Toothbrush

Abstract

A toothbrush is disclosed which in contrast to presently available toothbrushes on the market can be operated solely by finger and thumb movement and pressure. By these means all brushing movements or strokes be they horizontal, vertical or rotational are more easily executed by the user than with presently known toothbrushes with which, due to their design, horizontal scrubbing becomes the normal method of cleaning the teeth.

1 . A toothbrush comprising a bristled head, a shaft attached at one end to the head and provided at the other end with a formation having a rearward part which defines the end of the toothbrush, and means on a forward part of the formation which, with the rearward part held within the hand, can be engaged by the fingers and thumb of the hand to manipulate the orientation and movement of the bristle head in the users mouth thereby to execute vertical, horizontal and rotational strokes to clean the users teeth. 
   
   
       2 . A toothbrush as claimed in  claim 1  wherein the formation is provided with an abutment in the form of a circumferential ledge around the shaft. 
   
   
       3 . A toothbrush comprising a bristled head, a shaft attached to the head, a bulbous formation at the base of the shaft shaped to be held within the hand, means on the bulbous formation which, with the formation held within the hand, can be engaged by the fingers and thumb of the hand to manipulate the orientation and movement of the bristle head in the users mouth, and an abutment on said formation positioned at a spacing from said bristled head so as to engage the users mouth during brushing thereby to discourage brush strokes in a direction along the line of the teeth whilst facilitating those In a direction transverse thereto. 
   
   
       4 . A toothbrush as claimed in  claim 3  wherein the abutment is a circumferential ledge around the shaft. 
   
   
       5 . A toothbrush as claimed in  claim 2  or  3  wherein said means on the formation to be engaged by the fingers and thumb of the hand includes a perpendicular wall section depending from said ledge. 
   
   
       6 . A toothbrush as claimed in  claim 5  wherein a waisted portion extends between the ledge and wall section which form a collar around the shaft and the rearward part of the formation in which it is possible to position the middle finger of the band when operating the toothbrush with the forefinger and thumb around the wall section. 
   
   
       7 . A toothbrush as claimed in  claim 6  wherein the rearward part is of larger cross section than the collar formed by said ledge and said depending wall section. 
   
   
       8 . A toothbrush as claimed in  claim 7  wherein said depending wall section around said shaft is triangular in cross-section forming three individual wall parts. 
   
   
       9 . A toothbrush as claimed in the  claim 8  wherein each wall part is serrated. 
   
   
       10 . A toothbrush as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the axis of the bristled head is at right-angles to the axis of the shaft. 
   
   
       11 . A tooth brush as claimed in  claim 10  wherein the bristled head is of circumferential cross-section.