# US 8,464,709 B2 · Cheek path airway and cheek pouch anchor > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 8,464,709 B2 - Document ID: US8464709B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 10/714,694 - Filed: 2003-11-17 - Published: 2005-05-19 - Granted: 2013-06-18 - Earliest claimed: 2003-11-17 - Applicants: Lowell R. Wedemeyer - Inventors: Lowell R. Wedemeyer - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US8464709B2 ## CPC - A61M 16/10: Preparation of respiratory gases or vapours - A61B 17/02: for holding wounds open, e.g. retractors; Tractors - A61B 34/70: {Manipulators specially adapted for use in surgery} - A61B 90/00: Instruments, implements or accessories specially adapted for surgery or diagnosis and not covered by any of the groups A61B1/00 - A61B50/00, e.g. for luxation treatment or for protecting wound edges - A61B 90/02: {Devices for expanding tissue, e.g. skin tissue (implements for holding wounds open, surgical tractors A61B17/02; implantable mammary prosthesis A61F2/12; dilators A61M29/00)} - A61B 90/50: Supports for surgical instruments, e.g. articulated arms - A61C 3/00: Dental tools or instruments (implanting tools A61C8/00; tools for fastening artificial teeth A61C13/12; visual inspection devices, e.g. dental mirrors, A61B1/24) - A61C 3/04: Supports for holding tooth drills in order of use - A61C 7/00: Orthodontics, i.e. obtaining or maintaining the desired position of teeth, e.g. by straightening, evening, regulating, separating, or by correcting malocclusions - A61C 7/10: Devices having means to apply outwardly directed force, e.g. expanders - A61C 7/36: Devices acting between upper and lower teeth - A61F 5/37: Restraining devices for the body or for body parts; Restraining shirts - A61F 5/3707: {for the head (cervical supports A61F5/055; splints A61F5/05883)} - A61F 5/566: {Intra-oral devices} - A61M 16/00: Devices for influencing the respiratory system of patients by gas treatment, e.g. ventilators (iron lungs A61H31/02); Tracheal tubes - A61M 16/0493: {with means for protecting the tube from damage caused by the patient's teeth, e.g. bite block} - A61M 2210/0631: Gums - A61M 2210/0637: Teeth - A61M: DEVICES FOR INTRODUCING MEDIA INTO, OR ONTO, THE BODY (introducing media into or onto the bodies of animals A61D7/00; means for inserting tampons A61F13/26; devices for administering food or medicines orally A61J; containers for collecting, storing or administering blood or medical fluids A61J1/05); DEVICES FOR TRANSDUCING BODY MEDIA OR FOR TAKING MEDIA FROM THE BODY (surgery A61B; chemical aspects of surgical articles A61L); DEVICES FOR PRODUCING OR ENDING SLEEP OR STUPOR {(Electrotherapy, e.g. producing anaesthesia by the use of alternating or intermittent currents A61N1/36021)} - A61B: DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION (usefulness limited to only animals A61D) - A61C: DENTISTRY; APPARATUS OR METHODS FOR ORAL OR DENTAL HYGIENE (non-driven toothbrushes A46B; {tongue scrapers A61B17/24;} preparations for dentistry A61K6/00; preparations for cleaning the teeth or mouth A61K8/00, A61Q11/00) - A61F: FILTERS IMPLANTABLE INTO BLOOD VESSELS; PROSTHESES; DEVICES PROVIDING PATENCY TO, OR PREVENTING COLLAPSING OF, TUBULAR STRUCTURES OF THE BODY, e.g. STENTS; ORTHOPAEDIC, NURSING OR CONTRACEPTIVE DEVICES; FOMENTATION; TREATMENT OR PROTECTION OF EYES OR EARS; BANDAGES, DRESSINGS OR ABSORBENT PADS; FIRST-AID KITS (dental prosthetics A61C) ## Abstract The cheek pocket anchor, formed of a resilient filament, fits within a user's cheek pouch. The anchor dynamically spans a user's inter-occlusal space and lip opening as a user's jaws open and close. The anchor can be formed of inter-connected, adjustable loops to enable user adjustment of its whole span. It can stabilize a work piece, such as an airway, in a user's mouth. The cheek path airway fits a path between a user's lips and through the user's cheek pouch and rear-jaw gap, avoiding the user's bite. It provides supplemental air to a user's rear-mouth cavity independently of a user's nasal airways while a user's lips remain closed. It can be used in combination with mandibular jaw-control and tongue-control devices whereby the combination mitigates breathing restrictions in a user's nasal and throat airways. It can be manufactured in-line and folded by a user to fit the user's cheek pathway. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A cheek pouch anchor, for placement within a user's cheek pouch to maintain positioning of a work piece in a user's mouth while a user's jaws, inter occlusal space, and lips open and close, comprising: a spring element adapted to be placed within a user's cheek pouch, and to compress as a user's jaws close, and to resiliently expand so as to form and maintain a span bridging across a user's inter occlusal space and a user's lip opening formed as a user's jaws and lips open and close, and to receive joinder to a work piece, and having structural strength sufficient, when joined to a work piece, to maintain placement within a user's cheek pouch while a user's lips and jaws open and close, wherein said spring element further comprises: said cheek pouch anchor is joined with a conduit for a fluid, which conduit is adapted for placement at least partially in a user's cheek pouch. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The cheek pouch anchor of claim 1 further comprising: said fluid conduit has a conduit wall, said conduit wall has at least one hole, and said cheek pouch anchor is joined to said fluid conduit by lacing the spring element of said cheek pouch anchor through at least one hole in said conduit wall. ### Claim 3 A cheek pouch anchor, for placement within a user's cheek pouch to maintain positioning of a work piece in a user's mouth while a user's jaws, inter occlusal space, and lips open and close, comprising: a spring element adapted to be placed within a user's cheek pouch, and to compress as a user's jaws close, and to resiliently expand so as to form and maintain a span bridging across a user's inter occlusal space and a user's lip opening formed as a user's jaws and lips open and close, and to receive joinder to a work piece, and having structural strength sufficient, when joined to a work piece, to maintain placement within a user's cheek pouch while a user's lips and jaws open and close, wherein said spring element further comprises: a resilient filament which is configured into a plurality of connected loops, each loop having a loop span size, and said plurality of loops are combined to form a whole spring element with a whole spring element span size, and each one of said plurality of loop span sizes is mutually adjustable relative to at least one other of said loop span sizes, such that an increase or decrease in the loop span size of any one of said plurality of loops results in a converse decrease or increase in the loop span size of at least one other of said plurality of loops, thereby enabling adjustment of said whole spring element span size by said mutual adjustment within said plurality of loop span sizes. ### Claim 4 An adjustable cheek pouch anchor, for placement within a user's cheek pouch to maintain positioning of a work piece in a user's mouth while a user's jaws, inter occlusal space, and lips open and close, comprising: a spring element formed of a resilient filament sized to fit within a user's cheek pouch, and having a dynamic span that is resiliently expandable within a user's cheek pouch to maintain a bridge across a user's inter occlusal space and lip opening that form as a user's jaws open, and that is flexibly compressible to allow a user's jaws and lips to fully close while said spring element is within a user's cheek pouch, and capable of receiving attachment of a work piece, and having structural strength that is sufficient for said spring element to maintain itself, with a work piece attached to it, within a user's cheek pouch while a user's jaws open and close; and said resilient filament is configured into a plurality of connected loops each such loop having a loop span size, and each such loop span size having a range of expansion and compression, and said plurality of connected loops form a whole spring element having a whole spring element span size, and said whole spring element span size having a range of expansion and compression, and said range of expansion and compression of least one of said loop span sizes of said plurality of connected loops is adjustable relative to at least one other of said loop span sizes, and said connected loops translate an adjustment in said range of expansion and compression of the loop span size of at least one of said plurality of connected loops into an adjustment in said range of expansion and compression of said whole spring element span size. ### Claim 5 A cheek pouch anchor, for placement within a user's cheek pouch to stabilize a work piece in a user's mouth, comprising: a spring element sized to fit within one of a user's cheek pouches, and having a dynamic span such that said spring element resiliently expands within one or more of a user's cheek pouches to maintain a bridge across a user's inter occlusal space and lip opening that form as a user's jaws open, and said spring element flexibly compresses to allow a user's jaws and lips to fully close while said spring element is within one or more of a user's cheek pouches, and having the capability to receive attachment to a work piece, and having structural strength that is sufficient for said spring element, with a work piece attached, to maintain itself within one or more of a user's cheek pouches while a user's jaws open and close, further comprising: said cheek pouch anchor is joined with a conduit for a fluid, which conduit is configured to enable placement of it at least partially in one or more of a user's cheek pouches.