It is known in the art to use dental appliances for the treatment of snoring and sleep apnea. For example and without being limitative, the dental appliances can be intraoral orthoses which prevent the mandible from moving posteriorly during sleep.
One type of known intraoral orthosis includes two dental trays (or bite forms) joined together so that the user's mandible projects forwardly from its normal position and thereby helps reducing snoring and sleep apnea. In such an orthosis, the dental trays are connected to one another through two lateral links which are configured to advance the user's mandible during a vertical movement between the maxilla and the mandible. In some embodiments, for connection to the dental trays corresponding to the maxilla or the mandible, the lateral links have a protrusion inserted in a through hole of the dental trays.
One of the common drawbacks of known intraoral orthoses is that the lateral links often disconnect from the dental tray to which they are engaged, when the intraoral orthosis is being manipulated. In such cases, the user must spend time to reconnect the disconnected lateral link to its respective dental tray.
In view of the above, there is a need for an improved mandibular protrusion device which, by virtue of its design and components, would be able to overcome or at least minimize some of the above-discussed prior art concerns.