초록 ▼

An intra-oral mandibular advancement appliance to be inserted in the mouth of a patient so as to maintain an open airway to the patient's throat and thereby improve breathing during sleep. The mandibular advancement appliance has particular application for use by those wishing to reduce the effects

An intra-oral mandibular advancement appliance to be inserted in the mouth of a patient so as to maintain an open airway to the patient's throat and thereby improve breathing during sleep. The mandibular advancement appliance has particular application for use by those wishing to reduce the effects of snoring and/or sleep apnea. The appliance includes an upper tray assembly against which is seated the patient's teeth carried by his upper jaw and a lower tray assembly against which the patient's teeth carried by his lower jaw are seated. The lower tray assembly is mated to and slidably adjustable by the patient relative to the upper tray assembly. By virtue of the foregoing, the position of the patient's lower jaw can be selectively and continuously moved forward with respect to the position of the upper jaw to prevent an occlusion of the airway as the patient's condition changes over time.

대표청구항 ▼

1. An intra-oral mandibular advancement appliance to be inserted in the mouth of a patient so as to permit the position of the lower jaw of the patient to be adjusted relative to the upper jaw to maintain an airway to the throat through which the patient can breathe while sleeping, said appliance co

1. An intra-oral mandibular advancement appliance to be inserted in the mouth of a patient so as to permit the position of the lower jaw of the patient to be adjusted relative to the upper jaw to maintain an airway to the throat through which the patient can breathe while sleeping, said appliance comprising: an upper tray assembly having an arcuate shape against which the teeth of the patient's upper jaw are seated, said upper tray assembly having a front and a pair of sides lying opposite and spaced from one another;a lower tray assembly having an arcuate shape against which the teeth of the patient's lower jaw are seated, said lower tray assembly also having a front and a pair of sides lying opposite and spaced from one another;a position adjustment block located at each of the pair of sides of one of said upper tray assembly and said lower tray assembly; anda locking channel located at each of the pair of sides of the other one of said upper tray assembly and said lower tray assembly, each position adjustment block being slidably received within a respective locking channel, whereby said lower tray assembly is mated in releasable locking engagement to said upper tray assembly to prevent a displacement of said lower tray assembly relative to said upper tray assembly,said lower tray assembly being responsive to a lateral compressive squeezing force simultaneously applied to the opposite sides thereof to temporarily change the shape of and deform said lower tray assembly to enable each position adjustment block to slide through its respective locking channel so as to release the locking engagement of said lower tray assembly to said upper tray assembly and thereby permit the positions of said lower tray assembly and the patient's lower jaw to be adjusted relative to the positions of said upper tray assembly and the patient's upper jaw. 2. The intra-oral mandibular advancement appliance recited in claim 1, wherein said lower tray assembly has a push pad located at each of said pair of sides for receipt of said lateral compressive squeezing force thereagainst so that the shape of said arcuate lower tray assembly can be temporarily changed and the position of said lower tray assembly adjusted relative to the position of said upper tray assembly. 3. The intra-oral mandibular advancement appliance recited in claim 2, wherein said push pad located at one side of said arcuate lower tray assembly has a position indicator and said upper tray assembly has a position indication scale, said position indicator moving along said position indication scale when the position of said lower tray assembly is adjusted relative to the position of said upper tray assembly. 4. The intra-oral mandibular advancement appliance recited in claim 1, further comprising a tongue rest held between the pairs of sides of said arcuate upper and lower tray assemblies and adapted to lay upon the tongue of the patient to prevent the tongue from falling across and blocking the patient's airway. 5. The intra-oral mandibular advancement appliance recited in claim 4, further comprising a tongue rest support to which said tongue rest is connected, said tongue rest support being detachably connected to the position control adjustment blocks located at the pair of sides of the one of said upper tray assembly and said lower tray assembly so that said tongue rest support and said tongue rest connected to said tongue rest support are detachable from said position control adjustment blocks. 6. The intra-oral mandibular advancement appliance recited in claim 1, wherein the position adjustment blocks and the locking channels located at the pair of sides of said arcuate upper and lower tray assemblies have respective sets of teeth running therealong, the sets of teeth of the position adjustment blocks meshing with the sets of teeth of said locking channels, whereby said lower tray assembly is mated in said releasable locking engagement to said upper tray assembly to prevent a displacement of said lower tray assembly relative to said upper tray assembly. 7. The intra-oral mandibular advancement appliance recited in claim 1, wherein each position adjustment block at each of the pair of sides of the one of said arcuate upper tray assembly and said arcuate lower tray assembly has a lip projecting therefrom, the lips projecting from said position adjustment blocks sliding along and being engaged by the pair of sides of the other one of said arcuate upper tray assembly and said arcuate lower tray assembly when said position adjustment blocks of said arcuate lower tray assembly slide through respective locking channels of said arcuate upper tray assembly. 8. The intra-oral mandibular advancement appliance recited in claim 1, wherein there is a centering guide located at and standing upwardly from the front of said arcuate lower tray assembly and a guide path located between a pair of guide path walls at the front of said arcuate upper tray assembly, said centering guide riding through said guide path between said guide path walls when the position adjustment blocks at the pair of sides of the one of said arcuate upper tray assembly and said lower tray assembly slide through the respective locking channels at the pair of sides of the other one of said arcuate upper tray assembly and said lower tray assembly. 9. The intra-oral mandibular advancement appliance recited in claim 1, wherein said upper tray assembly includes a relatively soft and impressionable upper bite portion against which the teeth of the patient's upper jaw are seated and a relatively hard and rigid upper chassis when compared to said upper bite portion, said upper bite portion lying over said upper chassis. 10. The intra-oral mandibular advancement appliance recited in claim 9, wherein the relatively soft and impressionable upper bite portion of said upper tray assembly has a bite channel formed therein within which the teeth of the patient's upper jaw are received, said upper bite portion being responsive to heat applied thereto such that an impression of the teeth of the patient's upper jaw is formed in said bite channel when the patient bites into said upper tray assembly and thereby compresses said relatively soft and impressionable upper bite portion against said relatively hard and rigid upper chassis. 11. The intra-oral mandibular advancement appliance recited in claim 10, wherein said lower tray assembly includes a relatively soft and impressionable lower bite portion against which the teeth of the patient's lower jaw are seated and a relatively hard and rigid lower chassis when compared to said lower bite portion, said lower bite portion lying over said lower chassis. 12. The intra-oral mandibular advancement appliance recited in claim 11, wherein the relatively soft and impressionable lower bite portion of said lower tray assembly has a bite channel formed therein within which the teeth of the patient's lower jaw are received, said lower bite portion being responsive to heat applied thereto such that an impression of the teeth of the patient's lower jaw is formed in said bite channel when the patient bites into said lower tray assembly and thereby compresses said relatively soft and impressionable lower bite portion against said relatively hard and rigid lower chassis. 13. An intra-oral mandibular advancement appliance to be inserted in the mouth of a patient so as to permit the position of the lower jaw of the patient to be adjusted relative to the upper jaw to maintain an airway to the throat through which the patient can breathe while sleeping, said appliance comprising: an upper tray assembly having an arcuate shape against which the teeth of the patient's upper jaw are seated, said upper tray assembly including a pair of sides lying opposite and spaced from one another;a lower tray assembly having an arcuate shape against which the teeth of the patient's lower jaw are seated, said lower tray assembly including a pair of sides lying opposite and spaced from one another and an upstanding position adjustment block located at each of said pair of sides and disposed in releasable locking engagement with said upper tray assembly, whereby to mate said upper and lower tray assemblies together and prevent a displacement of said lower tray assembly relative to said upper tray assembly; anda tongue rest projecting from said lower tray assembly and located between the pairs of sides of said upper and lower tray assemblies to lay upon the tongue of the patient and prevent the tongue from falling across and blocking the patient's airway, said tongue rest being detachably connected to the upstanding position adjustment blocks at the opposite sides of said lower tray assembly,said lower tray assembly being responsive to a lateral compressive squeezing force simultaneously applied to the opposite sides thereof to temporarily change the shape of and deform said lower tray assembly so as to release the locking engagement of said upstanding position adjustment blocks to said upper tray assembly and thereby permit the positions of said lower tray assembly and the patient's lower jaw to be adjusted relative to the positions of said upper tray assembly and the patient's upper jaw. 14. The intro-oral mandibular advancement appliance recited in claim 13, wherein said upper tray assembly has first and second channels recessed therein for the slidable receipt of the upstanding position adjustment blocks located at the opposite sides of said lower tray assembly, said position adjustment blocks and said first and second recessed channels having respective complementary sets of teeth that are meshed together, whereby said position adjustment blocks are disposed in said releasable locking engagement with said upper tray assembly and said upper and lower tray assemblies are mated together. 15. An intra-oral mandibular advancement appliance to be inserted in the mouth of a patient so as to permit the position of the lower jaw of the patient to be adjusted relative to the upper jaw to maintain an airway to the throat through which the patient can breathe while sleeping, said appliance comprising: an upper tray assembly against which the teeth of the patient's upper jaw are seated; anda lower tray assembly against which the teeth of the patient's lower jaw are seated,one of said upper tray assembly and said lower tray assembly including at least one upstanding position control block having at least one first set of teeth running therealong and the other one of said upper and lower tray assemblies having a locking channel recessed therein and having a complementary set of locking teeth running therealong, said position adjustment block being received within said recessed locking channel such that said first and complementary sets of teeth are meshed together in releasable interlocking engagement to prevent a displacement of said lower tray assembly relative to said upper tray assembly,said lower tray assembly being responsive to a lateral compressive squeezing force applied thereto to correspondingly change the shape of and deform said lower tray assembly and thereby enable the first and complementary sets of teeth of said position adjustment block and said locking channel to be released from their interlocking engagement with one another so as to permit said upstanding position adjustment block to slide through said recessed locking channel whereby the positions of said lower tray assembly and the patient's lower jaw are correspondingly adjusted relative to the positions of said upper tray assembly and the patient's upper jaw. 16. The intro-oral mandibular advancement appliance recited in claim 15, wherein there is a centering guide standing upwardly from one of said upper and lower tray assemblies and a guide path formed between a pair of guide path walls located at the other one of said upper and lower tray assemblies, said upstanding centering guide riding through said guide path between said guide path walls at the same time that said position adjustment block slides through the said locking channel and the positions of said lower tray assembly and the patient's lower jaw are adjusted. 17. The intro-oral mandibular advancement appliance recited in claim 15, wherein said at least one upstanding position control block has a lip projecting therefrom and said at least onen recessed locking channel has a catch lying thereabove, said lip sliding below and being captured by said catch, whereby said position control block is retained within said channel and said upper and lower tray assemblies are mated together. 18. The intra-oral mandibular advancement appliance recited in claim 15, wherein each of said upper and lower tray assemblies has an arcuate shape with a front and a pair of sides that are spaced from and located opposite one another, the one of said arcuate upper and lower tray assemblies having said at least one upstanding position control block located at each of said pair of sides thereof, and the other one of said arcuate upper and lower tray assemblies having said at least one locking channel recessed within each of said pair of sides for the slidable receipt of respective ones of said position control blocks, said lower tray assembly being responsive to said lateral compressive squeezing force simultaneously applied to the pair of sides thereof. 19. The intra-oral mandibular advancement appliance recited in claim 18, further comprising a tongue rest held between the pair of sides of each of said arcuate upper and lower tray assemblies and adapted to lay upon the tongue of the patient to prevent the tongue from falling across and blocking the patient's airway, and a tongue rest support to which said tongue rest is connected, said tongue rest support being detachably connected to the upstanding position control blocks located at the pair of sides of the one of said upper and lower tray assemblies. 20. The intra-oral mandibular advancement appliance recited in claim 15, wherein each of said upper and lower tray assemblies has a relatively soft and impressionable bite portion against which respective sets of the teeth of the patient's upper and lower jaw are seated and a relatively hard and rigid chassis when compared to said bite portion, said bite portion lying over said chassis.