Toothbrush for creating a whitening effect
First Claim
1. A toothbrush for creating a whitening effect on a user'"'"'s teeth, comprising a handle, a cleaning head attached to said handle, said cleaning head having an outer surface, cleaning elements on said cleaning head extending outwardly from said outer surface, said cleaning elements being located in a cleaning field, said toothbrush having an ultraviolet light, and said ultraviolet light having an emitter in said cleaning field to radiate ultraviolet light toward the user'"'"'s teeth for activating an optical brightener on the user'"'"'s teeth to create a visual whitening effect.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A toothpaste formulation contains ultraviolet brighteners as a whitening ingredient. Such optical brighteners have a whitening or bleaching effect when in contact with ultraviolet radiation. The activation of the brighteners preferably occurs through the use of a toothbrush having a UV source which transmits light through the bristle field of the toothbrush. The toothbrush could be a manual toothbrush or a powered toothbrush.
35 Citations
22 Claims
- 1. A toothbrush for creating a whitening effect on a user'"'"'s teeth, comprising a handle, a cleaning head attached to said handle, said cleaning head having an outer surface, cleaning elements on said cleaning head extending outwardly from said outer surface, said cleaning elements being located in a cleaning field, said toothbrush having an ultraviolet light, and said ultraviolet light having an emitter in said cleaning field to radiate ultraviolet light toward the user'"'"'s teeth for activating an optical brightener on the user'"'"'s teeth to create a visual whitening effect.
- 15. A method for creating a whitening effect on a user'"'"'s teeth comprising incorporating in a carrier an optical brightener which is capable of attaching to the teeth and which has the characteristic of having a whitening effect in the presence of UV light, applying the carrier to the user'"'"'s teeth, attaching the brightener to the user'"'"'s teeth, radiating UV light from a UV light source toward the user'"'"'s teeth, and creating a whitening effect by the UV light activating the brightener.
Specification