Device for cleaning a human tongue

A device for cleaning a tongue in the form of an elongated member including a head portion having a generally rectangular shape in plan view. A plurality of bristles extend from a lower surface of the head portion wherein a total of a length of the bristles plus a thickness of said head portion is less than about 1/2 inch. An elongated, arcuate handle portion extends from the head portion and is aligned such that a longitudinal axis of the handle portion is transverse with a longitudinal axis of the head portion. The device may also include a lip downwardly depending from the front of the head portion to retain accumulated debris as the device is pulled along the tongue.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
My invention relates generally to the treatment and prevention of bad 
breath and, more particularly, to a device for cleaning odor causing 
debris from the human tongue. Various devices have been proposed 
heretofore in the form of tongue brushes, tongue scrapers, or combined 
toothbrushes and tongue cleaners, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 
4,455,704; 4,079,478; and 3,254,356. None of these devices have, to my 
knowledge, gained any widespread usage, perhaps due to their complexity of 
manufacture and/or ineffective operation. 
My invention solves the problems encountered in prior tongue cleaning 
appliances by providing a tongue cleaning device which is both convenient 
to use and effective in results, while being economical to manufacture. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Briefly stated my invention is directed to a device for cleaning the human 
tongue comprising a member having an elongated handle portion and a 
rectangular head portion arranged transversely to the longitudinal axis of 
the handle portion. The head portion carries a plurality of bristles 
thereon, wherein the total thickness of the head portion and bristles is 
less than about 1/2 inch. The bristles may be nylon having a length of 
about 1/8 inch and clustered in groups or tufts. The bristles may also be 
integrally molded with the head portion or integrally molded with a 
carrier plate which is, in turn, attached to the head portion. The handle 
portion is actually formed to define an angle of about 
10.degree.-20.degree. between the plane of the head portion and the 
longitudinal axis of the handle to better position the head portion 
relative to the tongue surface and to follow the convexity of the tongue 
at the rear of the mouth approaching the throat. 
The device also preferably carries a downwardly protruding lip along a 
leading edge of the head portion to act as a collector for debris 
dislodged by the bristles. The lip extends downwardly from the head 
portion a distance of about 1/8 inch, i.e., the same length as the 
bristles so as not to interfere with their cleaning action. The device 
permits the user to reach the back surface of the tongue due to its 
arcuate configuration and permits cleaning of the back surface without 
causing a gagging reflex due to its thin profile. Cleaning of the back 
surface of the tongue is especially important in eliminating halitosis or 
"bad breath". 
These as well as other attributes and advantages of my invention will 
become better understood when reference is made to the appended drawings, 
taken with the following detailed description.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
Reference will now be made to the drawings wherein identical elements are 
referred to by the same reference numerals throughout the various views 
and like elements are referred to by primed numerals. 
The tongue cleaning device of the invention, generally designated 2, is in 
the form of an elongated member and includes a head portion 4 and a handle 
portion 6. The head portion 4 includes a plurality of bristle tufts 8. 
Each bristle tuft 8 is made up of a plurality of individual bristles. By 
way of example, the bristles are made of nylon and are 0.006-0.007 in 
diameter. Each tuft 8 consists of about 24-36 strands of bristles 
measuring about 1/8 inch in diameter per tuft. The ends of the bristle 
tufts are flat and preferably lie in a common plane, extending outwards 
from a bottom face of the head portion a distance "L". Hence "L" is the 
bristle length, which is preferably about 1/8 inch. As can be seen in FIG. 
2, the tufts 8 in the rows 12 and 14 and in rows 16 and 18 are offset from 
one another so as to insure proper cleaning as the head portion 4 is moved 
in a direction coincident with the longitudinal axis of the handle 6. The 
distance between adjacent tufts 8 is about 0.045 inch to avoid open spaces 
along the cleaning axis. 
The overall height dimension "H" comprising the thickness of the head 
portion 4 and the bristle length "L" is no greater than about 1/2 inch 
and, more preferably, no greater than about 3/8 inch. It is desirable to 
maintain a thin profile represented by dimension "H" so as to minimize or 
eliminate any possible gagging reflex when the head portion 4 is moved to 
the back of the tongue. 
The head portion 4 is rectangular in plan view and arranged such that the 
longitudinal axis of the head portion 4 is substantially perpendicular 
with the longitudinal axis of the handle portion 6. In this manner, the 
longer side (dimension "B" in FIG. 3) of the head portion engages a 
substantial transverse dimension across the tongue surface. Dimension "B" 
defines the length of the head portion 4 and is preferably about 11/4 
inches to about 11/2 inches. The width of the head portion identified as 
dimension "C" in FIG. 3 is about 1/2 inch, which is sufficient to 
accommodate the placement of four rows of bristle tufts 12, 14, 16 and 18 
shown in FIG. 2. A presently preferred embodiment of my invention 
comprises two outer rows of bristle tufts 12 and 18 containing eleven 
bristle tufts each and two inner rows of bristle tufts 14 and 16 
containing twelve bristle tufts each. This arrangement provides a 
sufficient number of rows (four) to assure proper loosening of foreign 
material from the tongue. In addition, the staggered or offset alignment 
between the bristle tufts in rows 12 and 14 and between those in rows 16 
and 18 insures uniform bristle coverage along the length of the head 
portion 4 as the device 2 is moved by the user in a direction coincident 
with the longitudinal axis of the handle 6. The device 2 is inserted into 
the mouth and the bristles 8 are placed against the back surface of the 
tongue and then pulled forward and then rinsed with water after each pass 
to remove collected debris. This procedure is repeated, preferably five to 
eight times, to insure complete tongue cleaning. 
The head portion 4' shown in FIG. 5 also preferably carries a lip 10 
downwardly depending from a front edge thereof. The lip 10 extends across 
the full length of the head portion (dimension "B") and acts as a 
collector of loosened debris not collected by the bristles themselves 
which accumulates as the device is used. This accumulated material is also 
rinsed with water away from the lip 10 after each pass along the tongue. 
In order to provide improved access to the convex surface of the back of 
the tongue, the handle portion 6 is formed in an arcuate shape as shown in 
FIG. 1. A plane parallel to the top surface of the head portion 4 and 
parallel to the ends of the bristles 8 defines an angle "A" with the 
longitudinal axis of the rear gripping section 6' of the handle portion 6, 
FIG. 1. Angle "A" is preferably between 10.degree.-20.degree. to better 
accomudate the convexity of the back surface of the tongue. The bend point 
is formed at a dimension "D" from the front of the head portion and may 
range between 1 to 2 inches. The handle 6 is preferably rigid so as to 
resist bending as pressure is applied downwardly against the tongue during 
use. 
As stated above, the bristles may be formed in bristle tufts 8 comprising a 
plurality of individual bristle strands affixed to the head portion in the 
same manner as is a conventional toothbrush. In addition, the bristles may 
be injection molded integrally with the head portion 4 and handle portion 
6. A further embodiment of the present invention envisions that the 
bristles are integrally molded with a carrier plate (not shown) which, in 
turn, is affixed to the head portion. Such integral injection molding of 
the bristles would, of course, lower the cost of the device 2. 
The stiffness or softness of the bristles can be varied by varying the 
diameter of the individual strands, as well as the number of bristles in 
each tuft 8. The tongue cleaning device 2 is injection molded from a 
thermoplastic material such as polypropylene or the like and the bristle 
strands may be of a conventional nylon material. 
It will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art that 
modifications may be made to the invention without departing from the 
concepts disclosed in the foregoing description. Such modifications are to 
be considered as included within the following claims unless the claims, 
by their language, expressly state otherwise. Accordingly, the particular 
embodiments described in detail herein are illustrative only and are not 
limited to the scope of the invention which is to be given the full 
breadth of the appended claims and any and all equivalents thereof.