Patent ID: 8684006

Claim:
An oral appliance for treating obstructive sleep apnea or snoring of a patient through maintaining a position of the patient's upper jaw relative to a position of the patient's lower jaw, the appliance comprising: an upper tray configured to removably affix to a patient's upper teeth; an upper tongue portion extending outwardly from the upper tray; a lower tray configured to removably affix to the patient's lower teeth; a lower tongue portion extending outwardly from the lower tray, wherein the upper tongue portion and the lower tongue portion slidably engage with each other such that one or both of the upper tongue portion and the lower tongue portion can slide in an anterior and posterior direction relative to the patient's mouth when the upper tray is affixed to the patient's upper teeth and the lower tray is affixed to the patient's lower teeth, and wherein the upper tongue portion and the lower tongue portion extend outside of the patient's mouth when the upper tray is affixed to the patient's upper teeth and the lower tray is affixed to the patient's lower teeth; a plurality of locking holes located on one of the upper tongue portion and the lower tongue portion, and at least one locking hole located on the other of the upper tongue portion and the lower tongue portion; and an adjustment mechanism having at least one locking post configured to extend through at least one of the plurality of locking holes located on the one of the upper tongue portion and the lower tongue portion and through the at least one locking hole located on the other one of the upper tongue portion and the lower tongue portion when the two holes are aligned and thereby fix a position of the upper tray relative to the lower tray.