Patent ID: 8156601

Claim:
A tooth cleaning apparatus for cleaning teeth on upper and lower jaws of a user, the teeth on the upper and lower jaws comprising front teeth with inside surfaces, the cleaning apparatus comprising: a tooth scrubbing assembly comprising a cleaning portion comprising a first plurality of generally aligned bristles each having a length with a connecting end and an exposed free end spaced lengthwise from the connecting end, the exposed free ends cooperatively defining a cleaning surface; a handle through which the cleaning portion of the tooth scrubbing assembly can be controllably repositioned by the user, wherein the handle has a grippable portion with a length that extends substantially in a first line and around which a user's hand wraps with the user's hand gripping the grippable portion; a base to which the connecting ends of the aligned bristles are joined; and an interconnecting portion between the handle and the base, the cleaning surface fully spaced a substantial distance from, and facing generally toward, the first line to engage a user's teeth during a cleaning operation, the handle, base and interconnecting portion configured so that with the tooth cleaning apparatus in a first operative relationship with a user's head with the user's head upright: a) the cleaning portion is situated within a user's mouth with the first plurality of bristles projecting forwardly so that the lengths of the first plurality of bristles extend substantially orthogonally to a vertical reference plane in front of a user's face and parallel to the front of the user's face to conform to the inside surfaces of the user's front teeth on the user's upper jaw; b) the handle is outside of the user's mouth with the grippable portion spaced forwardly of the inside surfaces of the user's front teeth engaged by the first plurality of bristles; and c) the interconnecting portion extends in a second line between the user's top and bottom jaws and connects to: i) the base inside the user's mouth and ii) the handle outside the user's mouth, the first and second lines being at an angle to each other, wherein the user can, through movement of the gripped handle in front of the user's face, move the tooth cleaning apparatus vertically and horizontally relative to the user's upper jaw to thereby clean the inside surfaces on the front teeth with the cleaning surface on the user's upper jaw, with the interconnecting portion thereby moving between the user's front teeth on the upper and lower jaws and without interference between the handle and the user's upper or lower jaws.