Smithkline Beecham Gmbh Co. Kg

Helmut Hung Gmbh

Helmut Hund Gmbh

Werner Muller

Michael Schopplein

A toothbrush head suitable to direct incident radiation toward a surface of a tooth and to collect emitted radiation from the surface of the tooth, being made at least in past of a material which is transparent to the incident and/or emitted radiation. In preferred embodiments the head includes one or more radiation guiding cores of transparent material.

Toothbrush head with means to direct and collect radiation

An apparatus for detecting biological deposits on the surface of a tooth. The device has illumination means to direct exciting radiation onto a test tooth surface and detection means to detect fluorescence emission from the test tooth surface at a wavelength associated with that of auto fluorescence emission from clean tooth surface. The intensity of the said fluorescence emission from the test tooth surface is compared with an intensity of auto fluorescence emission from clean tooth surface and the comparison is associated with the presence of deposits on the test tooth surface. The device is preferably embodied in a toothbrush which indicates to the user that deposits are present and are being removed.

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Wetzlar-Nauborn, Germany

Werner Muller