip. 
         [0011]      FIGS. 2A-E  illustrate an example use of the dental-hygiene tool to which the current document is directed. All five figures use the same illustration conventions, next described with reference to  FIG. 2A . In  FIG. 2A , a row of teeth  202  is shown, to which an orthodontic brace  204  has been attached. The orthodontic brace  204  includes brackets attached to the face of each tooth, such as bracket  206 , and a wire  208  that is slotted through the brackets under tension in order to apply force to the teeth. The dental-hygiene tool to which the current document is directed  210  has been positioned by a user in front of the wire  208  with the tip end  108  resting against the surface of tooth  212 . As shown in  FIG. 2B , the dental-hygiene tool  210  has been lowered so that the tip end  108  is now positioned below and underneath the wire  208 . As shown in  FIG. 2C , the hook-shaped tip  102  of the dental-hygiene tool  210  has been rotated upward so that the tip end  108  is now pointed upward and is above the wire  208 . As shown in  FIG. 2D , the hook-shaped tip  102  of the dental-hygiene tool  210  has been pulled downward to thread the dental floss  104  underneath the wire  208 . Finally, as shown in  FIG. 2E , the user has now grasped the dental floss with two hands (not shown in  FIG. 2E ) above and below the wire to pull the dental floss  104  taut and to begin threading the dental floss between tooth  212  and tooth  214  in order to clean the edges of these two teeth and the space between the two teeth at the gum line. 
         [0012]    The example manipulation shown in  FIGS. 2A-E  is but one possible use of the dental-hygiene tool disclosed in the current document. For example, the hook-shaped tip may be alternatively positioned handle-end upward and then rotated downward in order to thread the dental floss upward, below the wire. Many other operations are possible. The various possible operations and manipulations are facilitated by the semi-rigid nature of the hook-shaped tip as well as by the compact, hook-shaped configuration of the hook-shaped tip, allowing large-angle rotations with respect to the teeth and wire without forcing the tip into the teeth or gums. A flaccid, soft tip that does not hold its shape during manipulations would not provide a user with the ability to accurately position and pull the dental hygiene tool through and around spaces between the wire and teeth. Long, needle-like devices cannot be rotated around small components of orthodontic appliances in order to position floss behind them. 
         [0013]      FIG. 3  illustrates certain of the dimensions of one implementation of the hook-shaped tip of the currently disclosed dental-hygiene tool. The hook-shaped tip  102  has a handle end  106  with a diameter of one millimeter and a hook end  108  having a diameter of 0.5 millimeters. The distance between the hook end  108  and the handle end  106  is, in this implementation, 17 mm  302 , and may vary from 15 to 19 mm in certain alternative implementations. In the various implementations, the hook-shaped tip has a linear length of between 35 and 55 mm. 
         [0014]    Although the present invention has been described in terms of particular embodiments, it is not intended that the invention be limited to these embodiments. Modifications within the spirit of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art. For example, any of many different plastic polymers, flexible but semi-rigid metals, or composite materials can be used for the hook-shaped tip in alternative implementations. The dimensions, curvature, and shape of the hook-shaped tip may be varied in order to provide optimal usability for a variety of different types of users and a variety of different types of orthodontic appliances and fixtures. 
         [0015]    It is appreciated that the previous description of the disclosed embodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present disclosure. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure. Thus, the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.