ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,496,212, issued on Dec. 16.
"Devices for treating obstructive sleep apnea" was invented by Virender K. Sharma (Paradise Valley, Ariz.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Devices for treating obstructive sleep apnea include appliances for securing to one or more teeth of a patient and connected to a lingual bridge configured to change shape and apply pressure to a patient's tongue, preventing backward movement of the tongue and blockage of the patient's airway. The lingual bridge is composed of a shape memory alloy to allow the bridge to change shape once deployed in a patient's oral cavity and exposed to increased temperature in the patient's...