Funding lack for oral drip device frustrates inventor

TINA LAW

Cavan O'Connell is frustrated.

He has spent thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours developing a device to replicate the production of saliva at night while people are sleeping.

Potential investment offers have dried up since the recession hit. O'Connell has resorted to finding himself manufacturers willing to produce the product.

He is worried New Zealand will lose the unique intellectual property if his invention, which he believes could benefit millions of people around the world, does not receive support.

The retired 66-year-old invented the oral drip device for himself after suffering xerostomia or dry mouth syndrome following radiation treatment for head and neck cancer.

His saliva glands got smaller, making it impossible for him to produce saliva while sleeping. More than 2000 prescribed drugs also have the same side effect, O'Connell said.

He was waking seven times a night because of a sore dry mouth and throat and was falling asleep during the day without even realising it.

"I was a danger to myself on the road. It was not just affecting me but it was affecting my family. I'd get grumpy. We were all suffering because of it."

There were products on the market that offered short-term relief, but O'Connell wanted to find another solution that did not involve taking drugs.

The device feeds water from a bottle via a plastic tube into the person's mouth while they sleep.

The tube is secured with a headband and the water flow can be regulated to suit the individual.

O'Connell's device was set so a drip fell into his mouth every 25 seconds to 28 seconds.

Since he began using the device, O'Connell no longer wakes during the night with a dry mouth. His dental health has improved too.

His dentist told him that without the system he would have lost all his teeth by now because saliva breaks down the sugars that would cause teeth decay.

Despite a medical trial at the Canterbury District Health Board, which showed better oral comfort and sleep patterns by the 10 participants, O'Connell has been unable to attract funding to get his product to market. "Small players with bright ideas are not getting the access to funding.

"It's the big players with the big ideas and the big markets and it's the little man that is losing."

He has spent more than $20,000 of his own money and has also received $6500 from Te Puni Kokiri, the Maori Development Ministry, and had been on the New Zealand Trade and Enterprise's Escalator programme.

Some of that money has been spent getting a patent in New Zealand.

Two Christchurch oral surgeons said they were attracted by the simplicity and non- invasive nature of the system and believed it had considerable potential and was justified for patenting and further development.

The medical trials did highlight some of practical concerns surrounding the size of the device, but they have since been corrected, O'Connell said.

"Some of the first ones I made were crude and basic."

- © Fairfax NZ News