Patent ID: 8695607
Filing Date: 2014-04-15
Classification: A61F

Abstract:
1. A system for supporting tissue structures away from an airway through a mouth during sleep, a floor of the mouth being defined anteriorly by a mandible; posteriorly by a hyoid; and including suprahyoid muscles attached to the mandible and/or hyoid, the tissue structures including a tongue within the mouth resting on suprahyoid muscles outside of the floor of the mouth, the system comprising at least one scaffold structure sized and configured to be implanted outside the tongue between suprahyoid muscles in or on the floor of the mouth and/or outside the tongue between an extrinsic muscle of the tongue and a suprahyoid muscle in or on the floor of the mouth, the scaffold structure having an anterior region that, when implanted, faces the mandible, a posterior region that, when implanted, faces the hyoid, and an intermediate region that, when implanted, extends between the mandible and hyoid, the intermediate region comprising mechanical supporting means for bracing and resisting inward buckling of suprahyoid muscles in or on the floor of the mouth into the airway during sleep, whereby the mechanical supporting means creates a counter force that directs tissue structures out of the airway.