KR20230101400A - Apparatus for oral electrical stimulation - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus for oral electrical stimulation is disclosed. The apparatus for oral electrical stimulation comprises: a first body which is formed in the shape of a mouthpiece and is worn on a user's lower jaw within the oral cavity; a second body which is formed to correspond to the palate of the oral cavity and is worn on the upper jaw; a piezoelectric element which is mounted on a portion of the first body covering the molars; an electrode which is formed to have a preset area in a portion of the second body corresponding to the center of the palate; and a controller which is operated by receiving power generated by the piezoelectric element and applies power for electrical stimulation to the electrode by adjusting the voltage or current of the power.

Description

Oral electrical stimulation device {Apparatus for oral electrical stimulation}

The present invention relates to an oral electrical stimulation device.

Snoring refers to a sound generated by vibration of soft tissues around the upper airway as the upper airway is partially blocked during sleep, and is a symptom in which air flow through the airway is restricted during breathing during sleep. In particular, obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is a phenomenon in which the upper airway is partially or completely blocked during sleep, which restricts the flow of air through the airway during breathing, reducing the oxygen saturation level in the blood and making it difficult to maintain sleep due to frequent awakening during sleep. It is a respiratory and sleep disorder that causes problems.

In general, breathing is performed by non-breathing rather than mouth breathing, thereby removing contaminants from the air inhaled into the lungs, warming cold air, and replenishing moisture. In addition, nitric oxide produced in the sinuses of the nasal cavity expands the capillaries in the lungs, helping to dissolve oxygen in the blood and increasing the efficiency of breathing, helping to supply oxygen in the body with a low respiratory rate.

However, oral breathing during sleep causes infection in the respiratory tract or narrows the airway by causing swelling of soft tissues such as tonsils around the airway due to the inflow of cold and dry air. In addition, the snoring symptoms due to the shaking of the uvula in the mouth appear more severe during oral breathing than during non-breathing.

In addition, when the gap between the pharynx wall and the surrounding soft tissues is narrowed due to relaxation of muscles and soft tissues of the body during sleep, sleep breathing disorder appears. Snoring symptoms appear as a narrowed pharyngeal wall and sounding of the uvula, and in severe cases, when the soft tissue around the tongue and pharynx temporarily blocks the airway, obstructive sleep apnea occurs, causing air to temporarily stop flowing to the lungs.

In the case of snoring and sleep apnea, it is difficult to take a physical rest because deep sleep is not possible during the sleep phase, and snoring and sleep apnea are more severe during REM sleep, in which all muscles are relaxed, making it difficult to get enough rest during sleep. These symptoms cause mental problems such as daytime sleepiness, fatigue, memory loss, overeating due to stress, and poor concentration. In addition, snoring and sleep apnea make it difficult to properly supply oxygen in the body, and blood oxygen saturation is lowered, which causes severe diseases such as abnormal blood pressure, heart disease, cerebral infarction, and diabetes.

Methods of treating snoring and sleep apnea can be largely divided into non-surgical and surgical methods. There are methods to prevent the tongue from drooping over the neck through overdose treatment or intraoral device, or to prevent collapse of the soft tissue of the pharynx by continuously supplying positive pressure to the airway. In addition, surgical treatment methods include nasal surgery, pharynx surgery, tongue reduction surgery, head and neck surgery, and the like, depending on the cause of snoring.

Here, as a non-surgical treatment method, an intraoral device is widely used, and has the advantage of being worn during sleep to expand the airway, reducing the burden of surgery or drugs, and being easy to apply in real life.

Therefore, there is a demand for development of an intraoral device capable of more effectively and easily treating snoring and sleep apnea.

Republic of Korea Patent Registration No. 10-1380336 (2014.03.26)

An object of the present invention is to provide an oral electrical stimulation device that is formed in a wearable form in the oral cavity and applies electrical stimulation to the roof of the mouth while being worn in the oral cavity by a user.

According to one aspect of the present invention, an oral electrical stimulation device wearable in the oral cavity is disclosed.

The oral electric stimulation device according to an embodiment of the present invention is formed in the form of a mouthpiece, and is formed to correspond to a first body worn on the lower jaw in the oral cavity and a palate of the oral cavity, and is worn on the upper jaw. 2 main bodies, a piezoelectric element mounted on a portion of the first body covering the molars, an electrode formed in a portion corresponding to the center of the roof of the mouth in the second body to have a preset area, and supplying power generated by the piezoelectric element. and a controller that receives and operates and applies power for electrical stimulation to the electrodes by adjusting the voltage or current of the power.

The oral electric stimulation device further includes a storage element for temporarily storing power generated by the piezoelectric element and a communication module for performing short-range communication with a user terminal.

At one side of the first body, a storage unit is formed in which the storage device, the controller, and the communication module are accommodated.

The oral electric stimulation device further includes a sensor module mounted on the second body, wherein the sensor module includes a vibration sensor for measuring vibration generated according to the user's snoring, a PH sensor for measuring oral acidity, and snoring. It includes a thin film acoustic sensor and an oxygen saturation sensor for measuring noise.

A plurality of suction plates for increasing surface adhesion are formed on a surface of the second body attached to the roof of the mouth.

In order to apply power for the electrical stimulation to the electrode, the controller generates a waveform whose amplitude gradually decreases from a pulse peak value to 0 during a preset pulse ON time, and the speed at which the amplitude decreases gradually decreases. generate a pulse

The waveform of the generated pulse includes a ripple waveform in which the amplitude temporarily increases by a preset magnitude and then gradually decreases again while the amplitude gradually decreases from the pulse peak value.

The oral electrical stimulation device according to an embodiment of the present invention is formed in a form that can be worn in the oral cavity, and electrical stimulation is applied to the roof of the mouth while worn by the user in the oral cavity, thereby electrically stimulating the nose to relieve snoring and sleep apnea. More effective and easier to treat.

1 is a diagram schematically illustrating the configuration of an oral electrical stimulation device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 to 11 are diagrams for explaining an oral electric stimulation device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Singular expressions used herein include plural expressions unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In this specification, terms such as "consisting of" or "comprising" should not be construed as necessarily including all of the various components or steps described in the specification, and some of the components or some of the steps It should be construed that it may not be included, or may further include additional components or steps. In addition, terms such as "...unit" and "module" described in the specification mean a unit that processes at least one function or operation, which may be implemented as hardware or software or a combination of hardware and software. .

Hereinafter, various embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a diagram schematically illustrating the configuration of an oral electrical stimulation device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2 to 11 are views for explaining the oral electrical stimulation device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, an oral electric stimulation device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1, but reference will be made to FIGS. 2 to 11.

Referring to FIG. 1 , an oral electric stimulation device according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a first body 100 and a second body 200.

Here, the piezoelectric element 110, the storage element 120, the controller 130, and the communication module 140 are mounted on the first body 100, and the electrode 210 and the sensor module ( 220) is mounted.

Referring to FIG. 2 , the first body 100 is formed in the form of a mouthpiece and is worn on the lower jaw in the oral cavity of the user. That is, as shown in FIG. 2 , the first body 100 may be formed in a structure that covers some teeth, such as lower front teeth and molars, to be caught on teeth.

In particular, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 , a piezoelectric element 110 may be mounted on a portion covering the molars in the first body 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. That is, the piezoelectric element 110 may be formed in the form of a thin film on the first body 100 so as to be positioned above the molars of the lower jaw.

For example, FIG. 4 shows an example of the structure of the piezoelectric element 110 . Referring to FIG. 4, the piezoelectric element 110 is formed by sequentially stacking a first composite 410 of polydimethylsilosane (PDMS) and silicon, a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) piezoelectric thin film element 420, and a second composite of PDMS and silicon. can be formed Here, instead of the PVDF piezoelectric thin film element 420, a thin film piezoelectric element obtained by mixing and grafting TiN (Titanium Nitride), AlN (Aluminium Nitride) electrically conductive nanocomposite and PEDOT-PSS may be applied.

The piezoelectric element 110 generates power with pressure generated when the molars of the upper and lower jaw collide as the user performs a tooth chewing operation while the user is wearing the oral electric stimulation device according to the embodiment of the present invention. can do.

Again, referring to FIGS. 1 to 3 , on one side of the first body 100, the storage element 120, the controller 130, and the communication module 140 are accommodated in the storage unit 105 is formed. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 , the receiving portion 105 may be formed on the outer portion of the tooth in the first body 100, but may also be formed on the inner portion of the tooth according to implementation.

The storage element 120 is an element that temporarily stores power generated by the piezoelectric element 110 . Temporarily stored power may be supplied to the controller 130 . For example, the storage element 120 may be a capacitor.

The controller 130 controls the overall operation of the oral electric stimulation device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In particular, the controller 130 may operate by receiving power generated by the piezoelectric element 110 through the storage element 120 and output power for electrical stimulation by adjusting the voltage or current of the power.

In addition, the controller 130 may transmit various types of information generated through the operation to the outside through the communication module 140 .

That is, as shown in FIG. 1 , the controller 130 may include a processor 131 , a memory 132 and a waveform generator 133 .

The processor 131 may be a CPU or a semiconductor device that executes instructions stored in the memory 132 .

Memory 132 may include various types of volatile or non-volatile storage media. For example, memory 132 may include ROM, RAM, and the like.

For example, the memory 132 may store instructions for controlling voltage or current for electrical stimulation, generating and processing information, and the like.

The waveform generator 133 generates pulses of a preset waveform for electrical stimulation under the control of the processor 131 . For example, the generated pulse may be transferred to the electrode 210 of the second body 20 through a wire (not shown).

The communication module 140 performs short-range communication with an external user terminal. For example, the communication module 140 may be a short-range communication means such as Bluetooth.

Referring to FIG. 5 , the second body 200 is formed to correspond to the roof of the user's mouth and is worn on the upper jaw. For example, as shown in FIG. 5 , the second body 200 may be formed in the shape of the roof of the mouth excluding the teeth of the upper jaw, but may be formed to cover not only the roof of the mouth but also the teeth of the upper jaw depending on implementation. . At this time, the portion covered by the teeth may be formed to be fitted to the teeth.

As shown in FIG. 5 , the electrode 210 may be formed to have a predetermined area in a portion corresponding to the center of the roof of the mouth in the second body 200 . Thus, when power is supplied from the controller 130, the electrode 210 may apply electrical stimulation to the user's palate. Through this, electrical stimulation to the nose can be performed.

For example, FIG. 6 shows an example of the structure of the electrode 210 . Referring to FIG. 6 , in the electrode 210, a first composite 620 and a second composite 630 are stacked on the upper and lower portions of the PVDF piezoelectric thin film element 610, respectively, and the first composite 620 and the second composite 620 are formed. The composite 630 may be formed by stacking the first surface protection coating layer 640 and the second surface protection coating layer 650 . Here, the first composite 620 is a grafting of Ag NanoWire-mesh and PDMS, the second composite 630 is a grafting of Cu Nanowire-mesh and PDMS, and the first surface protection coating layer 640 and the second surface The protective coating layer 650 may be a combination of PDMS and silicon. And, instead of the PVDF piezoelectric thin film element 610, a thin film piezoelectric element obtained by grafting a mixture of aluminum nitride (AlN) conductive nanocomposite and PEDOT-PSS may be applied.

As shown in FIG. 5 , the sensor module 220 may be mounted on an edge portion of the second body 200 except for a portion where the electrode 210 is located.

For example, the sensor module 220 may include a vibration sensor for measuring vibration generated according to the user's snoring, a PH sensor for measuring oral acidity, a thin film acoustic sensor for measuring snoring noise, and an oxygen saturation detection sensor. can include Here, information measured by the sensor module 220 may be transmitted to the controller 130 . Also, the controller 130 may transmit the measurement information received from the sensor module 220 to a user terminal located in a short distance through the communication module 140 . Through this, the user can check the measurement information such as the vibration sensor and the PH sensor output to the user terminal to monitor the nose condition and adjust the strength and time of the electrical stimulation. Here, an application for nose condition monitoring and device control may be installed in the user terminal in conjunction with the oral electric stimulation device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 7 , a plurality of suckers may be arranged and formed on the surface of the second body 200 attached to the roof of the user's mouth to increase surface adhesiveness. Referring to FIG. 7 , the suction plate may be formed in various shapes applying a micro-structure and nano-structure merged structure according to implementation. For example, the suction plate formed on the surface of the second body 200 may be implemented by imitating the shape of a sucker of a cephalopod.

In addition, the above-described electrode 210 may be formed on the surface between the suction plates or on the upper portion of the suction plates according to implementation.

8 to 10 show an example of the electrode 210 formed between or on the suction plate. That is, the electrode 210 may be formed in a protruding hemispherical shape as shown in FIG. 8 or may be formed in a polygonal pyramidal shape or a polygonal pyramidal structure as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 . FIG. 10 shows a cross section of the shape of the electrode 210 shown in FIG. 9 . Here, the upper vertex portion of the polygonal pyramid or pyramid may be coated with a conductive material made of metal for electrical stimulation, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 .

Referring to FIGS. 9 and 10 , the upper end of the electrode 210 may be coated with a conductive metal material for oral electrical stimulation in various ways as described below.

(1) Sputtering, CVD

(2) Electroplating using Shadow Mask and Blanket

(3) Imprinting using MEMS process technique

(4) Dip-coating using slot die method

(5) Spin coating using solution process technique

In addition, the electrode 210 is a microneedle for electrical stimulation having a needle structure in the form of a fusiform cone when viewed from the top-view, in order to stimulate the nerve cells of the trapezius muscle connected to the brain through the palate and the pineal body connected to the soft palate. ) may be formed to have a function. Here, the microneedles may be applied to the molar shape of a viper to which nano-implant technology is applied.

Meanwhile, according to another embodiment of the present invention, the first body 100 and the second body 200 may each include an intraoral heating device to which a heating sheet in the form of a micro LED or carbon nanotube-mesh is applied.

11 shows an example of a waveform of a pulse generated by the waveform generator 133 of the controller 130. Referring to FIG. 11 , the waveform of the generated pulse gradually decreases in amplitude from the pulse peak value to 0 during a preset pulse ON time during the pulse period, and at this time, the rate at which the amplitude decreases gradually decreases.

That is, the slope of the tangent to the waveform of the pulse is less than 0 and gradually increases with time t. For example, referring to FIG. 11 , it can be seen that the slope tan(θ2) of the tangent line at the second time point t ₂ is greater than the slope tan(θ1) of the tangent line tan(θ1) at the first time point t ₁ . can

When the pulse is output, the initial amplitude corresponds to the peak value, and the pulse amplitude gradually decreases from the peak value to reach zero during the pulse-on time during which the pulse is maintained. At this time, when the amplitude of the pulse decreases, the rate of decrease gradually decreases, and after the pulse on time elapses, the amplitude becomes zero.

In particular, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the waveform of the pulse generated as shown in FIG. 11 temporarily decreases in amplitude during the pulse ON time, while the amplitude gradually decreases from the pulse peak value during the pulse period. It may include a ripple waveform that increases by a preset size and then gradually decreases again.

Through this, since the oral electrical stimulation device according to the embodiment of the present invention is mounted in the user's oral cavity and directly applies electrical stimulation to the nose through the roof of the user's mouth, snoring and sleep apnea can be more effectively and easily treated. there is.

The embodiments of the present invention described above have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, and those skilled in the art having ordinary knowledge of the present invention will be able to make various modifications, changes, and additions within the spirit and scope of the present invention, and such modifications, changes, and additions will be considered to fall within the scope of the following claims.

100: first body
110: piezoelectric element (composite element)
120: storage element
130: controller
131: processor
132: memory
133: waveform generator
140: communication module
200: second body
210: electrode (for electrical stimulation)
220: sensor module (for biosignal detection)

Claims (7)

In the oral electrical stimulation device wearable in the oral cavity.
A first body formed in the form of a mouthpiece and worn on the lower jaw in the oral cavity;
a second body formed to correspond to the palate of the oral cavity and worn on the upper jaw;
a piezoelectric element mounted on a portion of the first body covering the molars;
an electrode formed to have a predetermined area at a portion corresponding to the center of the roof of the mouth in the second body; and
Oral electrical stimulation device comprising a controller operating by receiving the power generated by the piezoelectric element and applying power for electrical stimulation to the electrode by adjusting a voltage or current of the power.
According to claim 1,
The oral electrical stimulation device,
a storage element for temporarily storing power generated by the piezoelectric element; and
Oral electrical stimulation device characterized in that it further comprises a communication module for performing short-range communication with the user terminal.
According to claim 2,
An oral electrical stimulation device, characterized in that, on one side of the first body, a storage unit for accommodating the storage element, the controller and the communication module is formed.
According to claim 1,
The oral electrical stimulation device,
Further comprising a sensor module mounted on the second body,
The sensor module includes a vibration sensor for measuring vibration generated according to the user's snoring, a PH sensor for measuring acidity in the oral cavity, a thin film acoustic sensor for measuring snoring noise, and an oxygen saturation sensor. electrical stimulation device.
According to claim 1,
Oral electrical stimulation device, characterized in that a plurality of sucking plates for increasing the surface adhesiveness is formed on the surface attached to the roof of the mouth in the second body.
According to claim 1,
In order to apply power for the electrical stimulation to the electrode, the controller generates a waveform whose amplitude gradually decreases from a pulse peak value to 0 during a preset pulse ON time, and the speed at which the amplitude decreases gradually decreases. Oral electrical stimulation device, characterized in that for generating a pulse.
According to claim 6,
The waveform of the generated pulse includes a ripple waveform in which the amplitude temporarily increases by a preset magnitude and then gradually decreases again while the amplitude gradually decreases from the pulse peak value. Device.

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