Method and apparatus for vacuum-formed dental appliance

An oral appliance comprising:

• an upper tray and a lower tray adapted to fit tightly but removably over one or more occlusal surfaces of respective upper and lower teeth of a patient;
• a first set of retention hooks encased by the upper tray, wherein encasing the first set of retention hooks occurs via vacuum forming over a model of a patient's upper teeth that includes the first set of retention hooks formerly attached to the model of the patient's upper teeth;
• a set of bite pads integrated with a second set of retention hooks encased by the lower tray, wherein encasing the set of bite pads integrated with the second set of retention hooks occurs via vacuum forming over a model of a patient's lower teeth that includes the first set of retention hooks formerly attached to the model of the patient's lower teeth, the set of bite pads configured to form a bite plane on the one or more occlusal surfaces of the lower tray, each bite pad of the set of bite pad having a bite surface which protrudes therefrom so as to engage one or more occlusal surfaces on the upper tray and thus maintain the one or more occlusal surfaces of the upper and lower trays in a predetermined spaced relation, when the trays are fitted on the patient and a pair of elastic bands couple the upper tray to the lower tray via the first set of retention hooks and the second set of retention hooks to enable a lower jaw of the patient wherein the set of bite pads integrated with a second set of retention hooks encased by the lower tray are adapted to enable one or more extensions to be attached to each bite pad of the set of bite pads to advance forwardly.