Patent ID: 9636250
Date: 2017-05-02
CPC Classifications: A61C,A61F

Claim:
1. An intraoral tongue grasping and restraining device for retaining a user's tongue in a forward position when worn by the user, the user's tongue having a tongue upper surface, a tongue lower surface, a tongue tip, a tongue base, the user having a mouth, an upper jaw and a lower jaw, said device comprising: a first upper support comprising a first base portion and a first tongue gripping surface, and wherein said first tongue gripping surface comprises a plurality of tongue engaging projections extending outwardly from the first base portion and adapted to extend toward the tongue upper surface when worn by a user, a second lower support comprising a second base portion and a second tongue gripping surface, and wherein said second tongue gripping surface comprises a plurality of tongue engaging projections that extend outwardly from said second base portion and adapted to extend toward the tongue lower surface when worn by a user, an upper jaw coupler adapted to couple said first upper support to the upper jaw, at least one biasing member adapted to urge at least one of the first and second tongue gripping surfaces toward the other of the first and second tongue gripping surfaces with the user's tongue positioned therebetween so as to grip and restrain the user's tongue, wherein the first and second tongue gripping surfaces each have a front edge for location nearest to the tongue tip and a back edge for location nearest to the tongue base, and wherein at least a plurality of the tongue engaging projections of at least one of the first and second tongue gripping surfaces project outwardly at an angle forwardly toward the tongue tip so as to resist backward sliding of the user's tongue from between upper and lower tongue gripping surfaces.