Tongue cleaner with a mouth freshener disinfecting strip

A self-contained tongue cleaner having a strip/band of material to provide a method of disinfecting and freshening the tongue as it is stroked against the tongue. The improvement comprises of a disinfecting/mouth freshener strip or gel located on the head in close proximity to the tongue scraper edge. The strip material will easily dissolve when in contact with the tongue and hence deliver the disinfecting/freshening fluid directly to the tongue.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a system that improves good oral hygiene by cleaning and disinfecting the surface of your tongue. In particular, this invention relates to a disposable tongue cleaner that not only cleans the surface of the tongue but also kills bacteria and freshens the tongue, unlike traditional tongue cleaners that only remove the debris buildup from the tongue.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A toothbrush is used to clean teeth, but only a few people use the conventional brush to brush their tongue to remove plaque and debris from their tongue. Conventional toothbrushes with bristles are often uncomfortable to use on the tongue and hence many people don't use it to clean their tongue. In Asian countries people have been using tongue scrapers for many centuries. These scrapers are typically a U shape curved metal, made from stainless steel or copper and are used to clean the tongues.

These scrapers help remove plaque and debris from the tongue but do a poor job in killing the bacteria that resides on the tongue. Hence, there is an unmet need that toothbrushes and tongue scrapers need to overcome in order to enhance oral hygiene.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention centers on a unique design of a tongue scraper that can deliver cleaning, disinfecting, or other solutions directly to the surface of the tongue allowing for optimum removal of plaque and debris from your tongue.

The present disclosure provides an oral care implementation that includes a head that forms the scraper which channels the plaque and in close proximity to the scraper's edge is a parallel strip of material that can easily dissolve when in contact with the tongue. The strip of material could be a gel or a solid that would quickly dissolve when in contact with the tongue; hence the solution would be directly applied to the contact area.

REFERENCE NUMERALS IN DRAWINGS

10Head part of cleaner11Beveled scraper edge12Dissolving strip material14Strip pattern accommodating different disinfecting or freshening material15Secondary beveled scraper edge20Handle part of cleaner25Placeholder for strip

DETAILS OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a tongue cleaner designed to aid in a wide variety of oral hygiene. The tongue cleaner has a handle (20) and attached to it a head (10). The low profile head incorporates: a scraper (11) and a strip of disinfection material (12) in close proximity of the scraper. The strip of disinfecting material (12) is located so that it is virtually in constant contact with the tongue during the tongue cleaners scraping strokes. And once the user is done with the device, the device would be thrown away.

The strip of course could be of different dimension than that shown inFIG. 2orFIG. 3. It could be made of a series of smaller strips (14) such asFIG. 3allowing for different disinfecting/cleaning solutions to be applied to the tongue. The strip itself can also be made with different solubility hence can act as a wear indicator, when no strips are seen it is time to dispose the device.

The strip itself could also be made to be two layers of material. For example, the first layer could be a disinfecting gel and the second layer could be a freshening gel. So in this case the first few strokes of the tongue cleaner would remove the debris and disinfect the tongue and the subsequent strokes would apply a freshener to the tongue.

The disinfecting/cleaning strip would normally be part of the tongue cleaner. However, there is also the possibility were the tongue cleaner has a place holder (25) for the strip, and at the time of use the strip is applied (if a gel) or pressed onto the place holder to form the strip.