Patent ID: 8572790

Claim:
A dental cleaning appliance, comprising: an appliance body ( 14 ) having a brushhead portion ( 12 ) with a plurality of movable piston members ( 16 ) mounted therein for in-and-out movement thereof toward and away from the teeth when a distal end of the brushhead portion is positioned in the mouth; bristle tufts ( 20 ) mounted on the piston members, for cleaning contact with the teeth; a low frequency actuator ( 40 ) for moving the piston members at a low frequency to generally sequentially conform tips of the bristle tufts to the teeth; and a higher frequency actuator ( 42 ) for moving the piston members at a higher frequency relative to the teeth, the higher frequency movement of the piston members superimposed on the low frequency movement thereof, to produce cleaning of the teeth by periodic contact between the bristle tufts and the teeth.