Oral Care System and Method

Abstract

In one embodiment, an oral care system may include a toothbrush comprising a physical property, and a programmable processor configured to receive physical property data indicative of the physical property of the toothbrush. The programmable processor may be further configured to determine, based at least in part upon the received physical property data, a suggested brushing routine for a user and/or an evaluation of a brushing session of a user

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An oral care system comprising:
 a toothbrush comprising a physical property; and   a programmable processor configured to:
 receive physical property data indicative of the physical property of the toothbrush obtained by reading visible indicia or an identifier associated with the toothbrush; and 
 determine at least one of a suggested brushing time and an evaluation of a brushing session; 
   wherein determining the evaluation comprises weighting a base performance metric using the physical property data to obtain a weighted performance metric and wherein determining the suggested brushing time comprises adding an offset time to a standard brushing time, the offset time based at least in part upon the physical property data.   
     
     
         2 . The oral care system according to  claim 1  further comprising a user interface operably coupled to the programmable processor, wherein the physical property data is input by a user using the user interface. 
     
     
         3 . The oral care system according to  claim 2  wherein the programmable processor is configured to present the suggested brushing time to a user using the user interface. 
     
     
         4 . The oral care system according to  claim 1  wherein the receiving of the physical property data comprises:
 presenting to a user, by a user interface, one or more questions concerning at least one physical property of the toothbrush; and 
 receiving the physical property data as answers to the one or more questions that are selected using the user interface. 
 
     
     
         5 . The oral care system according to  claim 1 , further comprising a radio frequency identifier (RFID) tag reader operably coupled to the programmable processor;
 the toothbrush comprising a radio frequency identifier (RFID) tag; and   wherein the physical property data is received by the RFID tag reader from the RFID tag.   
     
     
         6 . The oral care system according to  claim 1 , the toothbrush comprising:
 a handle; and   a head removably coupled to the handle; and   wherein the head comprises the physical property.   
     
     
         7 . The oral care system according to  claim 6  wherein the physical property data is generated by a physical interface between the head and the handle. 
     
     
         8 . The oral care system according to  claim 1  wherein the toothbrush comprises the indicia or identifier, the indicia or identifier comprising the physical property data. 
     
     
         9 . The oral care system according to  claim 1  further comprising a packaging material for the toothbrush, wherein the packaging material comprises the indicia or identifier, the indicia or identifier comprising the physical property data. 
     
     
         10 . The oral care system according to  claim 9  wherein the indicia comprises a coded image. 
     
     
         11 . The oral care system according to  claim 1  further comprising a data processing unit, the data processing unit comprising the programmable processor. 
     
     
         12 . The oral care system according to  claim 1  wherein the physical property consists of one of a bristle hardness of the toothbrush, a bristle pattern of the toothbrush, a bristle profile of the toothbrush, a head size of the toothbrush, a presence of an electrically-powered vibratory element, a presence of an oral care additive, a presence of a tongue cleaner, a presence of an elastomeric element in a bristle field, and a mobility of a first portion of the toothbrush with respect to a second, different portion of the toothbrush. 
     
     
         13 . The oral care system according to  claim 1  wherein the indicia or identifier is on a package of the toothbrush. 
     
     
         14 . The oral care system according to  claim 1  wherein the indicia or identifier is on the toothbrush. 
     
     
         15 . An oral care method comprising:
 a) receiving, by a programmable processor, physical property data indicative of a physical property of a toothbrush obtained by reading visible indicia or an identifier associated with the toothbrush; and   b) determining, by the programmable processor, a suggested brushing time;   wherein determining the suggested brushing time comprises adding an offset time to a standard brushing time, the offset time based at least in part upon the physical property data.   
     
     
         16 . The oral care method according to  claim 15  further comprising determining, by the programmable processor, an evaluation of a brushing session based at least in part upon the physical property data. 
     
     
         17 . The oral care method according to  claim 15  further comprising a radio frequency identifier (RFID) tag reader operably coupled to the programmable processor;
 the toothbrush comprising a radio frequency identifier (RFID) tag; and 
 wherein the physical property data is received by the RFID tag reader from the RFID tag. 
 
     
     
         18 . An oral care method comprising:
 a) receiving, by a programmable processor, physical property data indicative of a physical property of a toothbrush obtained by reading visible indicia or an identifier associated with the toothbrush; and   b) determining, by the programmable processor, an evaluation of a brushing session;   wherein determining the evaluation comprises weighting a base performance metric using the physical property data to obtain a weighted performance metric.   
     
     
         19 . The oral care method according to  claim 18  further comprising:
 receiving brushing session data generated during at least a portion of the brushing session; 
 calculating the base performance metric from the received brushing session data. 
 
     
     
         20 . The oral care method according to  claim 18  further comprising a radio frequency identifier (RFID) tag reader operably coupled to the programmable processor;
 the toothbrush comprising a radio frequency identifier (RFID) tag; and 
 wherein the physical property data is received by the RFID tag reader from the RFID tag.