Patent ID: 7409741

Claim:
An electrically powered toothbrush apparatus comprising: a removable and replaceable brush with bristles slidably attached via sliding engagement means to a head, a hollow neck portion supporting the head and extending from the head to handle, the neck portion being engaged with, and removably secured, to abut and directly contact the handle; a self-supporting, elongate, one piece, flexible wire shaft connected a motor at one end and extending to a remote end of the toothbrush within the head, the motor being disposed within the handle and connected to the wire shaft by a drive shaft and flexible coupling; a weight eccentrically mounted on the wire shaft within the head and adjacent the bush to effect rotational and lateral motion therewith at a resonant sonic frequency, the wire shaft being isolated from the neck portion; the remote end of the drive shaft terminating in an anchored bearing in the head adjacent the weight; wherein the shaft is unsupported, free from contact, between its ends, whereby, the head, and neck portion are provided a resonant frequency of vibration approximately matched to the rotational speed of the weight.