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Mouth guard for detecting and monitoring bite pressures

  • US 8,961,437 B2
  • Filed: 01/25/2012
  • Issued: 02/24/2015
  • Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2009
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. An intra-oral system for monitoring bite pressures of a patient during sleep, the system comprising:

  • an elastomeric mouth piece dimensioned and configured to reside between the upper and lower teeth of a patient, the mouth piece comprising opposing left and right sides, and an arcuate portion intermediate the left and right sides to form a horseshoe-shaped member;

    at least one fluid-containing cell residing within the mouth piece on the left side, and at least one fluid-containing cell residing within the mouth piece on the right side, the fluid-containing cells being configured to respond to pressure applied by the teeth of the patient;

    a plurality of tubes, each tube having a proximal end and a distal end, with the distal end of each of the tubes being in sealed fluid communication with a corresponding cell, and the proximal end being in sealed fluid communication with a respective transducer external to the mouth piece, wherein each transducer is configured to convert changes in pressure within the cells to electrical signals;

    a processor for processing the electrical signals, wherein the electrical signals are modulated to generate a pressure profile from the cells representing a magnitude of pressure applied by the teeth as a function of time; and

    an electronics box external to the user'"'"'s mouth for housing each transducer and the processor;

    wherein;

    the mouth piece further comprises a transition section extending from the arcuate portion of the mouth piece, the transition section having fluid channels corresponding to each fluid cell,each channel slidably receives a corresponding tube,the transition section is fabricated from a rigid thermoplastic material,the electronics box connects immediately to the transition section and is supported by the transition section and the tubes, andeach tube slidably extends into the corresponding channel of the transition section.

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