Device for suppressing snoring

The present invention relates to a device intended to eliminate the night-time snoring of a patient subject to sleep apnea.

It is known that such nocturnal snoring is the consequence of an increase in the speed of the air flow in the upper airways of said patient, this increase in speed itself resulting from an increase in resistance to passage. air in said upper airways, due to the narrowness of the latter during sleep. However, such a narrowness results from insufficient activation of the dilator muscles of the upper airways during sleep.

Thus, until now, in an attempt to rid a patient of these nocturnal snoring, attempts have been made to restore tone to said dilator muscles by surgical means. The result was a destructive, cumbersome and costly operation that was not always successful.

The object of the present invention is to remedy these drawbacks and it relates to a simple and inexpensive device, easy to use and allowing a patient who uses it at night to avoid snoring.

To this end, according to the invention, the device intended to eliminate the night-time snoring of a patient subject to sleep apnea, is remarkable:

- In that it comprises a curved tubular body, which is intended to be introduced into the mouth of said patient to rest at least partially on the latter's tongue, and whose curvature corresponds at least approximately to that of said tongue;

- in that the proximal end of said tubular body is provided with a peripherally projecting stop collar, able to take place on the outer side of the incisors of said patient; and

- in that the length of said tubular body is such that, when the latter is in place in the mouth of said patient, the distal end of said tubular body is located in front of the lingual V of the goblet papillae of said tongue.

Thus, thanks to the present invention, whatever the tone of the dilator muscles of the patient's airways during sleep, the passage of air in the latter is ensured by said curved tubular body, so that the flow of air cannot take an excessive flow velocity. Snoring is therefore suppressed. In addition, the presence of the tubular body in the patient's mouth cannot cause excessive discomfort or nausea since the distal end of said tubular body cannot reach said goblet papillae. Finally, said stop collar prevents said patient from being able to swallow the device. This collar may optionally include a comfort covering.

Said tubular body may be constituted by a tubular element with a solid wall, for example in a synthetic material. In this case, to further increase the air inlets and outlets through said tubular body, the solid wall of said element is advantageously pierced with a multitude of side holes.

As a variant, the tubular body can be constituted, for at least its largest part, by a rigid mesh, for example also made of a synthetic material.

Whatever its embodiment, said tubular body preferably has an oblong section, in order to have a large flat face for bearing on the tongue and thus to reduce the pressure that it can exert on the latter, and therefore the tongue. embarrassment that its presence can cause.

In order to prevent, during sleep, dust, insects or other unwanted particles, inhaled through said tubular body, from passing into the upper respiratory tract of the patient, said tubular body may be surrounded by a mesh sleeve. , acting as a filter. It will be noted that in addition to this filtration function, said sleeve retains the humidity of the patient's exhalation which can thus humidify the inspiration air.

To optimize these two functions, said sleeve can be replaced by a foam material with open cells, filling said curved tubular body, such a foam material allowing the gas flows to pass, but stopping the solid impurities contained in the latter.

In order to allow the device of the invention to be held in place in the mouth, said tubular body is shaped, in the vicinity of said collar, to present a holding zone, able to be clamped between the incisors of the lower and upper jaws. of the patient. Preferably, in order to bring the device back towards the tongue in the event that it moves away from it, the walls of said holding zone, respectively in contact with said incisors, are inclined so that said curved body is applied against said tongue when said holding zone is clamped between said incisors.

Furthermore, to prevent the lips of a patient from unwittingly blocking the distal orifice of said device, it is advantageous that, on the proximal side of the stop collar, said curved tubular body is extended by a tip protruding from the end. to said collar.

The figures of the appended drawing will make it easier to understand how the invention can be implemented. In these figures, identical references designate similar elements.

FIG. 1 is a side view of an exemplary embodiment of the device according to the present invention.

Figures 2 and 3 are respectively top and front views of the device of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a cross section along the line IV-IV of Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a longitudinal section along the line VV of Figure 2.

FIG. 6 schematically illustrates the placement of the device of FIGS. 1 to 5 in the mouth of a patient.

FIG. 7 shows an alternative embodiment of the device of the invention, in longitudinal section similar to that of FIG. 5.

FIG. 8 shows another variant embodiment of the device of the invention, in side view similar to FIG. 1.

The device 1, in accordance with the present invention and illustrated by FIGS. 1 to 5, is intended to eliminate the nocturnal snoring of a patient subject to sleep apnea, when it is used by said patient, during his sleep, of as illustrated schematically in FIG. 6. This device 1 comprises a curved tubular body 2, with a solid wall pierced with a multitude of side holes 3. The tubular body 2, which is made for example of a synthetic material, has an oblong section (FIG. 4), so that its wall has an upper flat 4 and a lower flat 5.

At its proximal end, the tubular body 2 is provided with a projecting peripheral stop collar 6, itself possibly pierced with holes 7, similar to holes 3.

Furthermore, in the vicinity of the stop collar 6, the tubular body 2 is shaped to have a retaining zone 8, for example laterally flared and opening into said collar 6 via a wide proximal opening 9.

As illustrated by FIG. 6, the tubular body 2 is intended to be introduced into the mouth 10 of the patient and to rest at least partially on the tongue 11 of the latter. To this end, the curvature of the tubular body 2 corresponds at least approximately to that of the tongue 11. In this position of use, the holding zone 8 is clamped by the patient between the incisors 12 of his lower jaw and the incisors 13 of his upper jaw and said collar 6 is disposed between the lips 14 and 15 of the patient and said incisors 12, 13.

The incisors 12 and 13 bear on the upper 16 and lower 17 faces, respectively, of the holding zone 8 and these upper 16 and lower 17 faces are inclined so that said curved tubular body 2 rests against the tongue 11 ( see arrow 18 in FIG. 6), when said incisors 16, 17 press against said faces 16 and 17 in an antagonistic manner (see arrows 19 and 20 in FIG. 6).

Furthermore, the length of the curved tubular body 2 is chosen so that, in its position of use (FIG. 6), the distal end 21 of said body is located in front of the lingual V of the goblet papillae of the tongue 11.

It is easily understood that, the device 1 being in place in the mouth 10 of a sleeping patient - in the manner described above with reference to FIG. 6 - a normal circulation of air takes place between the respiratory tracts. from the patient and the outside, through said device 1, regardless of the degree of relaxation of the dilator muscles of the upper airways of said patient. The snoring of the latter is therefore eliminated.

To prevent dust, insects, etc ... from entering said upper airways, the tubular body 2 may be surrounded by a mesh sleeve 23 (see Figure 5) acting as a filter. In addition, this net 23 retains the humidity of the air rejected by the patient, which additionally makes it possible to humidify the air drawn in by said patient.

Such a dual function of filtration and humidification can be even better provided by a filling 24 of a foam material with open cells, housed in said tubular body 2 (FIG. 7).

Alternatively, the tubular body of the device according to the present invention may be made of a rigid mesh 25, for example of a synthetic material (Figure 8).

Furthermore, as shown in Figure 7, the tubular body 2 can be extended, on the proximal side, by a tip 26 projecting relative to said stop collar 6 and moving the proximal opening of said tubular body 2 in an advanced position 9A.