System and method for interactive oral appliance to open and close mouth periodically to prevent discomfort and mouth breathing

Abstract

An intelligent oral appliance () comprises maxillary and mandibular appliances (), an electromagnetic clamp (), first and second sensors (), a timer (), and a controller (). The electromagnetic clamp () couples between the maxillary () and mandibular () appliances and operates according to engaged and disengaged clamping actions. The first sensor () detects a body/head position/orientation. The second sensor () detects a characteristic of sleep disordered breathing, snoring intensity, or combination thereof. The timer () provides preset time intervals. The controller () controls activation and deactivation of the electromagnetic clamp (i) to activate the electromagnetic clamp () and electromagnetically lock the maxillary appliance () and mandibular appliance () together for air flow prevention cycles in response to an initial powering ON of the intelligent oral appliance or detection of an engagement triggering event and (ii) to de-activate the electromagnetic clamp () and unlock the maxillary appliance () from the mandibular appliance () for periodic relaxation cycles in response to detection of a disengagement triggering event.