Proven to Open and Maintain the Oropharyngeal Opening
The New Solution that Overcomes all of the Shortcomings of Current Common Oral Airways
It is estimated that over 300 million oropharyngeal (oral) airways are used every year around the world, during anesthesia, on semiconscious / unconscious patient’s and during CPR. But would it surprise you to know that current common Guedel and Berman oral airways have been clinically proven to be deficient in opening and maintaining the oropharynx airway? That’s why we developed our line of WEDGE MT Oral Airways!
These two-leading oral airways were introduced over 80 and 65 years ago, but the simple fact is that medical science has taken leaps and bounds since that time but, unfortunately, with what we know today regarding anatomical physiology, they are an old “hold over” from the past and they do not adequately fulfill all of the requirements to maintain the airway in semiconscious / unconscious patients.
Current common oral airways are:
- Deficient at opening and maintaining the oropharynx airway
- Not designed to control the ever-problematic tongue
- Possess no dimensional consistencies across sizing – affecting how it impacts a patient’s anatomy
Our line of WEDGE MT Oral Airways provide:
- Jaw-thrust opens and maintains the oropharyngeal airway
- Designed to control the tongue
- Fixed positioning of device
- Allows hands-free use
- Dimensional standardization across sizing
- Superior Patient Care
- Reduced Procedural Complications
- Reduced Operational Costs
Why the Mandibular Thrust?
Because it's a Proven Solution
The biggest impediment, after placement of an oral airway, is the relaxation of the soft tissue structures in the hypopharynx. These structures are inclined to collapse, thus obstructing airflow, while occurring from both front-to-back and side-to-side, thus greatly decreasing (or closing) the oropharyngeal airway opening.
In relation, literally every patient before and after anesthesia, CPR, or sedation, is provided with a manual jaw-thrust as they wake up to prevent the tongue and soft tissue structures from falling back and obstructing the airway. Furthermore, almost every patient intubated is provided with an airway to prevent biting of the soft endotracheal tube and the tongue. Both of these procedures involve protracting the lower jaw by pulling it forward relative to the upper jaw to open the airway.
Since current airways don’t sufficiently address these known physiological issues – we designed an oropharyngeal airway that focuses on these drawbacks. Since mandibular advancement has been clinically proven to open and maintain the oropharynx airway, we designed a mechanical jaw thrust right into the airway. The result was our WEDGE MT Oral Airways!
Innovation
Oral Airways Developed by an Anesthesiologist for Anesthesiologists
Wedge MT Airways were the brainchild of Dr. T.R. Shantha, a Nobel-nominated research scientist, physician and anesthesiologist for over 4 decades. Using his clinical knowledge of the drawbacks associated with the use of common Guedel and Berman oral airways, he developed a novel concept to address the age-old issues associated with dealing with “difficult airways”. This includes the need to do away with the continued requirement for manual and bi-manual lower jaw-thrusting by the practitioner in order to maintain an open airway.
About Us
Medical Device & Technology Development
Wedge Therapeutics goal is to bring medical advances using technologies to address chronic conditions for patients across the world. We do this by researching disease traits, developing, designing & applying new technologies and building commercialization strategies to attack markets head-on. That foundation is what fuels Wedge Therapeutics every day. As a privately-held medical device development company formed in Minnesota in 2013, a hotbed for medical device advances over the last 30 year, we believe that we can develop new devices & therapies to be the next big thing.
It goes without saying, our goal is to bring about a positive change in people's lives by providing minimally-invasive, reliable, inexpensive and widely available therapies that can be performed quickly and accurately by a medical practitioners, to enable swift intervention and to bring about a path to a more functional life to patients.