Method for cleaning the oral cavity
First Claim
1. A method for cleaning an oral cavity, said method comprising:
- a. positioning within a section of said oral cavity a device suitable for detecting and removing plaque from a surface of at least one tooth in said oral cavity,b. substantially simultaneously cleaning and irradiating said surface of at least one tooth in said oral cavity, said at least one tooth having applied thereto a fluorescent agent capable of binding to plaque on said surface of said at least one tooth, with incident radiation of a wavelength effective to provide a fluorescent emission when contacted with said fluorescent agent on said surface of said at least one tooth,c. collecting at least a portion of said fluorescent emission over a first time period,d. determining a first average plaque value (APV1) based on said fluorescent emission collected over said first time period,e. collecting at least a portion of said fluorescent emission over a second time period,f. determining a second average plaque value (APV2) based on said fluorescent emission collected over said second time period; and
g. comparing said APV1 to said APV2,wherein reflected light resulting from contact of said incident radiation with said surface is collected essentially simultaneously with said fluorescent emission and said APV1 and APV2 to determine average compensated plague value (ACPV) for said APV1 and APV2.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method of cleaning an oral cavity, the method including positioning a device suitable for detecting and removing plaque from a surface of the oral cavity within the oral cavity, cleaning and irradiating the surface of a tooth in the oral cavity, the tooth having applied thereto a fluorescent agent, with incident radiation of a wavelength effective to provide a fluorescent emission when contacted with the fluorescent agent on the tooth, collecting at least a portion of the fluorescent emission over a first time period, determining a first average fluorescent emission value (APV1), collecting at least a portion of the fluorescent emission over a second time period, determining a second average plaque value (APV2); and comparing the APV1 to the APV2.
49 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A method for cleaning an oral cavity, said method comprising:
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a. positioning within a section of said oral cavity a device suitable for detecting and removing plaque from a surface of at least one tooth in said oral cavity, b. substantially simultaneously cleaning and irradiating said surface of at least one tooth in said oral cavity, said at least one tooth having applied thereto a fluorescent agent capable of binding to plaque on said surface of said at least one tooth, with incident radiation of a wavelength effective to provide a fluorescent emission when contacted with said fluorescent agent on said surface of said at least one tooth, c. collecting at least a portion of said fluorescent emission over a first time period, d. determining a first average plaque value (APV1) based on said fluorescent emission collected over said first time period, e. collecting at least a portion of said fluorescent emission over a second time period, f. determining a second average plaque value (APV2) based on said fluorescent emission collected over said second time period; and g. comparing said APV1 to said APV2, wherein reflected light resulting from contact of said incident radiation with said surface is collected essentially simultaneously with said fluorescent emission and said APV1 and APV2 to determine average compensated plague value (ACPV) for said APV1 and APV2. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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Specification