STEM II

The Circuit Brush

The problem that we addressed in our STEM II project was the difficulty that individuals with moderate to severe arm impairment from Cerebral palsy face when brushing their teeth, and in some cases, making this impossible without external assistance. This poses a significant threat to quality of life, jeopardizing both physical health and independence. The device is made for individuals with cerebral palsy who strive for more individuality in their lives, particularly those with motor issues in their arms and hands. The way we approached the design was to try and have the brush replicate the motion of a traditional toothbrush as much as possible, while also being able to be operated completely hands-free. Originally, we were going to use motors within the mouth to create rotating brush heads, but due to space constraints when working within the mouth, we decided to eventually settle on a design which only moves brushes along the front of the teeth without any rotation. In order to make sure we covered all surfaces, we decided to use a three headed toothbrush, which covers all planes of the teeth at once. The prototype we created is a hands-free toothbrush that is controlled by a button which can be pressed with any part of the body, and which allows the user to simply place their mouth on the toothbrush and it will move multiple three headed toothbrushes around both the upper and lower jaws. This allows the user to brush their teeth without using their hands, while also not sacrificing the quality of brushing, a crucial difference between our device and other "hands-free" toothbrushes. the brushes are attached onto a flexible TPU surface, which is able to move the brushes around the mouth while it slides across the PLA casing.