KR20230018716A - Mouth Cooling Device - Google Patents

Abstract

One aspect of the present invention relates to a cooling device for cooling an oral cavity, and more particularly, to a device for cooling an oral cavity to relieve pain caused by burning mouth syndrome, oral infection, and the like, which can be prescribed in a hospital. According to one embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to provide an oral cavity cooling device capable of effectively cooling an oral cavity in order to relieve pain caused by burning mouth, intraoral inflammation (stomatitis), infectious disease, and the like.

Description

Mouth Cooling Device {Mouth Cooling Device}

One aspect of the present invention relates to a cooling device for cooling the oral cavity, and more particularly, to a device for cooling the oral cavity to relieve pain caused by burning mouth syndrome, oral infection, etc., which can be prescribed in a hospital.

The contents described in this section simply provide background information on the embodiments of the present invention and do not constitute prior art.

The number of patients complaining of burning mouth, inflammation in the mouth (stomatitis), and oral fungal infections (candidiasis) is increasing every year, and healthy oral care is emerging as a new health care issue in the aging age.

Burning mouth is a disease in which the mouth suffers from a feeling of burning and burning for no apparent reason, and is common in the elderly and postmenopausal women. Mouth burning can appear for more than 4 to 6 months, and the pain is very diverse, ranging from tingling to burning, and is a frequent disease that affects about 2.5 to 5% of the total population.

Although the cause of burning mouth is not particularly known, hormonal changes, old age, etc. are known to be the causes, and treatment is currently being performed centering on symptoms and symptomatic therapy. In addition, the supply of moisture in the oral cavity and the decrease in saliva can be seen as a major cause, and related treatments are also being performed.

Oral inflammation (stomatitis) and infectious disease (Candidiasis) are also continuously increasing with the increase in the elderly population, and have a great impact on oral discomfort in the elderly.

Aphthous stomatitis, also known as ulcerated stomatitis, is an ulcer in the oral mucosa that is accompanied by extreme pain compared to other traumatic ulcers of similar size and requires frequent recurrence and a long healing period (Scully C, et al. al Br Dent J 2005;199: 259-264) Aphthous stomatitis usually lasts about 7 to about 10 days, but may last for several weeks, and it is known that 10-20% of the population suffers from oral ulcers during their lifetime ( Aas JA, et al, J Clin Microbiol 2005;43: 5721-5732).

These diseases may occur frequently when chemotherapy is used, especially in the course of cancer patients' chemotherapy, and cooling the mouth is one of the ways to alleviate symptoms.

However, since the inside of the mouth including the mouth, cheeks, tongue, roof of the mouth, and the bottom of the mouth has a narrow and meandering structure, it is very difficult to effectively cool the inside of the mouth.

Therefore, it is urgent to develop a mechanism or device that effectively cools the oral cavity.

The foregoing background art is technical information that the inventor possessed for derivation of the embodiments of the present invention or acquired during the derivation process, and is not necessarily a known technology disclosed to the general public prior to filing the application of the embodiments of the present invention. does not exist.

Accordingly, one aspect according to the present invention is proposed to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to effectively cool the oral cavity in order to relieve pain caused by burning mouth, inflammation in the mouth (stomatitis), infectious disease, etc. It is to provide an oral cooling device with

In addition, another object of the present invention is to provide an oral cooling device that allows the user to confirm and notify whether or not the user is accurately positioned in the target portion of the oral cavity.

The technical problem to be achieved by the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned technical problem, and other technical problems not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the description below. will be.

In order to achieve the above object, one aspect of the present invention is in contact with the surface of the user's oral cavity cooling unit for cooling the surface;

a cooling tube formed inside the cooling unit, connected to an external cooling medium supply unit to supply cold air to the user's oral cavity, and through which the cooling medium supplied by the cooling medium supply unit flows; and

It is possible to provide an oral cooling device comprising a; cold transfer medium formed inside the cooling unit and transferring the cold air supplied by the cooling tube to the surface of the user's oral cavity.

According to an embodiment, the cooling unit may be formed of a flexible material so as to evenly contact the curved surface of the user's oral cavity.

Here, the cooling unit may be dimensioned and shaped to cool at least one of the user's upper gum, lower gum, upper surface of the tongue, lower surface of the tongue, the roof of the mouth, the bottom of the mouth, and both cheeks.

According to an embodiment, the cooling unit may have an outer portion positioned outside the gum with respect to the user's gum, an inner portion positioned inside the gum, and a connection portion connecting the outer portion and the inner portion.

According to embodiments, the cold transfer medium may include a plurality of cold conductors distributed inside the cooling unit.

Here, each of the plurality of cold conductors may be adjacent to each other at a predetermined interval or less so that cold air can be transferred between the plurality of cold conductors beyond the internal structure of the cooling unit.

According to the embodiment, an insulator for blocking cold air may be interposed to prevent excessive transfer of cold air to a portion where the distance between the cooling tube and the outer surface of the cooling unit is the shortest.

Depending on the embodiment, when the cooling unit does not properly contact the curved surface inside the user's oral cavity, it may include a warning unit that warns in any one of a visual, auditory, or tactile manner.

As described above, according to one embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to provide an oral cooling device capable of effectively cooling the oral cavity in order to relieve pain caused by burning mouth, oral inflammation (stomatitis), infectious disease, etc.

In addition, according to one embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to provide an oral cooling device that allows the user to confirm and notify whether or not the user is accurately positioned in the target portion of the oral cavity.

In addition, the effect of the present invention has various effects such as having excellent versatility depending on the embodiment, and such effects can be clearly confirmed in the description of the embodiment to be described later.

The following drawings attached to this specification illustrate one embodiment of the present invention, and together with the detailed description of the present invention serve to further understand the technical idea of the present invention, the present invention is the details described in such drawings should not be construed as limited to
1 shows an oral cooling device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 2 shows a top down view of the oral cooling device of Figure 1;
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the mouth cooling device of FIG. 1, and shows how cold conduction occurs between a plurality of cold conductors distributed in a cooling unit as an example of a cold transfer medium.
FIG. 4 shows a state in which an insulator is interposed in the cooling part of FIG. 3 .
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the mouth cooling device of FIG. 1, showing a state in which thin cold conductors, as an example of a cold transfer medium, extend vertically from a cooling tube.
Figure 6 shows a state in which the pressure sensor is installed in the mouth cooling device according to the present embodiment.
Figure 7 shows a cross-sectional view of the mouth cooling device of Figure 6;
FIG. 8 shows an embodiment of the pressure sensor installed in the oral cooling device of FIG. 6 .

Advantages and features of the present invention, and methods for achieving them will become clear with reference to the detailed description of embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, it should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments presented below, but may be implemented in a variety of different forms, and includes all conversions, equivalents, and substitutes included in the spirit and scope of the present invention. . The embodiments presented below are provided to complete the disclosure of the present invention and to fully inform those skilled in the art of the scope of the invention to which the present invention belongs. In describing the present invention, if it is determined that a detailed description of related known technologies may obscure the gist of the present invention, the detailed description will be omitted.

1 shows an oral cooling device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows a view from above of the oral cooling device of FIG. 1 .

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the mouth cooling device of FIG. 1, and shows how cold conduction occurs between a plurality of cold conductors distributed in a cooling unit as an example of a cold transfer medium.

FIG. 4 shows a state in which an insulator is interposed in the cooling part of FIG. 3 . And FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the mouth cooling device of FIG. 1, showing a thin cold conductor extending vertically from the cooling tube as an example of the cold transfer medium.

Figure 6 shows a state in which the pressure sensor is installed in the mouth cooling device according to the present embodiment.

7 shows a cross-sectional view of the oral cooling device of FIG. 6, and FIG. 8 shows one embodiment of a pressure sensor installed in the oral cooling device of FIG.

An oral cooling device 100 according to an embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Oral cooling device 100 according to this embodiment is a cooling unit 200 for cooling the surface of the oral cavity in contact with the surface of the user's oral cavity;

a cooling tube formed inside the cooling unit 200, connected to an external cooling medium supply unit to supply cold air to the user's oral cavity, and through which the cooling medium supplied by the cooling medium supply unit flows; and

A cold transfer medium 400 formed inside the cooling unit 200 and transferring cold air supplied from the cooling tube to the surface of the user's mouth.

The mouth cooling device 100 according to the present embodiment can be applied to alleviate symptoms by cooling the inside of the mouth by inserting it into the mouth of a user suffering from a disease such as burning mouth syndrome.

The cooling unit 200 may be formed of a flexible material so that it can evenly contact the curved surface of the user's oral cavity. The cooling unit 200 may be, for example, made of silicon, but is not limited thereto, and may be made of any material as long as it is made of a flexible material.

The cooling unit 200 is a configuration that can be flexibly bent in shape by an external force, and when the user inserts and installs the oral cooling device 100 according to the present embodiment into the oral cavity, the narrow portion and the curved portion of the oral cavity Correspondingly, it can be flexibly bent to make surface contact with the oral surface skin. This configuration has the effect of allowing the oral cooling device 100 to be worn corresponding to the shape of the inside of each user's oral cavity because the cooling unit 200 is flexibly bent even if the shape and size of the oral cavity for each user is different.

The cooling tube 300 may refer to a cooling medium passage through which a cooling medium rides and flows. The cooling tube 300 may be installed inside the cooling unit 200 . That is, the internal structure of the cooling unit 200 may be molded and disposed around the cooling tube 300 . Both one end 310 and the other end 320 of the cooling tube 300 are exposed to the outside from the cooling unit 200 and may be connected to an external cooling medium supply unit (not shown).

The cooling medium supply unit is located outside the user and may include a heater or cooler for heating or cooling the cooling medium, a tank for accommodating the cooling medium, and a circulation pump for pushing out and circulating the cooling medium.

The cooling tube 300 may have a structure in which a cooling medium circulates in a user's oral cavity in a simple path. That is, it is possible to form a simple flow path rather than forming a complicated flow path extending to every corner of the oral cavity.

According to the embodiment, the cooling tube 300 extends from the inferior labial frenulum along the outside of the lower gum to the molars, crosses the molars, crosses the inside of the lower gum, rides the inside of the lower gum again, and passes through the tongue frenulum. It may be a structure that extends to the opposite molar, then goes beyond the molar, extends along the outside of the lower gum, leads to the inferior labial frenulum, and then falls out.

According to another embodiment, the cooling tube 300 extends from the superior labial frenulum along the outside of the upper gums to the molars, crosses the molars, crosses the inside of the upper gums, and rides the inside of the upper gums again through the hard palate. It may be a structure that extends to the opposite molar, then goes beyond the molar again, extends along the outside of the upper gum, leads to the superior labial frenulum, and then falls out.

Since the cooling tube 300 has a structure that circulates inside the oral cavity through such a simple path according to the embodiment, it may not be accessible to the narrow and curved portions of the oral cavity, so the cold air is delivered to the narrow and curved portions of the oral cavity. this can be a problem However, this part is supplemented by the function of the cooling unit 200 to be described later.

The cooling medium may be in a liquid state and may refer to a material that transfers cold air. The cooling medium may be, for example, water, but is not limited thereto.

Depending on the embodiment, the cooling unit 200 may be sized and shaped to cool at least one of the user's upper gum, lower gum, upper surface of the tongue, lower surface of the tongue, the roof of the mouth, the bottom of the mouth, and both cheeks.

Since this structure may be configured to cover one or more of the bottom part of the tongue between the lips and gums, between the cheeks and gums, both side parts of the tongue, and the back part of the molars in the user's mouth, the narrowest and most curved part of the user's mouth It can deliver cold air up to

In order to perform this function, according to the embodiment, the cooling unit 200 includes an outer part 210 positioned outside the gum, an inner part 220 positioned inside the gum, and a connection part 230 based on the user's gum. It can be configured to include. Here, the connection part 230 is a configuration connecting the outer part 210 and the inner part 220, and may be a part that the user bites with his teeth when he closes his mouth.

Depending on the embodiment, the cooling tube 300 may include an outer cooling tube 330, an inner cooling tube 350, and a bridge cooling tube 340.

The outer cooling tube 330 may be located at a portion where the outer portion 210 and the connection portion 230 are connected in one embodiment of the aforementioned cooling unit 200, and the inner cooling tube 350 is connected to the inner portion 220. The connecting portion 230 may be located at a connecting portion. In addition, the bridge cooling tube 340 may refer to a region where the outer cooling tube 330 and the inner cooling tube 350 are connected by turning to the back side of the molar.

The cooling tube 300 is formed at the part where the outer part 210 and the connection part 230 are connected, so that cold air can be delivered to the narrow, curved and deep part between the lower gum and the lips via the lower lip frenulum, and the upper labrum frenulum. It can deliver cold air to the narrow, curved and deep part between the upper gum and the lips via the mouth.

In addition, the cooling tube 300 can deliver cold air to the palate, that is, the palate including the hard palate and soft palate, by the structure formed at the portion where the inner portion 220 and the connection portion 230 are connected, and the lingual frenulum, It can deliver cold air to narrow, curved and deep parts such as the bottom of the tongue and the side of the tongue, including the deep vein (Profunda v.).

As described above, the cooling unit 200 is formed of a flexible material and is bent to fit the structure of the oral cavity inside the user's oral cavity so that it can conform to the surface of the oral cavity (skin in the user's mouth). It can be. Accordingly, the heat transfer medium inside the cooling unit 200 may be formed of a material or shape capable of performing heat transfer or cold transfer without damaging the properties of the cooling unit 200 .

The cooling unit 200 may be made of a material with excellent heat transfer by itself, but in some cases, as described above, the material itself may not be a material with good heat transfer. In this case, the heat transfer medium may perform a complementary function to smoothly transfer heat from the cooling tube 300 to the skin of the user's mouth.

The cold transfer medium 400 may serve to transfer cold air generated from the cooling tube 300 to the surface of the user's oral cavity. The cold transfer medium 400 may be made of a material that transfers heat or cold air well. The cold transfer medium 400 may be located inside the cooling unit 200, and one side may be adjacent to the cooling tube 300 and the other side may be disposed adjacent to the outer surface of the cooling unit 200.

Depending on the embodiment, the cold transfer medium 400 may include a plurality of cold conductors distributed inside the cooling unit 200 . Cool air emitted from the cooling tube 300 may move along the cold conductor and be emitted from the outer surface of the cooling unit 200 .

Depending on the embodiment, the cold conductors may have a form in which many are distributed in the cooling unit 200 . The cold carriers may be clustered together or distributed at irregular intervals in the internal structure of the cooling unit 200 . Depending on the embodiment, the shape of the cold carrier may be composed of various shapes such as grains, powders, particles, pieces, and particles.

Each of the plurality of cold conductors may be positioned so as to be adjacent to each other at a set interval or less so that cold air can be transferred between the plurality of cold conductors beyond the internal structure of the cooling unit 200 .

If the distance between the grains constituting the cold chain is too large, cold air cannot pass through the internal structure of the cooling unit 200, so the efficiency of cold transfer is reduced.

To describe the process of the cold air transfer by the cold transfer medium 400 in detail, the cold air emitted from the cooling tube 300 is transferred to the cold conductor closest to the cooling tube 300 and the closest to the cooling tube 300. Cool air is transmitted from the cold conductor to the cold conductor adjacent to the outer surface of the cooling unit 200 . The cold conductor adjacent to the outer surface of the cooling unit 200 transfers cold air to the surface of the user's oral cavity that is in contact with the outer surface of the cooling unit 200, that is, to the skin in the user's mouth.

Depending on the embodiment, the cold transfer medium 400 may include a thin conductor 410. In this case, the thin conductor 410 may have a structure extending in the vertical direction of the cooling tube 300 inside the cooling unit 200, and one side is in contact with the cooling tube 300, and the other side is in contact with the cooling unit 200. ) may be configured to contact the outer surface of the Cold air may start to move from one side of the thin conductor 410 in contact with the cooling tube 300 and move to the other side of the thin conductor 410 in contact with the outer surface of the cooling unit 200, thereby dissipating the cold air to the outside.

Ends of the thin conductor 410 that come into contact with the outer surface of the cooling unit 200 may have a shape branching down to both sides in arrow shapes 420 and 430 when viewed in cross section. This structure has the effect of increasing the contact area between the thin conductor 410 and the skin of the mouth so that cooling is more effectively transmitted.

In this embodiment, since the heat conductor can be flexibly bent together with the flexible cooling unit 200 by adopting a granular structure or a thin structure as the heat conductor, it can fit into the complicated structure of the user's oral cavity.

Depending on the embodiment, an insulator 500 blocking cold air may be interposed to prevent excessive transfer of cold air to a portion where the distance between the cooling tube 300 and the outer surface of the cooling unit 200 is the shortest. Since the cooling unit 200 is formed long in the top and bottom (B) and short in the left and right (A), cold air may be excessively dissipated to the left and right (A). That is, since the cold carrier is distributed long in the top and bottom (B) and short in the left and right (A), it may be excessive that the cold air is emitted from the left and right (A) rather than the top and bottom (B). In this case, since the insulator 500 is interposed therebetween, it is possible to balance the vertical and horizontal movements of the cold air by suppressing the left and right movement of the cold air.

According to the embodiment, the oral cooling device 100 is a warning unit that warns in any one of a visual method, an auditory method, or a tactile method when the cooling unit 200 does not properly contact the curved surface inside the user's mouth ( 610) may be configured.

In the oral cooling device 100 according to the present embodiment, the sensor 600 may be attached to the inside of the cooling unit 200 to sense whether the outer surface of the cooling unit 200 is properly contacted with the skin inside the user's oral cavity. there is. Correct contact confirmation sensor 600 may include a pressure sensor 600 according to an embodiment. The pressure sensors 600 may be installed in a number distributed right inside the outer surface of the cooling unit 200 . In one embodiment of the pressure sensor 600, a first conductor 650 having a plurality of branches 640 and a second conductor 670 having a plurality of branches 660 are disposed to face each other, and the first conductor ( The branch 640 of 650 and the branch 660 of the second conductor 670 are staggered with each other. These branches may be configured by forming a pattern on a substrate.

A process of sensing whether the user correctly wears the oral cooling device 100 will be described. When the user wears the oral cooling device 100 correctly, a pressure P is generated because the outer surface of the cooling unit 200 and the skin inside the mouth are in close contact in a certain area, and the pressure sensor 600 detects this pressure P ) is measured. That is, when the skin of the oral cavity and the outer surface of the cooling unit 200 are in contact, the pressure is converted into an electrical signal using a variable resistance method in which the area to which the branches of the pressure sensor 600 are pressed changes and the output resistance value changes, and outputs the pressure. If, the control unit receiving the signal analyzes and calculates the size of the pressure, the pressure change pattern, the pressure distribution pattern, the pressure distribution area, etc. can judge

The pressure sensor 600 may be connected to the control unit and the warning unit 610 through micro electric cables 620 and 630 . The internal electric cable 620 is an electric cable 620 connected to the pressure sensor 600 and may be inserted and disposed inside the cooling unit. In addition, the external electric cable 630 is attached to the outer circumferential surface of the cooling tube 300 that is drawn out from the user's oral cavity and can be pulled out together and connected to the control unit and the warning unit.

Oral cooling device 100 according to the present embodiment, when the cooling unit 200 does not properly contact the curved surface inside the user's oral cavity, a warning unit that warns in any one of a visual, auditory, or tactile manner It may be configured to include (610).

When it is determined by the control unit that the cooling unit 200 does not properly contact the curved surface inside the user's oral cavity, the warning unit 610 issues a warning in one of a visual, auditory, or tactile manner. can be done The visual method may include a method of visually transmitting a notification by configuring the warning unit 610 as a lamp such as an LED according to an embodiment.

Specifically, one configuration of the warning unit 610 is to attach an LED lamp to one side of the cooling tube 300 drawn out from the mouth when the oral cooling device 100 is inserted into the user's mouth and worn, When the control unit analyzes the sensed value of the pressure sensor 600 and determines that it is not worn correctly, it may be configured to give a visual warning such as performing lighting.

In another embodiment, the audible warning is to generate a warning sound through a speaker configuration, etc., and the tactile warning is to perform a warning by vibration through a vibrator configuration or the like.

In the specification of the present invention (particularly in the claims), the use of the term "above" and similar indicating terms may correspond to both singular and plural. In addition, when a range is described in the present invention, it includes an invention in which individual values belonging to the range are applied (unless there is a description to the contrary), and each individual value constituting the range is described in the detailed description of the invention Same as

The steps constituting the method according to the present invention may be performed in any suitable order unless an order is explicitly stated or stated to the contrary. The present invention is not necessarily limited according to the order of description of the steps. The use of all examples or exemplary terms (eg, etc.) in the present invention is simply to explain the present invention in detail, and the scope of the present invention is limited due to the examples or exemplary terms unless limited by the claims. it is not going to be In addition, those skilled in the art can appreciate that various modifications, combinations and changes can be made according to design conditions and factors within the scope of the appended claims or equivalents thereof.

Therefore, the spirit of the present invention should not be limited to the above-described embodiments and should not be determined, and all scopes equivalent to or equivalently changed from the claims as well as the claims described below are within the scope of the spirit of the present invention. will be said to belong to

100: oral cooling device
200: cooling unit
210: outer part
220: inner part
230: connection part
300: cooling tube
310: one end
320: rudder end
330: outer cooling tube
340: bridge cooling tube
350: inner cooling tube
400: cold transfer medium
410: thin conductor
500: insulator
600: pressure sensor
610: warning unit

Claims (7)

a cooling unit that contacts the surface of the user's oral cavity and cools the surface;
a cooling tube formed inside the cooling unit, connected to an external cooling medium supply unit to supply cold air to the user's oral cavity, and through which the cooling medium supplied by the cooling medium supply unit flows; and
a cold transfer medium formed inside the cooling unit and transferring the cold air supplied from the cooling tube to the surface of the user's oral cavity;
Mouth cooling device comprising a. According to claim 1,
Oral cooling device, characterized in that the cooling portion is formed of a flexible material so that it can evenly surface contact with the curved surface inside the oral cavity of the user. According to claim 2,
The cooling unit is dimensioned and shaped to cool at least one or more of the user's upper gum, lower gum, upper surface of the tongue, lower surface of the tongue, palate, bottom of the mouth, and cheeks on both sides. According to claim 3,
The cooling unit has an outer portion positioned outside the gum relative to the user's gum, an inner portion positioned inside the gum, and a connection portion connecting the outer portion and the inner portion. Oral cooling device. According to claim 2,
The cold transfer medium is an oral cooling device, characterized in that it comprises a plurality of cold conductors distributed inside the cooling unit. According to claim 5,
Oral cooling device, characterized in that each of the plurality of cold conductors are adjacent to each other at a set interval or less so that cold air can be transferred beyond the internal tissue of the cooling unit between the plurality of cold conductors. According to claim 2,
When the cooling unit does not properly contact the curved surface inside the oral cavity of the user, the oral cooling device comprising a warning unit for warning in any one of a visual, auditory, or tactile manner.

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