34 results about "Soft palate" patented technology

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for treating obstructive sleep apnea by using negative oral pressure to a patient. The present apparatus includes a vacuum unit for controlling and maintaining negative pressure of an oral cavity of the patient, a tube with one end thereof connecting to the vacuum unit to suck out air in the oral cavity to generate the negative pressure therein, and a mouthpiece connecting to the other end of the tube and fitting into and sealing the patient's mouth to prevent the oral cavity from air leakage. By using negative pressure in the oral cavity, the patient's soft palate is pulled toward the oral cavity and the patient's tongue is pulled toward an upper palate so as to maintain the patient's nasal air passageway open.

A method, system and device for addressing the reduction of snoring includes a removable or dissolvable strip of material that adhere to mucosal tissue of a person's soft palate to provide stiffening support therefore, thus reducing the occurrence of vibration of such tissue during sleep. Preferred embodiments include of a specially textured surface, either one both or at least the outer side of an adhesive strip (the side facing away from the mucosal tissue to which it is attached) that has anti-microbial characteristics, bioluminescent expressions, etc. and a surface topography that resists bioadhesion of undesired bacteria that are typically present in a human's mouth.

A method of treating snoring and / or OSA in a subject in need of such treatment. The method includes crosslinking proteins of the subject's soft palate tissue or pharynx tissue. The crosslinking can occur by contacting the soft palate or pharynx tissue with a crosslinking reagent. In addition, the crosslinking can occur without heating, contracting or denaturing of the tissue, or any combination thereof.

A device for snoring and obstructive sleep apnea treatment has an oral elastic glove portion adapted to removably cover a free moving portion of a user's tongue. Three vacuum suction cups are used to attach the device to the hard palate and the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the tongue in order to hold the device in place without allowing the tongue to move backwards. A vacuum creating cannula and a syringe attached to a tip of the device to create a vacuum once the device in positioned in the user's mouth. In addition, a balloon is provided to prevent soft palate vibrations. A skin attachment pad is removably attached to the user's face close to the mouth and holds the end of a string provided to secure the tongue glove from moving during sleep or be accidentally swallowed.

The invention discloses an adjustable soft palate supporting body and an implantation method thereof. The soft palate supporting body is a flat implant made of a material capable of being implanted into a human body for a long time, and consists of a hard palate connecting end and a supporting body, wherein the supporting body is a flat implant which can be inserted into the soft palate; the supporting body is connected to the hard palate connecting end; a connecting structure connected with the hard palate and an adjusting mechanism are arranged at the hard palate connecting end; the connecting structure arranged at the hard palate connecting end is used for fixing the supporting body on the hard palate; and the adjusting mechanism arranged on the hard palate connecting end controls the motion state or bending curvature of the supporting body or the soft palate lifting degree. The adjusting mechanism is positioned in an open state under a wakeful state, and the supporting body implanted into the soft palate can move along the natural swing of the soft palate; and before a sleep state, the adjusting mechanism is positioned in a closed state, the supporting body can lift the soft palate, the pharyngeal airway is enlarged, and the aim of treating snore and obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) is fulfilled.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to methods, systems and probe devices for detecting EMG activity. In some embodiments, such methods, systems and devices are used in aiding the diagnosis of Obstruction Sleep Apnea (OSA). In some embodiments, a probe is provided and comprises an elongated member configured with a size and shape for placement adjacent at least one of the soft palate and pharyngeal wall of the patient after insertion of the probe into the patient. The probe may also include at least one sensor configured to sense at least EMG activity of muscle layers of at least one of the soft palate and pharyngeal wall and output sensor signals corresponding thereto. The signals may be monitored for EMG activity, and based on such activity, in some embodiments, a determination of whether the sensor signals of the detected EMG activity correspond to spontaneous EMG activity and / or abnormal motor unit potentials (MUPs).

The invention discloses a simple method and a simple device for stopping snoring by electrical stimulation. The method is characterized in that the tongue root and the soft palate are subjected to microelectric-current stimulation by intraoral or extraoral electrodes, and corresponding muscles are enabled to shrink to release an obstruction in a pharyngeal respiratory tract in sleep so as to stop snoring. The simple device comprises an intraoral snore stopping device or an extraoral snore stopping device. The intraoral snore stopping device refers to a single-jaw tooth socket with electrodes contacting with the tongue root and the soft palate and mounted at the rear ends of two sides of the single-jaw tooth socket, particularly, each electrode synchronously contacting with the soft palate and the rear part of the tongue on the same side is mounted on the tongue side of the rear end of each side of the single-jaw tooth socket, the single-jaw tooth socket is formed by a U-shaped grooved bottom plate, an outer assisting plate and an inner assisting plate, the outer assisting plate and the inner assisting plate are connected with the U-shaped grooved bottom plate, and the single-jaw tooth socket varies in shapes according to the dentition shape of patients. The extroral snore stopping device comprises two pairs of electrode patches which can attach to positions, below the jaw and ears, on both sides of the face, and the electrode patches are auxiliarily fixed by an annular elastic belt or an adhesive belt passing by the top of the head and to the chin. The two electrodes are connected to positive and negative electrodes of a power supply which is provided with an adjusting switch. The simple device is non-toxic, harmless, safe, reliable, remarkable in snore stopping effect and convenient to use.

A device for snoring and obstructive sleep apnea treatment has an oral elastic glove portion adapted to removably cover a free moving portion of a user's tongue. Three vacuum suction cups are used to attach the device to the hard palate and the dorsal and ventral surfaces of the tongue in order to hold the device in place without allowing the tongue to move backwards. A vacuum creating cannula and a syringe attached to a tip of the device to create a vacuum once the device in positioned in the user's mouth. In addition, a balloon is provided to prevent soft palate vibrations. A skin attachment pad is removably attached to the user's face close to the mouth and holds the end of a string provided to secure the tongue glove from moving during sleep or be accidentally swallowed.

A mouth appliance for maintaining effective airflow in a wearer's airway comprises a frame formed to engage the wearer's upper and lower teeth to retain the frame in a selected position in the wearer's mouth in accord with the wearer's natural bite. A tongue depressor is mounted to the frame and formed to extend to a rear portion of the wearer's throat and exert pressure directly on the tongue in the area of the wearer's soft palate, thereby facilitating comfort and ease in occasional swallowing, while providing airflow effectiveness to prevent the wearer from snoring and experiencing sleep apnea.

The invention discloses an oral-temperature shaping wax used for preparing a soft palate defect cavity impression and a preparation method thereof, belonging to the technical field of medical materials used for the oral cavity. The oral-temperature shaping wax comprises, by mass, 45 to 55% of paraffin, 25 to 35% of mixed crystalline wax, 8 to 15% of microcrystalline wax, 5 to 10% of rosin and 1 to 5% of polypropylene. The oral-temperature shaping wax disclosed in the invention has good biosecurity, becomes soft and shapable at oral temperature without becoming flowable, and is hard and stable at room temperature. The preparation method for the oral-temperature shaping wax is simple to operate, is green and environment-friendly and is applicable to industrial large-scale production.

The present invention is an electric anti-snoring mouthpiece, which has grooves for upper teeth and grooves for lower teeth. The side plate is composed of a pair of electrodes on both sides of the opening of the inner side plate that are respectively in contact with the soft palate and the base of the tongue. The pair of electrodes are respectively connected to the positive and negative poles of the power supply. The voltage of the power supply is a constant DC power supply of 3-4.5v Or pulse power supply, and a regulating switch. When in use, let the upper teeth and lower teeth of the patient enter the grooves of the upper teeth and the lower teeth respectively and clench them tightly. The two electrodes are respectively in contact with the base of the tongue and the soft palate on the same side. Turn on the power and adjust the voltage to feel comfortable. Slight contraction avoids the oppression and narrowing deformation of the pharyngeal airway by the tongue base and soft palate falling backward, so as to achieve the purpose of eliminating snoring. The invention can effectively eliminate snoring, and at the same time, has simple structure, low manufacturing cost, convenient use, safety, reliability, non-toxicity and harmlessness, and the symptoms of users are obviously alleviated or the elimination rate reaches 99%.

The invention relates to an atomization drug delivery instrument for paranasal sinuses. The atomization drug delivery instrument comprises an atomization tank; a lower gas inlet pipe is arranged under the atomization tank, compressed air can be pumped into the lower gas inlet pipe for atomizing liquid medicine at the bottom of the atomization tank, and the atomized liquid medicine reaches the upper part of the atomization tank and becomes atomized gas; a gas outlet pipe is arranged at one side of the atomization tank; an upper gas inlet pipe is arranged above the atomization tank; the compressed gas can be pumped into the upper gas inlet pipe for driving the atomized gas to enter the nasal cavity through the gas outlet pipe. The atomization drug delivery instrument has the beneficial effects that after being atomized by the compressed air, the liquid medicine is brought into the nasal cavity by means of siphonic effect, so that the atomized liquid medicine which is in a floating state is likely to reach the paranasal sinuses; by using a voice operated switch to control the work of the atomization tank, when a patient makes a sound, the soft palate is closed, and the atomized gas cannot enter the respiratory tract and only can move upwards to enter the paranasal sinuses, so that liquid medicine shunt is avoided.

Methods for treating sleep apnea. A method includes implanting at least first and second elongated implants in a tongue or soft palate of a patient, wherein each of the first and second implants is configured to have a first, expanded configuration and a second, contracted configuration, wherein implanting comprises implanting the first and second implants having their first, expanded configurations. The invention also provides systems for treating sleep apnea that can be used with the methods.

A medical appliance for the treatment of one or more sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea in a patient, the appliance comprising: a biasing member for inserting behind and exerting a force upon the patient's soft palate or tongue, wherein the biasing member is inserted in a reduced or minimized form and then expanded or firms once in place to exert the force. The appliance may be nasally inserted or be placed through the mouth. In a particular configuration, both the soft palate and tongue are biased to prevent obstruction of the flow of air in the nasopharyngeal airway.

The invention relates to a spraying medicament used for treating snore, which is prepared by the following steps: firstly, adopting the following raw materials proportioning by weight according to the components in the preparation method: dimethyl sulfone, glycerol, peppermint oil, ethanol, stevioside and purified water, wherein each 100g of spraying medicament comprises the following components: 3-5g of dimethyl sulfone, 8-12ml of glycerol, 10-12ml of peppermint oil, 20-24ml of ethanol, 15-18g of stevioside and the balance purified water, then putting the six components into a high-speed mixer and mixing evenly; and finally, pumping into an ozone sterilizer by a miniature beverage pump, sterilizing and filling. The spraying medicament for treating snore, which is prepared by the method, is colorless transparent liquid, has no toxic or side effect, regulates the variation activity of the relevant cells of the tissue of the respiratory tract by rectifying the abnormal secretion of the in-vivo glandular organ, enables the abnormal exudate of the cells of the trachea wall, the soft-palate tongue root tissue and the nasal cavity to get right, retracts the local tissue structure to become healthy and tough, dredges the respiratory tract, enables the respiratory tract to be smooth, enables the airflow to be unhindered and acts as the effect of eliminating or lightening the snore. Functional experiments prove that the invention has the function of preventing the snore. By clinical verification, a patient does not have a discomfortable feeling, and the invention has good adaptability and no side effect.

A self-retaining suture having particular application for treating obstructive sleep apnea and use thereof. The suture includes rising an elongated suture body having a periphery and first and second tissue-penetrating ends each with a bi-curve needle, and a plurality of first retainers on a first segment and oriented to the first end, and a plurality of second retainers a second segment and oriented to the second end, and a retainer-free transition segment disposed between the pluralities of first and second retainers.

An implant for treating obstructive sleep apnea includes a flexible chamber, a fluid reservoir in fluid communication with the flexible chamber, and a fluid transfer assembly in communication with the fluid reservoir and the flexible chamber for transferring fluid therebetween for selectively modifying the rigidity of the flexible chamber. The flexible chamber is implantable within the soft tissue of an oropharyngeal airway of a patient, such as within the tongue, the soft palate, or the pharyngeal wall. The fluid reservoir and the fluid transfer assembly are implantable within the inframandibular region of the patient. The fluid transfer assembly is selectively engageable by the patient for transferring fluid between the two chambers for modifying the rigidity, flexibility, and / or shape of the flexible chamber with minimal or no change to the volume of the implant.

The invention relates to a nasopharyngeal cancer transplantation tumor model used for the technical field of medical models. The nasopharyngeal cancer transplantation tumor model is improved on the basis of a naked mouse in-situ transplantation tumor model, and aims at overcoming the technical difficulties that in the transplantation process, the incidence of death from suffocation is high, the survival time after transplantation is short, and long-time experiments are not suitable. Inhalation anesthesia is adopted in tumor model preparation, firstly, naked mice reach the anesthesia depth through gas anesthesia, then 105 stable transfection Luc 5-8F cell suspension is sucked through a 1-ml insulin needle, passes through mouth cavities to pass through the position below border white lines of hard palates and soft palates by 5 mm, and penetrates through mucosae to left-side pharyngeal recesses or right-side pharyngeal recesses to be inoculated, the inoculum size is controlled within 25 microliters, and results show that the incidence of nasopharyngeal cancer in the model mice is 100%, and the naked mice dying from dyspnea after transplantation do not occur in the transplantation process. The model is the in-situ nasopharyngeal cancer model which can be used for researching the development and metastasis of in-situ nasopharyngeal cancer, and meanwhile is also suitable for long-term experimental treatment and diagnostic research of nasopharyngeal cancer.

A retractor suction catheter used during surgery is provided. The suction catheter may include a flexible tube having an open end and a closed end. The open end may include a fitting. The tube may further include a plurality of slits in between the open end and the closed end. The tube may fit through a subject's oral cavity and out of the mouth. The tube may retract the soft palate so that the surgeon may perform the proper surgery. Further, a vacuum may be attached to the fitting, and therefore liquids, fumes and debris may be removed through the apertures.

A protein crosslinker delivery device includes a body and a protein crosslinker held in a synthetic or natural biodegradable polymer. The body, a coating on the body, or an attachment to the body can contain the protein crosslinker holding biodegradable polymer. The release rate of the crosslinker and total amount of crosslinker released can be controlled by varying the concentration of the crosslinker and by varying the composition and structural characteristics of the degradable polymer. Surface eroding, bulk eroding and naturally occurring biodegradable polymers can be used in conjunction with a variety of nontoxic or minimally-toxic protein crosslinking agents. The devices can be used to treat mechanically damaged, deformed, and nutritionally deficient connective or soft tissues such as the knee meniscus, the spinal disc, the cornea, ligaments and tendons, the soft palate, and skin.

A retractor suction catheter used during surgery is provided. The suction catheter may include a tube having an open end and a closed end. The open end may include a fitting. The tube may further include a plurality of openings in between the open end and the closed end. The tube may fit through a subject's oral cavity and out of the mouth. The tube may retract the soft palate so that the surgeon may perform the proper surgery. Further, a vacuum may be attached to the fitting, and therefore fumes and debris may be removed through the apertures.

The current invention provides an adjustable soft palate support and an implantation method. The adjustable soft palate support is a flat implant including a hard palate connecting end and a support. The support is a flat implant connected to the hard palate connecting end and is inserted into the soft palate. The hard palate connecting end is connected to the hard palate and includes a connecting structure and an adjustment mechanism. The connecting structure is configured to affix the support to the hard palate, and the adjustment mechanism is configured to control the movement or the curvature of the support or the lifting degree of the soft palate. The adjustment mechanism may be set to be in an on state to reduce interference with swallowing or to an off state to enlarge an airway during breathing, thereby treating snoring and obstructive sleep apnea / hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS).

The invention discloses an adjustable soft palate supporting body and an implantation method thereof. The soft palate supporting body is a flat implant made of a material capable of being implanted into a human body for a long time, and consists of a hard palate connecting end and a supporting body, wherein the supporting body is a flat implant which can be inserted into the soft palate; the supporting body is connected to the hard palate connecting end; a connecting structure connected with the hard palate and an adjusting mechanism are arranged at the hard palate connecting end; the connecting structure arranged at the hard palate connecting end is used for fixing the supporting body on the hard palate; and the adjusting mechanism arranged on the hard palate connecting end controls the motion state or bending curvature of the supporting body or the soft palate lifting degree. The adjusting mechanism is positioned in an open state under a wakeful state, and the supporting body implanted into the soft palate can move along the natural swing of the soft palate; and before a sleep state, the adjusting mechanism is positioned in a closed state, the supporting body can lift the soft palate, the pharyngeal airway is enlarged, and the aim of treating snore and obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) is fulfilled.