US20050266370A1

US20050266370A1 - Mouthpiece

Info

Publication number: US20050266370A1
Application number: US10/944,740
Authority: US
Inventors: Shuhei Suzuki
Original assignee: Futek Inc
Current assignee: Futek Inc
Priority date: 2004-06-01
Filing date: 2004-09-21
Publication date: 2005-12-01
Also published as: US7331784B2; CN1704031A; KR20050114585A; JP2005342072A; US20060172252A1; KR100633647B1

Abstract

A mouthpiece of the present invention includes a light irradiation section that irradiates the front surfaces of teeth with light having a predetermined wavelength, and the light irradiation section has a blue light emitting diode or ultraviolet light emitting diode. The mouthpiece is attached to the teeth and the front teeth are irradiated with a blue light or ultraviolet light emitted by the light emitting diode, thereby performing teeth whitening processing.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mouthpiece, and particularly relates to a mouthpiece that is suitable for performing so-called whitening processing for whitening teeth.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, as an apparatus that performs teeth whitening processing, one that is disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 2003-242806 is known. The conventional whitening processor irradiates teeth with ultraviolet rays using a halogen lamp to perform teeth whitening processing.
However, in the method in which the teeth are irradiated with ultraviolet rays using the halogen lamp to perform teeth whitening processing, since the ultraviolet rays emitted by the halogen lamp had high light intensity, there was difficulty in handling the ultraviolet rays. For example, when irradiation was continued for a long time, there was a possibility that the surfaces of the teeth and gums around the teeth would be damaged, and a fixed skill was required for the ultraviolet irradiation and the help of a specialist such as a dentist was needed. Accordingly, it has been demanded that whitening can be easily performed at home.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a mouthpiece that can easily and safely perform teeth whitening processing at home.
The present invention is a mouthpiece including a light irradiation section that irradiates the front surfaces of teeth with light having a predetermined wavelength. The light irradiation section has a blue light emitting diode or ultraviolet light emitting diode, and a blue light or ultraviolet light is emitted by the light emitting diode.
According to the present invention, in the case where teeth whitening processing is performed, the mouthpiece is put in the mouth to irradiate the teeth with the blue light or ultraviolet light from the light emitting diode of the light irradiation section. In this way, since the teeth is irradiated with the blue light or ultraviolet light from the light emitting diode, light intensity is small as compared with irradiation of the ultraviolet rays from the halogen lamp, and this brings about safety without the possibility that the surfaces of teeth and the gums around the teeth will be damaged. Further, since the handling is easy, teeth whitening processing can be easily performed at home. Moreover, since the blue light emitting diode or ultraviolet light emitting diode is attached to the mouthpiece, the mouthpiece is only put in the mouth to make it possible to easily perform whitening processing.
Furthermore, according to the present invention, the mouthpiece claim 1 further includes a horseshoe main body attached to an oral cavity, and a belt-like flexible substrate embedded along the horseshoe shape of the main body. The light irradiation section is desirably attached to the flexible substrate. In this way, since the flexible substrate is embedded in the main body of the mouthpiece, the mouthpiece has high water resistance to the light emitting diode and can be washed with water.
Furthermore, according to the present invention, the flexible substrate desirably faces the front teeth when being attached to the oral cavity and multiple light emitting diodes are desirably provided in a longitudinal direction of the flexible substrate, and at least the entirety of the front teeth is desirably irradiated with the blue light or ultraviolet light. In this way, since the multiple light emitting diodes are provided in the longitudinal direction of the flexible substrate, the entirety of the front teeth can be irradiated with the blue light or ultraviolet light to eliminate the need for performing light irradiation for each tooth to make it possible to perform whitening processing effectively.
Still furthermore, according to the present invention, the light irradiation section desirably sets multiple irradiation time to be selectable by a switch. In this way, the user can select the preset irradiation time to make it possible to adjust irradiation time according to the individual's teeth state.
Also, the light irradiation section desirably emits the blue light or ultraviolet light with a frequency of 1 to 20 kHz. The reason why the frequency ranges 1 to 20 kHz in this way is as follows. Namely, when the frequency is below 1 kHz, it is difficult to obtain a sufficient processing effect of whitening. While, when the frequency exceeds 20 kHz, it is difficult to obtain an effect proportional to the high frequency, resulting in wasting power consumption.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These objects and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon reading of the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a mouthpiece according to a first embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a plane view illustrating a mouthpiece shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating an extracted flexible substrate shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a schematic view illustrating a state that a mouthpiece of FIG. 1 is used; and
FIG. 5 is a perspective view illustrating a mouthpiece according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically explained with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIGS. 1 to 3 illustrate a first embodiment of the present invention.
A mouthpiece 1 according to a first embodiment includes a horseshoe main body 3 made of silicone resin attached to an oral cavity, a belt-like flexible substrate 5 embedded in the main body 3, an electronic cable 13 connected to the flexible substrate 5, and a controller 17 connected to an end portion of the electronic cable 13. The flexible substrate 5 has a light irradiation section 7 that irradiates the front surfaces of teeth with light having a predetermined wavelength.
The light irradiation section 7 includes a blue light emitting diode 9 with a wavelength of about 450 nm. Two light irradiation sections 7 are provided to each of a substantially central portion and both ends in a longitudinal direction of the flexible substrate 5 (six in all). Front teeth placed at an upper side are irradiated with the light emitting diodes 9 attached to the upper side of the flexible substrate 5 and front teeth place at a lower side are irradiated with the light emitting diodes 9 attached to the lower side of the flexible substrate 5.
Moreover, a transparent plate 6 is attached to the light irradiation section 7 to be detachable, so that blue light from the light emitting diode 9 transmits therethrough to an external section. Furthermore, fine concave and convex portions are formed on a surface of the transparent plate 6 to scatter the blue light passing through the transparent plate 6.
Moreover, the light emitting diode 9 is controlled to provide irradiation with a frequency of 1 to 20 kHz. The reason why the frequency ranges 1 to 20 kHz in this way is as follows. Namely, when the frequency is below 1 kHz, it is difficult to obtain a sufficient processing effect of whitening. While, when the frequency exceeds 20 kHz, it is difficult to obtain an effect proportional to the high frequency, resulting in wasting power consumption.
The flexible substrate 5 is made of polyimide and placed at the position facing at least the front teeth. The flexible substrate 5 is made of polyimide in this way to reduce an influence of heat at the time of embedding the flexible substrate 5 in the main body 5 of the mouthpiece 1 at a manufacturing time, making it possible to prevent the flexible substrate 5 from being deformed and damaged. In addition, the flexible substrate 5 has a length (FIG. 3 (A)) of 20 mm in a longitudinal direction and a length (FIG. 3 (B)) of 5 mm in a transverse direction.
A plug 15 is attached to an end portion of the electronic cable 13. The plug 15 is inserted into a jack 16 of the controller 17, so that the controller 17 and the flexible substrate 5 are electrically connected to each other. The electronic cable 13 has two cores and a length of about 1 m, and its surface is covered with a white silicone resin.
The controller 17 is cylindrically shaped with an elliptical section and is small enough to be held in one hand. A case 19 of the controller 17 is made of ABS (acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene resin). Furthermore, the controller 17 includes a control substrate 21 that controls irradiation of the light emitting diode 1, a battery box 23 that contains batteries, a slide switch 25 that turns ON and OFF and sets irradiation time, and a start button 27 that starts light irradiation. In addition, two batteries 29 of 1.5V are contained in the battery box 23 and can be replaced with new ones when they are used up.
According to this embodiment, irradiation time can be selected from three levels by the slide switch 25, and any one of irradiation time, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, and 30 minutes can be selected.
An explanation will be next given of the function according to this embodiment. In the case where a user performs teeth whitening processing, user puts the mouthpiece 1 in user's mouth so that a groove 4 of the main body 3 is attached to the teeth. Then, the plug 15 of the electrical cable 13 is connected to the jack 16 of the controller 17. After that, the slide operation of the slide switch 25 is performed to turn on power and select any one of irradiation time, 1 minutes, 20 minutes, and 30 minutes. After that, when the start button 27 is pressed, light irradiation from the light irradiation section 7 is started, the front teeth are irradiated with blue light for set irradiation time. In this way, the front surfaces of the front teeth are irradiated with blue light, making it possible to execute irradiation with a wavelength close to a wavelength region of light used for whitening processing.
Accordingly, since the teeth are irradiated with blue light emitted from the light emitting diode 9, light intensity is small as compared with irradiation of ultraviolet rays from the halogen lamp, and this brings about safety without the possibility that the surfaces of teeth and the gums around the teeth will be damaged. Further, since the handling is easy, teeth whitening processing can be easily performed at home.
Since the blue light emitting diode 9 is attached to the mouthpiece 9, the mouthpiece 1 is only put in the mouth to make it possible to easily perform whitening processing.
Since the flexible substrate 5 is embedded in the main body 3 of the mouthpiece 1, the mouthpiece 1 has high water resistance to the light emitting diode 9 and can be washed with water after using the mouthpiece 1.
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be explained with reference to FIG. 5. In the explanation given below, the same reference numerals as those of the first embodiment are added to the portions where the same function and effect are exerted as those of the first embodiment, and the explanation is omitted. The following mainly explains the points different from the first embodiment.
The mouthpiece 1 of the second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in the point that the main body 3 is formed like a belt instead of the horseshoe. In this case, as illustrated in FIG. 5, the flexible substrate 5 is embedded in the belt-like main body 3. In the case of performing the teeth whitening processing, a back surface portion 31 of the main body 3 is put onto the front surfaces of the front teeth. Then, the start button 27 of the controller 17 is pressed under this state to irradiate the front teeth with the blue light.
In this way, the main body 3 is band-shaped to make it possible to easily put the surfaces of the front teeth in the mouth and make the entirety of the apparatus compact.
The present invention is not limited to the above described embodiments, and various modifications may be possible without departing from the scope of the present invention.
The light emitting diodes are not limited to the blue light emitting diodes, and an ultraviolet light emitting diode with a wavelength of about 400 nm may be possible.
The number of light emitting diodes 9 is not limited to six, and any number may be possible.
In the aforementioned embodiments, thought the irradiation time of light emitting diodes can be selected from three levels of 10 minutes, 20 minutes, and 30 minutes, the present invention is not limited to this, and, for example, two levels may be possible and four or more levels may be also possible. Moreover, the maximum irradiation time may be more than 30 minutes.
In the aforementioned embodiments, though both the flexible substrate 5 and the controller 17 are connected to each other by the electrical cable 13 to control light irradiation from the light emitting diodes 9, the present invention is not limited to this, and no electrical cable 13 may be provided. In this case, a control substrate, small-size batteries, and s start button are attached to the main body 3 of the mouthpiece 1, so that light irradiation from the light emitting diodes 9 may be controlled on the main body 3.

Claims

1. A mouthpiece comprising:

a light irradiation section that irradiates the front surfaces of teeth with light having a predetermined wavelength,

wherein the light irradiation section has a blue light emitting diode or ultraviolet light emitting diode, and the teeth is irradiated with a blue light or ultraviolet light emitted by the light emitting diode.

2. The mouthpiece according to claim 1 further comprising:

a horseshoe main body attached to an oral cavity; and

a belt-like flexible substrate embedded along the horseshoe shape of the main body,

wherein the light irradiation section is attached to the flexible substrate.

3. The mouthpiece according to claim 2, wherein the flexible substrate faces the front teeth when being attached to the oral cavity, and multiple light emitting diodes are provided in a longitudinal direction of the flexible substrate, and at least the entirety of the front teeth is irradiated with the blue light or ultraviolet light.

4. The mouthpiece according to claim 2, wherein the light irradiation section sets multiple irradiation time to be selectable by a switch.

5. The mouthpiece according to claim 4, wherein the light irradiation section emits the blue light or ultraviolet light with a frequency of 1 to 20 kHz.