Provisional oral sleep appliance

An oral appliance for the treatment of sleep apnea, comprising:

• a strut assembly comprising a male part and a female part adjustably engaged with one another, wherein
• the male part includes a rod and a posterior projection, the posterior projection having an outer surface that is at least partially spherical in shape with a first pair of opposed planar surfaces and is configured to rotationally engage and to be enclosed within an inner surface of a first socket of the oral appliance, the inner surface of the first socket defines a first concave interior space in which a majority of the posterior projection is positioned within when the posterior projection is enclosed within the inner surface of the first socket, wherein the first pair of opposed planar surfaces are substantially perpendicular to a length of the rod,
• the female part includes a cylinder and an anterior projection, the anterior projection having an outer surface that is at least partially spherical in shape with a second pair of opposed planar surfaces and is configured to rotationally engage an inner surface of a second socket of the oral appliance, the anterior projection being configured to be enclosed within the second socket, the inner surface of the second socket defines a second concave interior space in which a majority of the anterior projection is positioned within when the anterior projection is enclosed within the inner surface of the second socket, wherein the second pair of opposed planar surfaces are substantially perpendicular to a length of the cylinder, and
• the rod is received within the cylinder, so that the male and female parts are in direct contact with each other, the anterior projection is positioned along an anterior end of the strut assembly and the posterior projection is positioned along a posterior end of the strut assembly.

An oral appliance, comprising:

• an upper tray for receiving upper teeth of a user, the upper tray including a first socket or a first projection, the first socket having a spherical inner surface defining a first interior space that is at least partially concave in shape and the first projection having an outer surface that is at least partially convex in shape;
• a lower tray for receiving lower teeth of a user, the lower tray including a second socket or a second projection, the second socket having a spherical inner surface defining a second interior space that is at least partially concave in shape and a second projection having an outer surface that is at least partially convex in shape;
• and
• a first strut configured to be rotationally joined to the upper tray and the lower tray, wherein the first strut includes the other of the first socket or the first projection, and the first strut further includes the other of the second socket or the second projection, wherein the inner surface of the first socket is configured to rotationally engage with the outer surface of the first projection, the first interior space defined by the inner surface of the first socket surrounds a majority of the first projection when the first socket is joined with the first projection, the inner surface of the second socket is configured to rotationally engage with the outer surface of the second projection, and the second interior space defined by the inner surface of the second socket surrounds a majority of the second projection when the second socket is joined with the second projection,
• wherein the first socket has opposed first and second linear inner surfaces, and the first projection has opposed first and second planar outer surfaces configured for complimentary engagement with the first and second linear inner surfaces of the first socket.