Patent ID: 6990706

Claim:
A toothbrush which has a head which carries a dental cleaning tool, and a grip handle, the head and handle being along a longitudinal head-handle direction, the implement has a resiliently flexible structure, which comprises a region of “U” or “V” shaped folds in the material of the toothbrush, situated in its handle or between its head and its handle, which can resiliently bend under the action of pressure experienced by the head during toothbrushing, wherein the toothbrush has adjustment means by which the user may alter the flexibility of the resiliently flexible structure between less and more flexible, the adjustment means comprising a longitudinally moveable stiffening member which is mounted externally on the flexible structure or on the handle or on the neck of the toothbrush longitudinally adjacent to the resiliently flexible structure and which can be moved longitudinally into greater or lesser engagement with the resiliently flexible structure, the resiliently flexible structure having one or more guides in its external surface and the stiffening member has one or more parts which can engage with the one or more guides and which can ride longitudinally along the one or more guide.