CN106473781B

CN106473781B - Tongue lifting and advancing device

Info

Publication number: CN106473781B
Application number: CN201610370053.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 许自立
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2015-08-31
Filing date: 2016-05-30
Publication date: 2021-12-21
Anticipated expiration: 2036-05-30
Also published as: CN205831842U; CN106473781A

Abstract

The invention provides a tongue lifting and advancing device and a using method thereof, wherein the tongue lifting and advancing device comprises: a handle portion; a tongue lifting part; borrow this, enable the tongue and lift antedisplacement ware and reach the tongue root along the oral cavity back wall, and can not push away the tongue toward the oral cavity to can the moderate degree catch on the tongue root and up lift, and conveniently pull the tongue toward the oral cavity outward, increase the space of oral cavity throat, and then reach and have splendid intubate supplementary effect and convenience in the use.

Description

Tongue lifting and advancing device

Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to a medical tool, and more particularly to a tongue lifting and advancing device which can easily open the respiratory airway space of the oral cavity and the throat after lifting and advancing the tongue, thereby providing an optimal tracheal intubation environment.

Background

The endotracheal intubation is a procedure in which an endotracheal tube is inserted into the trachea of a patient through the oral or nasal cavity, thereby performing artificial respiration or applying oxygen under pressure to maintain the airway unobstructed.

Although the endotracheal intubation plays an important role in dealing with the problem of the respiratory tract, during intubation, the difficulty in intubation is increased due to the obesity, abnormal structure and improper use method of the patient, and even serious damage is caused to the throat and the airway of the patient, so that the operation of endotracheal intubation becomes very important.

The current endotracheal intubation commonly uses a Laryngoscope (Laryngoscope) and a visual Laryngoscope (Videolaryngoscope) to open the airway by placing the front end of the airway as far as possible at the root of the tongue, then pressing the tongue forward and upward, and pulling open the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) to open the laryngeal space. Although the respiratory tract can be opened by the laryngoscope, the defects still exist, for example, in the small chin, the patients with obesity, large tongue and the like, in the narrow oral cavity space, the length and radian of the laryngoscope cannot be set too deep, and in addition, the laryngoscope is limited by the thickness and the volume, so that the tongue can be pushed inwards firstly when the laryngoscope is inserted into the oral cavity, the position of the throat is changed, the space is reduced, and then the throat is pulled open by trying, so that the technical difficulty and the limitation on the visual field exist, even if the intubation rate of an experienced doctor is usually less than 90 percent, the success rate of reaching about 95 percent can be achieved by trying for a plurality of times, and the success rate of a new hand is lower. When the intubation process is not smooth, the injury of the internal tissues of the oral cavity is caused, and the life safety of the patient is also threatened, especially in the case of intubation failure.

In addition, intubation is assisted by visual rigid tube (videotelet) and Fiberoptic scope (Fiberoptic scope). However, the visual hard tube lens is directly placed in the middle of the oral cavity under the condition that the throat is not opened, so that only a local part can be seen, and the upper tongue often pushes the visual hard tube lens into the throat together when the visual hard tube lens advances, so that the normal structure of the throat is changed, and the visual hard tube lens is not influenced by saliva because the visual hard tube lens does not open the front space first, so that the image is blurred, and the direction are easily lost, so that the success rate is not high; the bronchofiberscope is large in size, time-consuming in use, expensive, prone to damage, long in learning time, and usually only used when difficult to intubate, and often needs to be tried for many times to succeed. Therefore, there is a need for improvement in endotracheal intubation by using both (visual rigid tube scope and bronchofiberscope) of the two methods. Therefore, how to improve the problems of the disadvantages of the conventional endotracheal intubation operation should be an important direction for the industry to try to solve and overcome.

The key problem of the auxiliary device needed by the tracheal intubation that the tongue cannot be smoothly treated to open the throat is that the effective composition design and double-effect combination effect of lifting the tongue and advancing the tongue are lacked in the operation process of the front-end device. However, the operation of lifting and advancing the tongue needs to further consider the design of force application capability of the tongue lifting device and the consideration of moderate slight deformation after force application to enable the tongue lifting and advancing device to achieve the expected effect, so how to provide the tongue lifting and advancing device with the convenience of combining the operation of lifting and advancing the tongue is the key point of the technical characteristic design of the invention.

In view of the shortcomings of the prior art auxiliary devices for endotracheal intubation and the fact that the structural design thereof is not ideal, the inventor of the present invention has developed a solution thereof based on clinical experience, and has desired to develop a tongue lifting and advancing device structure which is more effective, convenient and ergonomic, so as to promote the development of the industry, and thus has created the present invention through a plurality of ideas.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide a tongue lifting and advancing device which can reach the root of the tongue along the back wall of an oral cavity by utilizing the design of the bending degree and the moderate deformation of the tongue lifting and advancing device, does not push the tongue forward, can moderately hook the root of the tongue, and is very convenient to naturally pull the tongue out of the mouth, so that the space of the throat of the oral cavity is greatly increased.

The technical means adopted by the invention to achieve the purpose comprises the following steps: a shank including a shank segment having a shank end; the connecting part is provided with a connecting section, the connecting section is provided with a connecting starting end connected with the tail end of the handle part connecting section and a connecting tail end connected with the lifting end of the lifting tongue section, and the connecting section is a curve which is in an opposite relation with the curvature of the lifting tongue section; the tongue lifting part comprises a tongue lifting section which is in an arc flat plate strip shape and has uniform thickness, a tongue lifting starting end and a tongue lifting tail end, wherein the tongue lifting section can reach the tongue root of the tongue along the back wall of the oral cavity, and the tongue root is appropriately hooked by the tongue lifting tail end so as to conveniently pull the tongue out of the oral cavity.

The width of the tongue lifting section is larger than that of the handle connecting section.

The handle connecting section and the lifting tongue section are integrally formed with the connecting section for operation.

The width of the tongue lifting section is larger than that of the connecting section.

The width of the connecting section is smaller than that of the handle connecting section and the tongue lifting section.

The arc distance of the connecting section is smaller than 1/3 of the lifting tongue section.

The connecting part is formed by combining a first assembling section and a second assembling section, the first assembling section is connected with the handle part assembling section, and the second assembling section is connected with the lifting tongue section.

The first assembling section is provided with a convex connecting piece, the second assembling section is provided with a concave connecting piece, and the convex connecting piece and the concave connecting piece of the second assembling section are spliced to form the connecting part.

The tongue lifting forward device is provided with at least one reinforcing rib on the back surface thereof to enhance the strength thereof.

The line segment connecting the starting end and the tail end of the lifting tongue is a comparison chord, the handle connecting segment is preset and bent to various shapes within the range of 60-210 degrees relative to the comparison chord, the comparison chord is provided with a perpendicular bisector, the longest distance between the perpendicular bisector and two points of the comparison chord is the arc depth length of the lifting tongue, and the ratio of the arc depth length to the comparison chord is set to be 1/4-1/2.

The tongue lifting section is provided with a wide-width portion, the width of the wide-width portion is larger than that of the tongue lifting section, the tongue lifting section is connected with the wide-width portion through a included end portion, and a plurality of convex grains are arranged on an arc concave surface of the wide-width portion.

The handle section is provided with a handle connecting section, a tongue lifting section and a handle connecting section, wherein the tongue lifting section comprises a narrow connecting section with a width smaller than that of the handle connecting section, and the narrow connecting section is connected with other sections of the tongue lifting section through a included end.

The tongue lifting section is provided with a plurality of convex particles.

So that the manner in which the above recited features of the present invention can be understood and readily put into practical effect, a more particular description of the invention, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to the appended drawings, which illustrate, but are not limited to, the above-described embodiments.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a first perspective view illustrating a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3A is a schematic view of a first embodiment of the present invention, illustrating a first 180 degree angle;

FIG. 3B is a schematic view of a second 210 degree angle version of the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3C is a schematic view of a third 150 degree angle version of the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3D is a schematic diagram of a fourth 135 degree angle version of the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3E is a schematic view of a fifth 120 degree angle version of the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3F is a schematic view of a sixth embodiment of the present invention, illustrating an angle of 90 degrees;

FIGS. 4A-4E are schematic diagrams of the first embodiment of the clinical intubation procedure of FIGS. one-fifth;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating the use of the first embodiment of the present invention in a 210 degree angle version;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating the use of the first embodiment of the present invention in a 60 degree version;

FIGS. 7A-7C are simplified first-third steps of a clinical intubation procedure according to a first embodiment of the present invention, wherein the clinical intubation procedure is performed at an angle of approximately 90 degrees;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a further perspective view of the second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view of a third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is an assembled perspective view of a third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a further perspective view of the fourth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a perspective view of a fifth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a perspective view of a sixth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16 is a perspective view of a seventh embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 17 is a perspective view of an eighth embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Referring to fig. 1, which is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the present invention, the tongue lifting advancer includes a handle portion 10, a connecting portion 20, and a tongue lifting portion 30.

The handle 10 includes a handle connecting section 11, a handle side-extending section 13 parallel to the handle connecting section 11, and a handle bending section 12, wherein the handle bending section 12 is connected to the handle connecting section 11 and the handle side-extending section 13 at two sides respectively. The handle section 11 of the handle 10 is approximately the length of the palm of the operator's hand and has a handle end 111.

The handle 10 in this embodiment at least includes a handle connecting section 11, and whether the handle connecting section 12 and the handle side section 13 are included is selected according to the requirement, and the handle 10 may adopt other structures for suitable holding, and is not limited to the handle 10 structure in this embodiment.

The connecting portion 20 includes a curved connecting section 21, two ends of the connecting section 21 are respectively a connecting start end 211 and a connecting end 212, and the connecting start end 211 is connected to the handle end 111; the connection end 212 is connected to the tongue-lifting portion 30.

The shape of the connecting section 21 in this embodiment can be made into a curved section (as shown in fig. 3A-3E), a straight section (as shown in fig. 3F) or other feasible shapes (not shown) according to the actual operation requirement.

The lifting tongue portion 30 includes a lifting tongue section 31, the lifting tongue section 31 is an arc-shaped member made of a flat plate strip-shaped material, and has a lifting tongue start end 311 and a lifting tongue end 312, and the lifting tongue start end 311 is connected to the connecting end 212.

The lifting tongue section 31 is formed into an arc-shaped and uniform-thickness flat long belt shape, the short ends 316 at the two sides are two parallel lines, the two ends of the lifting tongue section 31 are respectively a lifting tongue start end 311 and a lifting tongue end 312, and the structure of the flat long belt shape of the lifting tongue section 31 itself can be respectively bent to default the required angle (as shown in fig. 2).

The tab segment 31 is connected to the connecting end 212 at a tab rising end 311, and the tab end 312 is an open end (as shown in fig. 1 and 2). The connecting section 21 is a curved section, and the curvature of the connecting section 21 is opposite to the curvature of the tongue-lifting portion 30.

Furthermore, a line segment connecting the two ends of the lifting tongue segment 31, i.e. two points connecting the lifting tongue end 312 to the lifting tongue start end 311, forms a alignment string X. The control chord X may be pre-bent to various shapes (as shown in fig. 3A to 3F, 5, 6) in the range of 60 to 210 degrees from the shank end 111 of the shank joint 11.

The longest vertical distance between the tab segment 31 and the reference chord X is the arc depth length Y of a tab portion 30. The connecting section 21 is connected with the handle connecting section 11 and the tongue lifting section 31.

In the present embodiment, the tab section 31 of the tab portion 30 is a circular arc or an elliptical arc, and the reference chord X is shorter than the diameter circular arc of the corresponding circle or the length of the major axis circular arc of the corresponding ellipse. As a result of the inventor's experiments and experiments, the curved section of the connecting section 21 is preferably 1/3 which is smaller than the length of the tongue-lifting section 31. The ratio (Y/X) of the arc depth length Y of the tongue-lifting portion 30 to the control chord X varies depending on the subject, and the difference value is preferably 1/4-1/2. Generally, the length of the control chord X is about 5-7 cm for infants, about 7-9 cm for children, and about 9-13 cm for adults.

Referring to fig. 3A to 3E and fig. 4A to 4E, schematic diagrams of first to fifth aspects of the tongue lifting/advancing device according to the first embodiment of the present invention are shown, that is, the connecting sections 21 of the first to fifth aspects are formed as curved sections, so that when each connecting section 21 of the tongue lifting/advancing device is manufactured, the prefabricated bending angle range can be respectively formed from an angle of 90 degrees to an angle of 210 degrees, that is, the tongue lifting/advancing device manufactured in each angle range is applicable.

In operation, the operator holds the handle 10 (the handle connecting section 11) to make the tongue lifting tip 312 (the tongue lifting section 31) reach the base of the tongue P1 along the back wall of the oral cavity of the patient P (as shown in fig. 4A), and can conveniently pull the tongue P1 out of the oral cavity by appropriately hooking the tongue base at the tongue lifting tip 312 of the tongue lifting section 31 during operation (as shown in fig. 4B).

When the operator holds the handle 10 (handle connecting section 11) and pulls it to the outside of the mouth and to the arc concave direction of the tongue lifting section 30 (as shown in fig. 4C), the tongue lifting section 31 can make the force application direction follow the natural trend of the tongue muscle, so as to easily pull and move the tongue upwards, thus opening the mouth and throat space to make an endoscope conduit a inserted into the mouth cavity smoothly and make the front end a1 of the endoscope conduit a inserted and placed at the desired correct position (as shown in fig. 4E).

The endoscope catheter or the tracheal intubation can achieve smooth intubation effect only by lifting and moving the tongue forward, and the connecting section 21 and the tongue lifting section 31 naturally generate a very small amount of proper elastic deformation due to the material in the lifting and forward operation process of the tongue lifting and forward device so as to adapt to the human engineering and the natural trend of the muscles of the tongue P1 and achieve excellent using effect.

As shown in fig. 3F, fig. 6 and fig. 7A to fig. 7C, which are schematic diagrams of a sixth aspect of the tongue lifting and advancing device according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the connecting section 21 is made into a straight line segment, so that when each tongue lifting and advancing device connecting section 21 is manufactured, the bending angle range can be preset to various single angles within the range from 60 degrees to 90 degrees, so that the angle of each manufactured tongue lifting and advancing device can be within the angle range. Therefore, in the operation application, the operation conditions, the operation steps and the effects of the operation mechanics and the natural movement of the muscles of the tongue P1 are the same as the first angle variation range except the angle variation range, and the description is omitted for the sake of simplifying the description.

Please refer to fig. 8, which is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the present invention, and the main structure thereof is the same as the first embodiment and is marked with the same reference numerals, and the description thereof is omitted.

The tongue advancer of the second embodiment is formed with a reinforcing rib 40 on the back side of the bending direction of the shank 10, or as shown in fig. 9, reinforcing ribs 40 are provided on both sides of the back side to reinforce the strength of the tongue advancer in operational use.

Please refer to fig. 10 and 11, which are an exploded perspective view and an assembled perspective view of a third embodiment of the present invention, and the main structures thereof are the same as the first embodiment, and are labeled with the same symbols, and the description thereof is omitted.

Compared with the connection part 20 of the first embodiment, the connection part 20A is composed of a first assembling section 221A and a second assembling section 222A which are divided into two sections, and the first assembling section 221A and the second assembling section 222A are respectively connected to the handle connecting section 11 and the tongue lifting section 31.

The first assembling section 221A is formed with a convex connector 231A, the second assembling section 222A is formed with a concave connector 232A, the convex connector 231A and the concave connector 232A can be inserted and combined into a whole, so that the first assembling section 221A can be inserted and combined with the concave connector 232A of the second assembling section 222A to form the connecting part 20A, and the tongue lifting forward device in the embodiment has the advantages of being detachable, convenient to assemble, convenient to manufacture, package and transport or use.

Please refer to fig. 12, which is a perspective view of a tongue lifting advancer in a fourth embodiment of the present invention, and the main structures thereof are the same as the first embodiment, and are labeled with the same symbols, and the description thereof is omitted.

The lifting tongue section 31A of the lifting tongue 30A in the fourth embodiment is wider than the lifting tongue section 31 of the first embodiment, and the lifting tongue section 31A is formed with a trailing end 314A at the lifting tongue start end 311 to be connected to the connection end 212 of the connection portion 20, and the width of the lifting tongue section 31A is also larger than the width of the connection section 21.

The end 314A of the present embodiment may be a slightly inclined section as shown in fig. 13, instead of a slightly straight section as shown in fig. 12.

Please refer to fig. 14, which is a perspective view of a fifth embodiment of the tongue lifting advancer of the present invention, and the main structures thereof are the same as the first embodiment and labeled with the same symbols, and the description thereof is omitted. In the tongue lifting section 30B of the present embodiment, a plurality of protruding particles 32B are disposed on the arc concave surface 313B of the tongue lifting section 31B to prevent the tongue from sliding during operation.

Please refer to fig. 15, which is a perspective view of a sixth embodiment of the present invention, and the main structures of which are the same as those of the fifth embodiment and are labeled with the same symbols, and the description thereof is omitted.

The tongue lifting section 31C of the tongue lifting section 30C in this embodiment extends to both sides at the rear section near the tongue lifting end 312 to form a wide-width extension 33C, so that the width of the wide-width extension 33C is larger than the other sections of the tongue lifting section 31C. The tongue-lifting section 31C is connected to the wide-width portion 33C by a narrow end portion 314C, and a plurality of convex particles 32C are arranged on the arc concave surface 330C of the wide-width portion 33C.

Please refer to fig. 16, which is a perspective view of a seventh embodiment of the present invention, wherein the main structures are the same as the sixth embodiment and are labeled with the same symbols, and the description thereof is omitted.

The tongue lifting portion 30D of the present embodiment has the same wide-width portion 33C as that of the sixth embodiment, and other portions of the tongue lifting portion 30D except the wide-width portion 33C are all reduced to be smaller than the tongue lifting portion 31C of the sixth embodiment.

The tongue lifting portion 30D is connected to the connecting portion 20D with a reduced tongue lifting section 31D, the connecting section 21D of the connecting portion 20D having the same width as the tongue lifting section 31D. The handle part 10D is connected with the connecting section 21D through the handle part connecting section 11D, and the connecting part of the handle part connecting section 11D and the connecting section 21D can also be reduced to be the same as the connecting section 21D and the tongue lifting section 31D, so that the tongue lifting advancer is lighter and more convenient to operate and use.

Please refer to fig. 17, which is a perspective view of an eighth embodiment of the present invention, and the main structures thereof are the same as the first embodiment, and are labeled with the same symbols, and the description thereof is omitted.

The tongue lifting portion 30E in this embodiment is inwardly reduced to a narrow connecting section 315E with a narrower width at the front section near the lifting portion start end 311, the width of the narrow connecting section 315E is smaller than that of the handle connecting section 11 and the connecting section 21, and the narrow connecting section 315E is connected with the connecting section 21 and other sections of the tongue lifting section 31E with the same width as the handle 10 by a included end 314E, so that the tongue lifting device of the present invention is more light and convenient to operate and use.

The tongue lifting and advancing device can reach the root of the tongue along the back wall of the oral cavity by utilizing the special shape design, the tongue lifting and advancing device cannot push the tongue to the oral cavity, can appropriately hook the root of the tongue, is convenient to pull the tongue outwards, and increases the space of the throat of the oral cavity.

The invention relates to a tongue lifting and advancing method, which is operated by a tongue lifting and advancing device with a handle part and an arc concave part which are connected into a whole and comprises the following steps: (1) firstly, the handle part is held by hand to enable the arc concave part at the front end of the tongue lifting and advancing device to reach the tongue root part of the tongue along the back wall of the oral cavity of a patient, and the arc concave part is pressed against the tongue root part by the aid of the tongue lifting and advancing; (2) the tongue is lifted upwards and the front end arc concave part of the forward moving device is hooked on the root part of the tongue properly, so that the tongue is lifted upwards and pulled out of the oral cavity conveniently; (3) the handle part is pulled out of the oral cavity and the arc concave part of the front moving device is pulled up towards the tongue to apply force so as to open and increase the space of the oral cavity and the throat.

The foregoing is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and it should be noted that, for those skilled in the art, various modifications and decorations can be made without departing from the principle of the present invention, and these modifications and decorations should also be regarded as the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A tongue advancer, comprising:

a shank (10) comprising a shank segment (11), the shank segment (11) having a shank end (111);

the tongue lifting part (30) comprises a tongue lifting section (31) which is in an arc flat plate strip shape and has uniform thickness, a tongue lifting starting end (311) and a tongue lifting tail end (312), the tongue lifting section (31) can reach the tongue root of the tongue along the back wall of the oral cavity, and the tongue root is appropriately hooked by the tongue lifting tail end (312), so that the tongue can be conveniently pulled out of the oral cavity;

a connection section (20), the connection section (20) having a connection section (21), the connection section (21) having a connection start end (211) connected to the handle end (111) of the handle connection section (11) and a connection end (212) connected to the tongue lift end (311) of the tongue lift section (31), and the connection section (21) being a curve which is in an inverse relationship with the curvature of the tongue lift section (31);

wherein the content of the first and second substances,

the arc distance of the connecting section (21) is smaller than 1/3 of the tongue lifting section (31); the line segment connecting the lifting tongue starting end (311) and the lifting tongue tail end (312) is a comparison chord (X), and the handle connecting segment (11) is preset and bent to various shapes within the range of 60-210 degrees relative to the comparison chord (X);

the reference chord (X) has a perpendicular bisector, the longest distance between two points passing through the reference chord (X) and the lifting tongue section (31) is the arc depth length (Y) of the lifting tongue section (31), and the ratio of the arc depth length (Y) to the reference chord (X) is set between 1/4-1/2.

2. The tongue advancer as claimed in claim 1 wherein: the tongue-lifting section (31) has a greater width than the shank connecting section (11).

3. The tongue advancer as claimed in claim 1 wherein: the handle section (11) and the tongue section (31) are integrally formed with the connecting section (21) for operational use.

4. The tongue advancer as claimed in claim 3 wherein: the tongue lifting section (31) is wider than the connecting section (21).

5. The tongue advancer as claimed in claim 3 wherein: the width of the connecting section (21) is smaller than that of the handle connecting section (11) and the tongue lifting section (31).

6. The tongue advancer as claimed in claim 3 wherein: the connecting portion (20A) is formed by combining a first assembling section (221A) and a second assembling section (222A), wherein the first assembling section (221A) is connected to the handle connecting section (11), and the second assembling section (222A) is connected to the tongue lifting section (31).

7. The tongue advancer as claimed in claim 6 wherein: the first assembling section (221A) is provided with a convex connecting piece (231A), the second assembling section (222A) is provided with a concave connecting piece (232A), and the first assembling section (221A) is combined into the connecting part (20A) by the convex connecting piece (231A) and the concave connecting piece (232A) of the second assembling section (222A) in an inserting connection mode.

8. A tongue advancer as claimed in claim 1 or claim 3 wherein: the tongue lifting and advancing device is provided with at least one reinforcing rib (40) on the back surface thereof to enhance the strength thereof.

9. A tongue advancer as claimed in claim 1 or claim 3 wherein: the tongue lifting section (31C) is connected with a wide-width part (33C), the width of the wide-width part (33C) is larger than that of the tongue lifting section (31C), and the tongue lifting section (31C) is connected with the wide-width part (33C) through a bracket end part (314C).

10. The tongue advancer as claimed in claim 9 wherein: the wide-width part (33C) is provided with a plurality of convex grains (32C) on the arc concave surface (330C).

11. A tongue advancer as claimed in claim 1 or claim 3 wherein: the handle section (31E) includes a narrowed joint section (315E) having a width less than the handle joint section (11), and the narrowed joint section (315E) is connected to the other sections of the handle section (31E) by a butt end (314E).

12. A tongue advancer as claimed in claim 1 or claim 3 wherein: the tongue lifting section (31) is provided with a plurality of convex particles (32B).