| abstract |
A mandibular advancement, or positioning, device for short-term or one-time use is described. The appliance has an upper tray and a lower tray holding impression material, into which the patient bites. The impression material, and optional adhesive, serve as a way to secure the trays to the patient's upper and lower teeth, and, therefore, to the patient's maxilla and mandible. Preferably, the front portions of the trays are bendable or flexible, for allowing the use of just a few sizes of trays for all patients. A connector is attached to a rear area of the lower tray and adjustably connects to the upper tray at or near the center of the upper tray front area, so that the connector easily may be manually pulled forward and temporarily locked in place to advance the mandible. The device may also include spacers or bite planes for opening the patient's bite. The device is particularly useful for short-term use in applications which do not require long-term comfort and durability, such as sleep-lab testing of the usefulness of mandibular advancement in treating a particular patient, or as a step in surgical anesthesia to enlarge a patient's pharyngeal airway space. |