Airway with resilient biting area

Claim 1

In an airway comprising a body molded in one piece from a stiff resilient plastic material and having an inner curved portion adapted to extend into the trachea area of a patient''s throat and an outer straight portion adapted to extend through the patient''s mouth, and wherein the body comprises generally planar top and bottom walls spaced apart by at least one intervening strut element disposed intermediate the side margins of said top and bottom walls extending longitudinally of said body and being molded integrally therewith, said airway including air passage channels opening laterally along opposite sides and at the inner end of said body and having a common opening at the outer end of said body, and a pair of flanges adjacent said common opening and proJecting outwardly from the top and bottom walls, of said body so as to overlie the patient''s lips, and including a tooth-engaging area spaced from said flanges a distance substantially greater than the thickness of said flanges and approximately equal to the thickness of a patient''s lips, the improvement which comprises: the outer end of said strut element being substantially spaced from the flanges and terminating short of said tooth-engaging area of the body whereby said top and bottom walls of said body are free to flex inwardly forward of the outer end of said strut element under biting pressure applied by the patient''s teeth on the tooth-engaging area of said body, the inner lateral edges of said flanges being spaced apart sufficiently to permit substantial inward flexing of said top and bottom walls adjacent said tooth-engaging area.