JP7064045B1 - Mouthpiece - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mouthpiece capable of recognizing that bruxism or clenching is performed during sleep and expecting an inhibitory effect of bruxism or clenching itself. SOLUTION: The mouthpiece is made of an elastic resin material that is meshed by the upper and lower teeth of a user, and the mouthpiece is attached to the oral cavity of the user and has the upper and lower teeth. The outer wall portion 11 located on the front side of the tooth, the inner wall portion 12 located on the back side of the upper and lower teeth when attached to the user's oral cavity, and the upper and lower teeth when attached to the user's oral cavity. A separation wall portion 13 located between the teeth is integrally formed, the outer wall portion is provided with an air intake hole 14 that opens to the front surface, and the outer wall portion or at least one of the inner wall portions has a front surface. Alternatively, one or more liquid outflow holes 15 that open on the back surface are provided, a conduit portion that connects the air intake hole and the liquid outflow hole is formed in the separation wall portion, and the conduit portion is stimulated. It is filled with a liquid having a property. [Selection diagram] Fig. 1

Description

The present invention relates to a mouthpiece and, in particular, to a mouthpiece used during sleep.

Conventionally, it has been known to wear a mouthpiece in order to suppress damage or wear of teeth due to bruxism or clenching during sleep, or adverse effects on the gums (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2016-174890

However, although such a mouthpiece can suppress direct interference between the upper teeth and the tongue teeth, it does not suppress bruxism or clenching itself.

An object of the present invention is to provide a mouthpiece that recognizes bruxism or clenching during sleep and can be expected to have an inhibitory effect on bruxism or clenching itself.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is a mouthpiece made of an elastic resin material that is meshed by the upper and lower teeth of the user, and the mouthpiece is attached to the oral cavity of the user. The outer wall part located on the front side of the upper and lower teeth in the state, the inner wall part located on the back side of the upper and lower teeth when worn in the user's oral cavity, and the state of being worn in the user's oral cavity. A separation wall portion located between the upper and lower teeth is integrally formed, and the outer wall portion is provided with an air intake hole that opens to the front surface, and the outer wall portion or at least one of the inner wall portions is provided with an air intake hole. One or more liquid outflow holes that open on the front surface or the back surface are provided, and a conduit portion that connects the air intake hole and the liquid outflow hole is formed in the separation wall portion, and the conduit portion is formed in the conduit portion. A mouthpiece filled with a liquid having a bitterness component , the air intake hole is formed near the center of the left and right sides of the user's oral cavity, and the liquid outflow hole is a back tooth whose irritation is easily recognized by bitterness. By providing it in the vicinity, when a sleeping user wearing a mouthpiece grinds or clenches teeth, the separation wall portion is crushed by the pressure of the clenching or clenching, and the conduit portion is filled. The liquid having a bitterness component is discharged from the liquid outflow hole to stimulate the user's tongue, thereby awakening the user from sleep .

The mouthpiece of the present invention can be similar in appearance to a known mouthpiece. This mouthpiece has an outer wall located on the front side of the upper and lower teeth when worn in the user's oral cavity, and an inner wall located on the back side of the upper and lower teeth when worn in the user's oral cavity. The portion and the separation wall portion located between the upper and lower teeth when worn in the oral cavity of the user are integrally formed by the elastic resin material.

Further, the outer wall portion of the mouthpiece is provided with an air intake hole that opens to the front surface, and at least one of the outer wall portion or the inner wall portion is provided with one or more liquid outflow holes that open to the front surface or the back surface portion. .. A conduit portion that communicates the air intake hole and the liquid outflow hole is formed in the separation wall portion.

Further, the conduit portion is filled with an irritating liquid.

As a result, when the user wears the mouthpiece and sleeps, when bruxism or clenching is performed, the separation wall portion is crushed by the applied pressure, and the irritating liquid filled in the conduit portion becomes a liquid. It is discharged from the outflow hole and stimulates the user's tongue.

Therefore, the user can recognize that the stimulus has caused bruxism or clenching, and can expect the effect of suppressing the bruxism or clenching itself by learning the discomfort.

According to the present invention, it is possible to recognize that bruxism or clenching is performed during sleep, and to expect an effect of suppressing bruxism or clenching itself.

A mouthpiece according to the present invention is shown, (A) is a front view, and (B) is a perspective view. An example of the relationship between the air intake hole, the liquid outflow hole, and the conduit portion is shown, (A) is an explanatory diagram showing the case where the liquid outflow hole is outward, and (B) is an explanation showing the case where the liquid outflow hole is inward. It is a figure. It is a schematic diagram which shows the relationship with the user's tooth when the mouthpiece which concerns on this invention is attached. It is explanatory drawing of the taste area on the tongue surface of a human body.

Next, the mouthpiece according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the mouthpiece 10 has an outer wall portion 11 located on the anterior side of the upper and lower teeth when mounted in the user's oral cavity, and the upper teeth when mounted in the user's oral cavity. The inner wall portion 12 located on the back side of the lower teeth and the separation wall portion 13 located between the upper teeth and the lower teeth when mounted in the oral cavity of the user are bitten by the upper teeth and the lower teeth of the user. It is integrally composed of elastic resin material so that it can be combined.

The outer wall portion 11 is provided with an air intake hole 14 that opens to the front surface, and the outer wall portion 11 (or at least one of the inner wall portions 12) has one or more liquid outflow holes 15 (or at least one of the inner wall portions 12) that open to the front surface (or the back surface). In the figure, four) are provided.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2A (or FIG. 2B), a conduit portion 16 is formed in the separation wall portion 13 so as to communicate the air intake hole 14 and the liquid outflow hole 15. There is. Further, the conduit portion 16 is filled with, for example, a stimulating liquid (not shown) injected from the air intake hole 14.

The mouthpiece 10 has, for example, a width W of 6.0 cm, a height H of 2.5 cm, and a depth D of 4.5 cm, and the size thereof is arbitrary depending on the structure of the user's teeth and the like. Further, as the material of the mouthpiece 10, it is preferable that the mouthpiece 10 is used for tableware or the like that comes into direct contact with the human mouth and has elasticity, and the resin material is preferably a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) or the like.

In addition, the hardness and various sizes (for example, the thickness of the outer wall portion 11) are the deformability when the user attaches / detaches to the oral cavity, the shape retention at the time of attachment, and the pressurization due to bruxism or clenching. It can be set as appropriate in consideration of deformability.

The irritating liquid includes, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, on the surface of the tongue of the human body, a sweetness area, a salty area, a salty area, a sour area, a bitterness area, and the like. Since there is a taste identification area, it can be a liquid having each of these tastes. In addition to the taste stimulus, an odor that irritates the nasal cavity may be included, such as mint.

It is preferable that the air intake hole 14 is formed at one place near the center of the left and right sides of the oral cavity of the user so that the inflow of air is not easily blocked by the user's lips.

As described above, the irritating liquid contains a taste component corresponding to at least one taste area of the taste identification area existing on the surface of the tongue, so that the liquid outflow hole 15 corresponds to the one taste area. It is possible to facilitate the transmission of the liquid stimulus to the user by providing the liquid stimulus corresponding to the portion where the liquid is formed.

Here, the irritating liquid contains a bitterness component corresponding to the bitterness identification area (circular papilla) among the taste identification areas existing on the surface of the tongue, and the liquid outflow hole 15 is as shown in FIG. In addition, it is more preferable to provide it in the vicinity of the back teeth corresponding to the bitterness identification area, whereby the stimulus can be easily recognized by the user due to the strongly irritating bitterness that is easy to awaken even during sleep.

Here, the following are considered as oral symptoms (adverse effects) caused by bruxism or clenching.

(1) Teeth may stain If you have bruxism or clenching, your teeth may stain. The roots of teeth are scraped or lowered by bruxism or clenching, which makes the nerves of the teeth sensitive and may cause the teeth to stain with cold substances. Mostly the back teeth are smeared.

(2) Tooth pain The tooth may be painful due to long-term strain on the tooth due to bruxism or clenching. Even if I go to the dentist, I can't find any cavities. Pain often occurs in the upper and lower teeth.

(3) It hurts when I chew When my teeth are shaken by bruxism or clenching, I feel pain or discomfort when I chew. Teeth have a periodontal ligament, a membrane that determines whether it is hard or soft when chewed. Bruxism or clenching exerts a strong force on this membrane, which is felt as pain when chewed.

(4) The root of the tooth is scraped If you notice that the root of the tooth is scraped or there is a step, it is possible that you are bruxing or clenching your teeth. When a strong force is applied to the root of the tooth due to bruxism or clenching, the stress concentrates and the root of the tooth is scraped like a wedge.

(5) Tooth shortening The tooth biting surface may be scraped by bruxism or clenching, and the tooth may become shorter. The anterior teeth may have more jagged parts or the teeth may become flatter. The enamel on the surface of the back teeth is scraped off, and the dentin in the middle of the teeth becomes visible, making the teeth look yellow.

(6) Gingival recession The teeth may be shaken by bruxism or clenching, and the gums may be lowered. The teeth may appear long and may be accompanied by symptoms such as hyperesthesia.

(7) The filling can be removed. The tooth filling or covering may be removed. It is easy for silver teeth to come off, ceramics to break, and plastic fillings to come off.

(8) Tooth cracking The surface of the tooth may be scratched or cracked to the root due to bruxism or clenching. Severe pain may occur when a tooth with nerves in the tooth breaks.

(9) Periodontal disease does not improve. Teeth are shaken by bruxism or clenching, and the bones that support the teeth melt, resulting in periodontal disease. Periodontal disease tends to progress rapidly because the teeth are constantly shaken by bruxism or clenching. You need to remove tartar on a regular basis and protect your teeth with a mouthpiece.

(10) Jaw hurts The jaw joints are strongly compressed and hurt by bruxism or clenching. The jaw joint is a joint that connects the jaw and the head, and there is a cartilage called a joint disk between the joints. It is compressed, misaligned, or punctured, making it impossible to move the jaw smoothly.

(11) Stiff shoulders The muscles become tense due to bruxism or clenching, and the shoulders tend to stiffen. Unknowingly clench with a strong force during bruxism or clenching. At that time, the muscles that exert the biting force are connected to the shoulders, neck, and head, and the tension in those muscles causes the shoulders and neck to become stiff.

(12) Migraine headaches may occur due to bruxism or clenching. Among the muscles that move during bruxism or clenching, there is a muscle (temporalis muscle) that connects from the jaw to the side of the head, and the temporal muscle becomes tense due to bruxism or clenching, which appears as a migraine.

In addition, abnormalities in the brain during sleep are considered to be one of the causes of the mechanism of bruxism or clenching. There are two types of bruxism or clenching during sleep: "grinding", in which teeth are rubbed together with noise, and "clenching", in which teeth are clenched without rubbing. This sleeping bruxism or clenching is caused by the excitement of the brain and occurs during light sleep (non-rem sleep).

Therefore, if you can recognize that when you are bruxing or clenching (including clenching), you can learn because it interferes with sleep, and you should expect suppression of bruxism or clenching. Can be done.

It was demonstrated that, for example, as a vibration sprint, a pressure-sensitive film is embedded in a mouthpiece for bruxism or bruxism, and when bruxism or bruxism is detected, a system that gives a vibration stimulus can suppress bruxism or bruxism by about 50%. Therefore, it is considered that the same effect of suppressing bruxism or clenching can be expected even if the stimulus is caused by taste (or odor).

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, it goes without saying that the scope of the technical idea of the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described here. A person who has ordinary knowledge in the field of the art to which the present invention belongs has come up with the idea of making various changes, modifications, combinations, etc. within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention described in the claims. It's clear that you can. Therefore, the techniques after these changes, modifications, combinations, etc. naturally belong to the scope of the technical idea of the present invention.

In addition, although not illustrated one by one, the present invention is carried out with various modifications within a range not deviating from the gist thereof.

10 Mouthpiece 11 Outer wall 12 Inner wall 13 Conduit 14 Air intake hole 15 Outflow hole 16 Conduit

Claims (1)

A mouthpiece made of an elastic resin material that is meshed by the user's upper and lower teeth.
The mouthpiece is
The outer wall located in front of the upper and lower teeth when worn in the user's oral cavity,
The inner wall located behind the upper and lower teeth when worn in the user's oral cavity,
The separation barrier located between the upper and lower teeth when worn in the user's oral cavity,
Is formed integrally,
The outer wall portion is provided with an air intake hole that opens to the front surface.
At least one of the outer wall portion and the inner wall portion is provided with one or more liquid outflow holes that open on the front surface or the back surface.
A conduit portion that communicates the air intake hole and the liquid outflow hole is formed in the separation wall portion.
The conduit portion is filled with a liquid having a bitterness component .
It ’s a mouthpiece,
The air intake hole is formed near the center of the left and right sides of the user's oral cavity.
By providing the liquid outflow hole near the back teeth where irritation is easily recognized by bitterness, when a sleeping user wearing a mouthpiece grinds or clenches the teeth, the pressure of the clenching or clenching causes the above-mentioned liquid outflow hole. The separation wall was crushed, and the liquid having a bitterness component filled in the conduit was discharged from the liquid outflow hole to stimulate the user's tongue, thereby awakening the user from sleep.
A mouthpiece that features that.

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