Tongue-airway appliance

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention provides an intra-oral appliance in the form of a tongue-airway functional appliance which restores/encourages training of the tongue, which encourages patients to breathe through the nose, and which can serve as a diagnostic aid or test device to access a patient's problems.
The appliance includes a body of plastic material having an arcuate-shaped portion along which is defined a recess for receiving teeth of a dental arch of a patient, preferably the upper arch.
The appliance further includes a curved platform or extension from the body running from the area of the lingual gingival margin of all teeth inferiorly (toward the mandible) forming a "U" or cup-shaped portion or sling which passes under the tongue laterally and anterior to posterior.
In another embodiment, extensions are provided on the walls of the teeth-receiving recess for enhancing retention of the appliance.
The following detailed description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, is in such full, clear, concise and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the invention.
The foregoing and additional advantages and characterizing features of the present invention will become clearly apparent upon a reading of the ensuing detailed description together with the included drawing.