Colgate Palmolive Company

Thomas Küchler

Robert Moskovich

Joachim Storz

Tanja Langgner

Douglas J Hohlbein

Thomas E Mintel

Michael Rooney

Bruce M Russell

Luca Casini

Eduardo J Jimenez

John J Gatzemeyer

Alan Vincent Sorrentino

John Hancock

Peter Andersen

An oral care implement is provided having a handle and a head with a soft tissue cleanser and/or tooth cleaning elements. The tooth cleaning elements may be flexibly mounted in the head for movement from an initial position with respect to the head during use. The soft tissue cleanser may include a plurality of projections for cleaning the soft tissue. The soft tissue cleanser may include a face having hills and valleys upon which the projections are located. The handle may include a base with a gripping region and a projection protruding from the base in the gripping region. The handle may also have a grip surface with a plurality of spaced slot openings exposing portions of the base. The grip body may form opposite finger grips on the handle.

Oral care implement

An oral care implement is provided having a handle and a head with a soft tissue cleanser and/or tooth cleaning elements. The tissue cleanser may include a plurality of projections for cleaning the soft tissue, which may include cleaning between the papillae of a user's tongue. The soft tissue cleanser may have an elongate ridge projecting from the head in generally the same direction as the projections. The handle may include a base with a gripping region and a projection protruding from the base in the gripping region. The handle may also have a grip surface with a plurality of spaced slot openings exposing portions of the base. The grip body may form opposite finger grips on the handle.

A toothbrush includes a head having a bristle carrying surface formed from a thin resilient flexible dome shaped membrane. An air space is located between the base of the head and the membrane so that the membrane is capable of flexing to alter its original shape during use of the toothbrush and then recover to the original shape randomly during use. In a further practice of the invention the head and/or handle have elastomeric portions at least partially surrounding an open area. These portions are readily deflectable under pressure during use to improve handling of the toothbrush and orientation of the cleaning elements. Alternatively the toothbrush includes a longitudinal hinge collinear with the longitudinal axis of the toothbrush head so as to separate the head into a pair of side by side longitudinal sections, each of which has outwardly extending cleaning elements. The hinge is made of a resilient spring-like material to urge the sections to return to their original position after the hinge has been opened as a result of the cleaning elements contacting the teeth.

Toothbrush

A toothbrush includes a head having multiple cleaning elements. One group of the cleaning elements is flexibly mounted on the head and another group may be fixedly mounted on the head. The flexibly mounted cleaning elements are attached to a flexible membrane so that the membrane is capable of flexing to alter its original orientation during use of the toothbrush and then recover to the original orientation randomly during use.

Growing community of inventors

Schliern, Switzerland

Thomas Küchler