Episode 239: Changing The World's Airway Health with Anders Olmanson, MS

Hi and welcome to episode 239 of the Untethered Podcast. Today we have Anders Allmansen joining us. Anders is the CEO and founder of Remastered Sleep and the inventor of Remplenish. Anders is a passionate medical innovator who spent nine months traveling and studying healthcare in Asia and Africa to understand health needs around the world. Previously, he worked as a Mechanical engineer at Medtronic and has an Ms. In Medical Device Innovation and a BS in Biomedical Engineering. Quick Disclaimer all information, content and material of this podcast are the opinions of the speakers and is for the informational purpose only and not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis and or medical treatment of a qualified healthcare provider. Welcome to the Untethered Podcast. I am your host, Hallie Balkan. I'm a certified myofunctional therapist, feeding specialist, podcaster, business owner and mentor. This podcast is all about getting your questions answered and collaborating with colleagues to bring you the most up to date information in the orofacial myofunctional therapy, airway tether, dural tissue and pediatric feeding therapy space. If you're new here, I challenge you to keep an open mind and join my mission to spread this message far and wide. If you've been around since June 2019, thanks for being a loyal listener. As we jump into today's episode, remember to listen with correct oral rest posture, Tongue up, lips closed, teeth apart, breathe through your nose. Let's get started. Anders, welcome back to the podcast.

Yeah, thanks for having me.

I'm excited to have you back because I know that you all just launched a brand new product that we're going to talk about today that I've been able to trial with my kids, which is fun too. Yeah, I've got our little our little straws here, so let's just jump right into it and like, tell us about this new, you know, Remplenish Junior launch.

Yeah, yeah. So really happy to be talking about Remplenish Junior. So currently we're in an airway health epidemic with over a billion people suffering from sleep related breathing disorders due to our modern soft food processed diets. We're not using our mouth muscles as much, our jaws aren't developing as much, we still have our wisdom teeth removed, we're having smaller and weaker airways and this can lead to conditions such as snoring, obstructive sleep apnea, all sorts, and then all sorts of chronic conditions. So we invented Remplenish Junior as an easy way for children to exercise these airway muscles to improve tongue posture and promote nasal Breathing. So we're super excited. It's kind of, if you're not familiar with us, we invented remplenish. So this is kind of a smaller, more tailored version to children. And yeah, I'll leave it at that. But then we can go into some questions, you know, and I can talk more about it. So.

Yeah, so, you know, so you kind of spoke to the why behind why you and invented it. Right. And how young can a child start using this? What are you guys recommending?

Yeah, so we're kind of like currently like four to nine, but I think like three, we're testing that right now. So I think it might be going to three pretty shortly here. But yeah, around that, that time, you know, that age range. And there's a lot of like growth and development that happens from, you know, 3, 2, 9. So we've kind of developed it to work with that age range if it's. But we do have like some adults that maybe this one would probably work better for them just because they haven't developed their mouth as much. So if you do have a smaller mouth, maybe some adults it'd be good for and vice versa. So it really just depends on it. But yeah, three or four to nine is kind of the age range.

Okay. And then so, you know, a smaller mouth aside, which we know a lot of people struggle with and that can lead to a lot of airway issues. Do you feel that like a 10 year old would be appropriate at times if they have a wide enough, their jaws are wide enough to use the, the first remlenish, you know, straw that you guys created or do you think they still would be appropriate for a smaller one? Like how do people figure out what's the right size?

Yeah, well, that's something we're still kind of working on right now, you know, and how to like let people know because you know, people don't really think of how big their, their mouth size is, you know, unless you're working with professional. So yeah, that's, that's a great question. I would say stick, you know, at least for now, stick with like the age range, you know, and then as they develop more, it might make more sense to move to adult one. But adults could use, you know, the child size one. And we've had, you know, many like children that have used our adult one, you know, successfully. So it's kind of like it, you know, maybe it doesn't it. This is like definitely tailored though. So we've improved it. Like we have these proprioceptive bumps. So this is actually what we use. I don't know if you can see it in the video or not, but it's got these bumps on it that helps children locate where the tip of their tongue should go. So the tip of the tongue should go behind, you know, in the spot behind the top front teeth. This can help them locate it. You know, if it's a younger child, you might say, you know, find the bumpies. If it's an older child, you know, you know, put the tip of the tongue on the bumps. But this also does, We've seen, we've seen in some studies that this helps desensitize children that have, maybe they have to, you know, they haven't built up the neural pathways, they don't want things going near their, their mouth as much. Can help desensitize that a bit. And there's actually a really cool case study. I don't know if you can see this. Let me make sure I'm showing it. Right, so right here, this is a six year old boy and I don't know if it's, it looks fuzzy on my screen, but hopefully you can see it. You can see how, you know, kind of the upper, upper arch, like how narrow it is. You know, he had issues where he couldn't eat different foods. He also had some, you know, just one of people near his mouth just because he, you know, wasn't, he wasn't comfortable with that. Just by using Replenish junior for two and a half months, you can like see the changes in his, his arch. Like he's really, he's able to get his tongue posture up. You know, he's able to like expand that. He's now drinking and eating more foods he wasn't able to before. And then he's also like letting people near his mouth. So he's like saved months of therapy time just by using our REM Flash junior prototype. So it's kind of like there's a lot of really cool stuff you can get out of it. Like the tongue is just so important for just overall like health and well being. Whether it's eating, speaking, breathing and just, you know, your growth and development. Just having good tongue posture, you know, and getting that outward force, you're not always, you know, the inward cheek force. Just having it expand your, your palate. So a lot of cool stuff that we've seen there, like preliminary testing. Yeah, so I went off.

That's awesome.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, and so you know, as like a feeding therapist. Right. And when we teach straw drinking on like A just a rounded normal straw. We're usually saying, okay, only let the straw go to your lips. Like, let's focus on getting the tongue up to this spot. We don't want it going past the teeth because for a lot of the kids it will promote that like tongue forward posture or like the thrusting that they tend to do. So, you know, that was actually something that we're still working on with my now 8 year old who after more expansion we basically, you don't hear a tongue thrust, but I can see it. I know that that's not functional. Like, you know, over time it'll probably become more dysfunctional. So we're addressing it. Even though her speech sounds okay and her swallowing appears okay, although the tongue is still coming forward a bit. So that was naturally like her tendency with this too. Like when she tried it, she wanted to put it in. And she did put most of that tip, you know, because I looked at your instructions and it says like that most of this, like your lips should only go up to where the sizing changes, right, like right here at the base and not beyond that. Which would then make sense that the tongue would, this would, you know, help bring, give some sensory input, these little bumps to the tongue to be like, hey, get that tongue up to the roof of the mouth. So we played around with it a bit and I even had her like pull back on it a little bit just to see like what would happen. And so I guess my question, right, as a feeding therapist, and I think other therapists might have done too, is are we using this as sort of like a tool to teach these things? And we want to use it for X number of hours per day or for drinking, you know, throughout certain parts of the day. But then over time is the goal that like, we don't need this anymore because now it's basically taught the correct oral rest posture. And then they should have the tongue up and be able to drink through like a little circle straw, you know, just with their lips, put their tongue in the right place and all that fun stuff. Like I would love to hear like, you know, just thoughts behind that and.

Yeah, no, definitely. So we. It's kind of both, you know, because one is you do want to correct, you know, any bad habits, kind of, you know, definitely correct like the tongue thrust or get. Make sure the tongue posture is up. So that's like a big, you know, a big part of it. But then, you know, kind of like what I was talking about at the beginning with, you know, we not, we aren't eating as hard of foods, like, we're not using our mouth muscles as much. That's where, like, some of the benefits of, you know, having more of that, you know, repetitions, you're exercising these muscles, you're strengthening them. You know, the thought would be, and we're still doing, like, studies on this, but at least with the preliminary stuff, it seems to help with that growth and development part. So the thought would be, hopefully you're building a bigger airway. So we'll definitely have, like, more data, you know, coming up in the future. But at least in the preliminary stuff, it seems to show that. So. But yeah, so it's kind of both. And really. And then. And then it depends, you know, and we do want, you know, children at least the therapist we worked with, you know, we're working with like, Kearney Ong in. In Texas and. And some other ones across the country. So, you know, really, they, you know, they really recommend, like, the more like, you know, the children can do this therapy, the better. And so that's why we. We've actually, you know, we recommend it with the bottle. So the reason for this is it makes it easy for the kids. You know, they can bring it with them. They could take it to school, you know, whatever aspect where they can get the therapy throughout the day. And. And it's so easy for them to pick up, like, at least a lot of the ones, especially when you have it in, like, the bottle form. Like, the children, they just instantly, they know what to do. They don't really have to think about it too much. It is. We use, you know, natural biomechanical motion. So kind of like we took, you know, the actions of breastfeeding, but we, you know, use more of an adult mechanism of that. So it's very natural for a lot of children just to pick up and use. It's probably like more for the instructions we give is probably more for the parents, just so, you know, so they know. But yeah, for the parents at least. We also have like a animation video online. So, you know, the instructions are really good. But, you know, if they want to know more, we have a 3D animation where you can see inside of the mouth what's happening. And that's been really helpful for parents. We had like, one that was, you know, we sent, you know, prototype to her and she was kind of given some feedback on Instagram where she's like, yeah, you know, like, I wasn't sure if my child would be able to use it, but just took it off, you know, Used it right away or, you know, just took off with it. Just used it right away, like, correctly. And. And I, you know, so they were looking at the animation video just to make sure. But. But yeah, I wouldn't show the children the animation video. It's a little too, like, complicated, you know, A little.

Molly said to me, she was like, all right, don't read anything like yourself. Don't tell your kids what to do. Just take it, you know, wash it, put it on the straw, give it to them and like, let them do their thing. She said, most kids figure it out. And I think at first we. Because we just got the tops. We didn't have, like, the water bottle wasn't ready yet, so we didn't have like your straw with it. So I put it on. I don't remember what straw I put it on, but she was like, it's not working. I'm not getting any water. And so I was like, okay, it's probably the straw, straw. So I switched it to, like, a metal straw. And with the metal straw that I think actually fit like the whole better. It was just like the difference in the two straws that I was using. And then it just like, boom. She got like. It was like. It was totally the straw that I attached to it. So, you know. Yeah, my kids both, like, you know, my five and a half year old and my eight year old both immediately picked up on, like, how to use it. They needed zero instruction. And the only reason why I even went to, like, read the instructions was, you know, was because I was like, I want to see what it says. I know we're going to be talking, like, you know, being in the space, I'm like, I'm just curious to see, like, what the, you know, what the instructions are, which is where I saw, like, you know, information on how far the lips should go and so on and so forth. And I thought it was very straightforward and very, like, easy to understand. You know, being a professional in this space, I feel like maybe I don't need instructions. Right. But I feel like if you're someone who's not in this space to, you know, get something like this and be like, oh, that looks different than your normal straw. What do we do with it? I think it was pretty clear and, like, simple. And I also love, like, the, like, insert, you know, that little, like the brochure pamphlet that comes with it is like, super straightforward, which was really great.

Yeah, well, and then something that's kind of circling back to what you're talking about. Earlier with, like, the tongue thrust. So a lot of. A lot of therapists use it to help, you know, first, you know, I was just on a different, like, webinar, and they're kind of talking about their experience. They'll give, like, the products, and this is maybe more adult focused, but I think it works more for, like, if it's a therapist working with a child too, like, they'll kind of give them, like, let them start using it a little bit. And then when they work into the swallowing portion, that's when they really, you know, start doing that. And especially for, like, tongue thrusting, you know, like, really, it's once they get the spot place, when they start using it, you're really just doing a lot of repetitions of, you know, the correct swallowing. And it helps, like, reinforce that pattern. So a lot of them do use it to help with that, like, tongue thrusting. And then. And then they also use as, like, after, like a program, like, if you go through a mild program or speech therapy program just to keep getting, you know, the consistent therapy and the results. It's, you know, not saying, like, people don't want to keep up with their exercises afterwards, but sometimes, you know, it's kind of hard to, you know, be doing that for a long period of time. So it's a great way.

Yeah. I mean. Right. The idea is, yeah, you want to habituate that, all of that. And our goal, like, at least when I work with, you know, and my team works with patients, like, we don't want you having to do exercises for the rest of your life. Like, hopefully what we do when we work with you sets you up so that you don't have to do exercises. But we, you know, as part of, like, the habituation program afterwards, like, we do typically ask that they will kind of wean themselves off of exercises, if you will. So, I mean, it sounds like it could be a really great replacement where, like, people aren't having to think about it. Because if you're able to just put something like this on your water bottle and just drink throughout the day, and if you drink water anyways, it's probably just going to kind of lock those habits, those healthy habits right into place versus, like, you know, continuation of those poor oral habits and noxious oral habits that we want to get rid of. So, yeah, to, like, establish the healthy habits, correct oral rest, posture, you know, tongue up, lips closed, swallowing properly, all that fun stuff. So that's actually a really cool idea to use something like this for maintenance and to really, you know, not have to worry so much about. Okay, let me carve time out of my day to go and do my maintenance exercises to then see if I actually fully habituate these healthy patterns, you know, three months from now. So. So I like that. That's, you know, all about ease these days, right? Like, what can we build into the life? Like, things that we're already doing throughout the day. Um, so that's. That's really cool. I'm gonna have to try this, you know, on that end too, with my kids. Cause we just got it, so we haven't done too much with it. But. But, yeah, I'm all for ease.

Yeah. Well, and. And they were actually saying at least the therapy, you know, the therapist group I was talking to, and these are like, you know, more, I guess, myofunctional therapists, but they're saying actually, like, improved, like the long term. Like, and they're studying this. They're like, researching, like, okay, these ones that we did it with, how did it. How did, like, it help them? And did they have any. Like, did they have to come back and stuff? Like, how did it overall, like, over a longer period of time? And they're like, this is, you know, so they're like, this is really cool, like, how much it's, like, helping them maintain their stuff. So hopefully we'll have, like, more data and more, like, research kind of coming in. Like, and if anyone else has any, like, of their experience, if they want to share, like, either case studies or just their stuff, like, we're starting on our website, we're putting more of this stuff together, including, like, the. The case study that I just showed for just, you know, always getting more data and like, cool stuff like that. So. Oh, but so one thing. Okay, I guess I should probably talk about this, you know, in case you, you know, people are wondering what the difference between, like, the Remplenish and the REM Plenish junior I was going to.

Ask you about that.

Maybe I'm jumping ahead. So. Yeah, so hopefully you can see this here. So basically it is slightly smaller, so it isn't as big as the adult nozzle. Another thing is we've changed the flow profile so it's more tailored to, you know, the children in the age range I specified. And then the bumps is kind of the biggest things. And all those things, like, really we're trying to get it kind of what we're talking about earlier about, like, not needing very much instructions. Like, that was kind of our goal. Like, how can you make this really easy for kids? You know, children to pick up without having to, you know, really have to think about it or instruct them. So we spent a lot of time, like, you know, doing R D as well as, like, working with different, like, SLPs and myofunctional therapists, just getting feedback on how do we. How can we make some of this? And we're really proud of what we put together. It's like an awesome product. So.

Yeah, yeah, no, I mean, and that's, you know, being in the business world and marketing and all that, it's. It's important. It's, you know, it's hard sometimes to like, okay, how do we get so much information into such a small statement? But also, like, explain to people what this is and like, how it's going to make their lives easier and also improve their health. And also, you know, it's like, also, also, also, also. So, no, that's why when I commented on like, the, the insert, I was like, wow, you guys did a really good job of really bringing the important information that I think is, like, relevant to actually using this tool to help, you know, whoever's going to be using it. And maybe these parents who are like, how do we do this? And, you know, so I, yeah, like I said, I love who. Molly was like, don't us. She was like, don't say anything to your kids. Just like, let them try it, see what happens. And I was like, I never would have thought about that because my brain normally would just go straight to the instructions. Be like, okay, what do we do? Like, that's let the kid try it first and see what happens. And they both, like I said, my five and a half year old and eight year old both took to it right away.

Yeah, that's awesome. That's super cool.

So aside from there. So there's like three main differences, right? You said so the flow, the size. And there was one other thing. It was the bumps.

Okay, bumps.

Yeah, yeah. And no, that's really cool too, because, you know, as, you know, being in the MYO world and also the pediatric feeding world, like you were mentioning early on, there are the kiddos who are sometimes really orally defensive. Right. And they don't want anything near their mouth and you know that they may drink from a straw. And so this may actually, like. I love tools for children who are like, they see food and they're like. Or they're like, you know, because there's people in the feeding therapy world even, and even the mild world who are like, let's use, you know, food as our tool. And let's just jump straight in with the food on day one. And I'm like, I mean, that might work for some kids, but oftentimes the kids who are at least the feeding therapy ones, too, where there's like, or there's a crossover of, like, feeding aversions or low intake of certain foods and, you know, reducing the amount of the types of foods they take in and all that, like, they don't want you. They don't want to meet you the first time and have to eat with you. Like, that's. That's not going to be helpful for anybody. And, you know, and so I love tools that work towards specific goals and that are functional and that also, you know, at the same time, we're not having to, like, come at the kid's face with a tool necessarily. Like, not saying that that's what we do. But, you know, the kid. This is something that the child can use independently. And I think having that sense of control for the nervous system, too, could be really incredible, because if they're just. They're like, oh, it's a funky straw. Okay, let me. Let me just try and drink my water from this. And it starts to give them that sensory input to that, you know, they're like, oh, this is not so bad, you know, or, you know, I'm sure there'll be some kids, too, that, you know, if they do have, like, a hyperactive gag reflex and anything that goes past the front third of their tongue makes them kind of go like, you know, like, what is that? I feel like, you know, you mentioned desensitization, and I think desensitizing or even reducing sensitivity or moving that gag reflex back, like, that's what we love. You know, as a feeding therapist, I love tools because it helps us do that in a less invasive way, if you will, because it's not food. And the kids can usually be like, okay, I can breathe. Nobody's expecting me to eat right now. And so I just. I just feel like, again, like, this could be really cool for those purposes, you know, And I love that you mentioned that early on.

Yeah. In that part, we're still, like, studying, so that's just like kind of our preliminary stuff. So we're still kind of, like, learning more of, like, how it helps different, like, you know, things. But at least the preliminary stuff is pretty cool, what we've kind of seen so far, so. Yeah, hopefully.

Yeah. I mean, you know, like, when the tongue is not up there in the palate. Right. And it's not that palate's not used to getting that kind of input because it's high or narrow or whatever it might be. And, you know, if they're not a thumb sucker or they're not putting anything else up into the palate on a regular basis, you know, that's where this may be. Again, just really good introduction to, like, getting something up there. And then eventually the tongue kind of makes its way up when they're not using the straw, which would be super cool to see. So I'm excited to see, like, what data, like, comes out of all of this and what you guys learn from, you know, what you're looking at.

Yeah, yeah, we'll definitely keep, you know, keep stuff going. Something that's pretty cool, at least on the adult side, is we're currently testing our adult one for obstructive sleep apnea with Mayo Clinic right now. So we are doing some, like, cool research. We're always looking for, like, more opportunities. So if there are any, like, therapists or other healthcare professionals are looking to do studies, like, yeah, just reach out to us. That's kind of where we're. We're at right now is trying to get more data. And we do have a bunch of healthcare professionals testing it right now, kind of, you know, just getting their feedback. But, yeah, so it's really, really cool stuff.

I love that. I love that. I mean, there's such an opportunity, I think, to help patients. And so if there's something that, like we said, you know, we were talking about, that you. You do throughout the day, you drink water. You know, if this can be something that helps people with various diagnoses, I think that's awesome. What, like, are there certain things that you guys are seeing, like, preliminary or that you're actually studying related to obstructive sleep apnea? Like, is it basically oral rest, Posture while they're awake and that's changing or, I'm sorry, while they're asleep and that's changing, like, better control over the tongue. Yep. Are you allowed to talk about that? I don't know.

Yeah, so we're more doing it, like, because we have had. We did preliminary studies, you know, 93% of snores report improvement snoring with our adult one after one month of use. And then we had, like, 34%. This is a snoring population. 34% report improvement in tiredness. So they're like, yeah, I'm not waking up in the middle, you know, as much in the middle of the night. Like, I used to wake up in every hour or two. And now I'm waking up after, like, five or six hours, you know, and that's pretty, like, strong qualitative evidence that maybe there's something going on. So that's kind of what we're studying was, like, one is, like, tongue strength. So we are. We're kind of doing the sleep study before and after. So, you know, getting apnea, hypopnea index, how many times you stop breathing at night, you know, every hour. You know, we're also looking at, like, blood oxygen, you know, blood oxygen percentage. And then we're looking at, you know, snoring scores. Kind of like we're just doing the sleep study part, but then we're also doing myofunctional assessments. So we're looking at. Okay, we have a whole, like, scoring thing. Like, okay, do you have good tongue posture? Do you have, like, a good lip seal? Do you have, like, you know, so it's kind of like this 10, I believe it's 10 questions or 10, like, areas of assessment. And then we do IOP measurements, the Iowa Oral Performance Instrument. You know, so we do where they're doing tongue strength, so they're kind of seeing how that changes and tongue endurance. So it's kind of like looking at a variety of things and. And for sure, yeah, like, tongue posture is huge. Tongue strength is huge. You know, are you doing things properly when you swallow? You know, and. And really, when you're sleeping, having that good tongue posture, you know, it stabilizes your jaw and your tongue, so you're not. It's not as likely for it to fall back into the airway. So it's like one aspect, another aspect is just strengthening all the musculature and soft tissue, so they're not going to, like, vibrate or collapse as much. So, yeah, there's like, a lot of things that are going on. But, you know, myofunctional therapy studies and doing these exercises, like, they've shown to reduce obstructive sleep apnea by 50% or greater. Same with snoring. So it's kind of like. It's just like one of those things that, you know, I think more of the medical community needs to. To kind of understand a little bit. Like, we can use our own bodies to kind of help ourselves versus you know, having to wear something at night, you know, at least for. Depending on how severe it is. If you're more severe, maybe there's other things we should be using. But yeah, and then really, what we're trying to do with the juniors. Can we prevent some of these things from ever happening? You know, like, early intervention is key, you know, so you don't, you know, do we have to go down this path of when we're an adult needing a cpap, you know, like, I don't think anyone wants to go down that path. So what can we do to set ourselves up for success? So that's kind of what we're like. Really. Yeah.

Truly, like these days, sleep apnea is, you know, occurring in children and I feel like they're actually like younger and younger, you know, even teenagers I'm hearing on CPAP machines. And it's, it's kind of, it's sad and scary to think like that a child is going to be on this for the rest of their life. And you know, I feel like they keep backing up the age and so to have these little ones that, you know, I completely agree with you. I'm a big proponent of like early intervention. Like, let's get in there, let's do what we can now and like write the path and. Right. You know, the pathway for growth and everything. Because we all, we all know it snowballs. Right. It just keeps getting worse if we don't intervene. And so I think this is, again, I think it's pretty cool that like, you, you've got this and you know, I know it's geared towards four to nine, you said, maybe some three year olds, you guys are kind of looking at that too. But I think that's awesome. I think it's really incredible to have a tool that, you know, could potentially help on that, that journey because we know it's a big one for them. And I think it'll be cool too to see what else happens of these younger children and their, their actual palette shapes because, you know, the case study you shared, it's exciting. And you know, there's a lot of discussion around how, you know, well, after six months of age or so, you can't really change your own palette shape, you know, once things start to really harden. And we know, we've also learned that adults can go through expansion. That's a lot of things are being, you know, discussed in different ways depending on who you're talking to. But with like the little kids, a lot of parents will say, or even therapists will say things like, well, you know, we want to get the tongue up there, but like, we know we're going to have to into an expander if they're older than six months or two, you know, once they're, they have two year old molars, they could possibly start expansion or something. And I'm not saying kids are not going to need expansion, but I think it seems like it also may be possible that getting the tongue up there and the pumping action and you know, the consistent activity throughout the day could also potentially lead to, you know, a healthier shape of the palate. Just based on that case study you shared.

Well, and the tongue, that's the natural, like your body's natural expander, you know, like that's, like that's, that should be the first thing. Can we get the tongue up? Can we start getting that, you know, positive, like, you know, positive aspect of the body part? You know, definitely. If you need expander, like that's, that's awesome too. But you know, I think that that should be number one. Let's get the tongue up and get that working properly and.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think that kind of everyone's always like, what comes first, like the chicken or the egg, right? Like, well, what if they can't get the tongue up? What if there isn't enough space for it? What if there's a tethered old tissue? You know, and so I know there's like always people who are going to be like, what do we do first? But it seems like, you know, regardless, you could still try this and see, you know, how it goes. And obviously with certain concerns you're going to have a, you know, this will be a part of your treatment plan, not necessarily just like a standalone thing that you're using with a young child who may be needing more or any patient really. But that's, that's where I've seen it too, like from colleagues where they are using this as part of like their myofunctional therapy program. And so now that we have this for like younger kids, we might see it more even in feeding therapy programs, in, you know, therapy treatment programs. So that could be cool.

Yeah, yeah, for sure. And, oh, and something, you know, and we did design it to like, so should, you know, people are going to use it correctly. So if someone's not getting water out of it, other than if they're using the wrong straw like you mentioned earlier. But like, you know, we did design it where if you're not using it properly, you're going to get very little water flow. So that could be, you know, maybe they're not using their tongue as much as they need to, you know, kind of doing that tongue suction. So that's something to like look into the other aspect would be if they have like a very severe, like, you know, tethered, like an. Or, you know, if they have a tongue tie, you know, just having that, that could be a barrier. But you can, like, we definitely have a lot of therapists that use it for pre, you know, frenectomies and post. So it's kind of just to help get that tongue, you know, the tongue strength kind of get it up there, like, loosen it up a little bit. They've seen a lot of success using it, like pre, you know, that and post as well, you know, to kind of learn. And for those, for those, you know, people that have that, they find that, like after their tongue tie release, that now they're, you know, oh, now I really understand how to use it because I can fully use my tongue the way it's, you know, supposed to be. And like, helping them relearn how to do some of these things is really beneficial. But yeah, but definitely, you know, if, if you, if they do have any issues, like, it could be either they're not using it correctly or maybe they do have some kind of, you know, tethered tissue that they need to look at or, you know, other things. So that's something to keep in mind. But yeah.

So right now, if, if someone wanted to buy it, is it on the website? Like, where do they go to get it?

Yep. So it's at remmastered sleep.com so we sell it both, you know, directly to, you know, the general public. So if someone wants to use it like that, you know, that works great. Or we also sell it to healthcare professionals. So we have different, you know, discounts if you buy in bulk. Or maybe you can get like a coupon code for your practice, depending on how, you know, if you're virtual or in person. We really recommend, like, for therapists or other healthcare professionals to carry it in their practice if they're able to. Just because it kind of, you know, you can incorporate into your therapy kits. You know, it's kind of like one of those we found, like, if people are like, oh, yeah, let's go through this therapy and, you know, it can be expensive for some parents, and then you add something else onto it, then that can be like, okay, well, I just, you know, I'm paying all this money now. You want me to do this too. Whereas it's easier just to incorporate it all into like a whole, you know, a whole therapy plan. And then. Yeah, and then carrying it. Yeah, is a great way to do it. But yeah, if you're virtual you know, obviously you can send it out differently, so. But yeah, definitely go to remastersleep.com you can, if you're a therapist, reach out on our. We have our. We have demos as well as you can reach out directly to our sales team. So salesmastered sleep.com we have discounts at like tier discounts like orders of 12 or 24 or like 120. So I think those automatically apply if you just check out. But reach out to our sales team if you have any questions and we do have like a contact form too they can fill out. So. Yeah. Yeah.

Awesome. I have a question for you. And now I forgot what it was. It was when we were talking about. We were talking before you were sharing this information. So maybe it'll come back to me. But. But yeah. Is there anything else, you know, regarding the Remplenish junior or anything else that we haven't covered that you want to share?

No, I. I think it's an awesome tool. Like, we're super excited. We've had healthcare professionals asking for this for longer than I'd like to admit. So we've spent a lot of time doing R and D and getting it ready. So we're just super excited to finally have it available. It'll officially launch like we've started pre orders so you can order now and then officially launches like mid October. So we'll start like shipping out product and stuff. So it's. Yeah, we're definitely like really excited to have this and something that we've been putting a lot of good research and development and working with a lot of great like therapists and to, you know, kind of. I'm just so thankful for all the people that kind of helped bring it together. So, yeah, we're super excited.

Yeah. Well, that's exciting and I love that you guys are doing research still on the back end so that you'll have more information to, you know, share with the public, you know, in the future once. Once that's all wrapped up because I think, you know, obviously as clinicians we can see what works and what doesn't work when there is a therapist involved. Right. But a lot of people like the research to also back what we're seeing. And you know, so I think that's cool that you guys are, you know, involved in so much research. You're getting a lot of feedback from providers as well. I think that's all amazing because not, you know, not a lot of companies do that these days. They tend to throw products on the market and make claim and Maybe attach one person's name to it and, you know, that's like their whole marketing plan. So. So I appreciate the fact that you guys are, you know, working closely with medical providers, and whether it's SLPs or, you know, SLPs who are myotherapists or other myotherapists and whatnot, I think it'll be very cool to. To see what. What comes.

Well, what I'll say about, like, clinical research is it's expensive and it takes a long time to do, so. It's like, there's. There's probably a reason, you know, it's hard to. It's not easy to do it.

Yeah, it's very expensive to fund. Right. And I know that typically it takes 17 years on average for, like, what's being published now to be. For it to catch up. Right. Like, it's. So obviously, by the time a lot of things come to. And I know if you're paying for it privately, sometimes it doesn't take as long. But I've started to learn about this through other colleagues who are doing other types of research in the space. And even though I quote, unquote, did research back in my graduate program and took a research course and all that stuff, I don't think I appreciated it or really understood it, you know, back then. But colleagues who are. Have. Who have, you know, really taken a deep dive into actually doing the research or funding the research or trying to get funding for research have really brought that whole conversation to light. And I think it's. It's tricky and it's challenging. So that's why I'm like, I can appreciate when somebody takes on a project like this because it's not easy. It takes time. It is exciting. Expensive. Right? It takes a lot. It's. Yeah, there's a lot of moving pieces, and then half the time, even some of the data you get, you can't even use. So you're like, man, all right, well, we tried. No, so. So, yeah, so I appreciate, like I said, all the work that you guys are doing and in this space, because we do. We do need more research, even just in the airway space in general. And I think this will help add to that, too.

Well, yeah, and I think it's a whole thing like, we're trying to change, you know, how practice is done, because kind of, I don't know, at least from, like, I come from. I'm biomedical engineer. You know, I have a master's of science in medical device innovation. Used to work at Medtronic like, so I'm coming from, like, the medical side and, like, kind of the. The standard, like, gold standard is, yeah, like, just, let's put someone on a cpap, you know, and is that, like, I don't know, is that the best way to do it? Like some people? Yes, but, you know, it's kind of that, can we change how we go after all these, like, conditions and do it in a more, you know, positive or preventative way or more like healthy, using your own body kind of way? So that's kind of what we're trying to change, like, the whole thing, or at least be a part of the change. I think there's a lot of people that, you know, a lot of therapists, you know, once, you know, you kind of know. So, you know, when you. Once you get into airway, you're like, okay, now I can't stop seeing all the things that we need to help start addressing. So I think, you know, just being part of that movement, you know, the airway health movement is really important. So we're doing our best to move that forward. So.

Yeah, well. And to your point, right, there are people who may be prescribed a CPAP, but compliance with CPAPs are actually not great. Like, I know there's a lot of data surrounding how many people don't wear their CPAP because for various reasons. One, it's clunky. Two, it's noisy. Three, it doesn't fit their face, right. It falls off constantly. And they don't even know that they could possibly, you know, talk to their ENT or the prescribing doctor to get another face mask or even try another cpap, you know, and so I feel like I've fallen into this world a little bit with, like, a family member. And I started to see this, and I was like, huh, okay. Like, you know, we hear cpap, we think it's like, like you said, quote, unquote, gold standard. But there isn't even a lot of great support for those who do use CPAPs. And so I feel like there need to be more options. And the other thing you said, too, that, you know, that came up that you mentioned twice, that I completely agree with, is our body typically knows how to heal itself if we give it the right supports. Right? And so having to use something external for the rest of your life, like a cpap, for example, like, I'm not, you know, and by no means am I telling anybody, you stop using your cpap. This is not medical advice. A lot of people will voice, though, that if they could avoid having to use that for the rest of their life, they would gladly do so if there was another option or something else they could do. And of course, that comes into how much work are they willing to put in to get there? Right. Depending on what that treatment plan looks like in the airway space. But, you know, I think. I think it's cool, like I was saying that, you know, this kind of does help us get back to nature in a sense. It kind of, like, is teaching the body a lot of, like, what we do in our more behavioral. When I say behavioral, not like behavior behavior, but like in myofunctional therapy, in feeding therapy, that's considered more of, like, a behavioral approach because we're basically teaching habits, healthy habits. Right. And so we can get back to teaching the body what it's supposed to be doing versus, like, needing some external device or, you know, appliance for the rest of our life. I think, like, that stuff is where I get excited because I'm like, this is cool. This is like, yes, like, this is what we want everybody to be doing so much healthier. So it's cool. It's cool to have something like this, that, that works and that, you know, people can try out and see, you know, what it does to help them.

Yeah, no, that's awesome. And kind of like, yeah, our mission is just really, how can we eliminate preventable airway health issues? You know, how can we. And, you know, this is like a modern society problem. So it's like, how do we. How do we. You know, and obviously we could all just start eating harder foods again. Maybe that's like, the answer too. But, like, I don't know. It's kind of. This is just a tool to help because it's hard to shift everyone's behavior, you know, to. To kind of. And maybe it doesn't make sense for everybody to be having to chew on things for four hours a day or whatever, you know, our ancestors were doing back then. So, yeah, just kind of modern tools for kind of a modern problem. So, yeah.

Yeah, I love that. Well, thank you so much. This has been amazing. And I know that this. That this episode will come out, you know, after you guys, I think, have everything up on the website and you started shipping, is what I actually meant to say. I know it's up on the website for pre order, but, you know, by that point, I think people still be. Several weeks after we record, they'll be able to order and they'll be shipping out. And so that's Fun.

Okay. And one thing I should probably definitely, you know, like, so CPAP is. It works really well. So people who are using it definitely, you know, keep using it. And we do have. If you do have residual AHIs, we've had some people that, like, they've combined their CPAP or manipular advancement device with remplenish. They reported improvements, you know, not waking up as much. So it's something we're looking into as well. But, like, definitely CPAP's a great solution. If you need it, definitely use it. But if you don't necessarily have to, you know, maybe there's other alternatives if you are looking for things. And we're doing our studies on the obstructive sleep apnea side, so hopefully, hopefully there's some cool things, you know, cool new options in the future. So, yeah. Decided to make that caveat.

You know, I was like, look, not medical advice. No one's telling you to stop. Yeah, no, no. And I think that it's great because, like we said, like, there are things. There are other different options out there in the airway space these days, whether it's, you know, a mandibular advancement, you know, applying some kind of an appliance. There's other ones, too, from some airway dentists, you know, they've created that are, you know, being studied and being used and obviously CPAP and, you know, so if you have a current treatment plan, please don't go treat. Yeah, like, using it. Don't go change things yourself. Please speak to, you know, your team and the professionals before you make any changes. But. But I think that'll be cool too, if there's, you know, you guys are looking at the combination of, you know, using the REM punish with, you know, the. These other tools too. Be cool to see what happens because, you know, I feel like there's. There's never, like, one treatment plan for everybody. And I think having how severe things are or what your profile looks like, what your case looks like may be very different from one person to the next. And so. So, yeah, be very interesting to see the data and everything that comes out of this.

Yeah, yeah. No, we're super excited. So, yeah. That's awesome.

Thank you again for joining me. Any last comments before we wrap up?

Yeah, I think, like, you know, kind of. I'll reiterate the kind of. The airway health movement, you know, we're really trying to, you know, how can we. Because people just don't know about this problem in the general public. Like, it's. Once you go through this journey now, you kind of know, but many healthcare professionals are still learning. A lot of the general public is kind of still learning. So if there's, you know, opportunities for people to share, like, whether, you know, if you're a healthcare professional, like, just getting the word out there, or we're trying to, like, elevate different healthcare professionals in their communities. We have, like, work with a PR firm. So we're trying to get news stories around what airway health is and how, why it's important. So really, like, how can we spread the word? Because there's, you know, once people know, they're like, oh, my God, you know, this is like life changing. My child has this problem. I've had this problem, like, what can we do? So if there's, yeah, definitely, you know, if you're looking for opportunities to share or, you know, we are looking for, like, healthcare professionals that want, if they want to share their story, kind of just reach out and, you know, I think we just have to keep, you know, keep moving this forward and getting the word out and letting people know and hopefully helping, you know, a lot of, A lot of people. So there's over a billion people have this issue. So there's a lot of people that need. Need help, and so how can we get them there the help they need?

So I love that, I love that. It's one of the reasons why I started the podcast and one, you know, and so I keeps going because, like you said, it's not enough people know that it's even an issue or that it's an issue that they have other options on or that, you know, like, yeah, there's just a lot that can be done in a lot of ways, so we can help you. And then there's people who just have no clue that the airway is even an issue to begin with. Right. And they haven't started their journey at all. And that kind of doesn't. That's not just the general public. That goes for providers as well. So. So, yeah, the more that all of us can kind of come together and elevate that message and market, you know, what's working and what the options are. I just, I love that. I think that's, you know, the louder we are and the more we are like, you know, what do they say? It's. I can't think of what it is off top of my, my, you know, head right now, but I was thinking it's. It's sort of like you make progress with greater numbers of individuals who are all kind of saying the same message and you are all on the same mission. And so strength in numbers. That's where I was going. Strengthen numbers. You know, it's like if we can get more people kind of opening up their eyes to the whole airway space and understanding even just the message and understanding what options exist, I think, you know, we would all be much better off because this. Yeah, over a few. We got over a billion people with airway issues walking around. We've got a very sleepy society who is not functioning as they should be internationally, really. Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, awesome. Thank you again so much, Anders. This has been amazing. I am excited for everyone to check out the product. You know, like I said, you guys sent a couple to my girls and they took right to them. So it'll be cool to see what other kids do with it too. And we'll have to. We'll have to take some videos and pop those on Instagram and make sure everybody can, you know, hear a little bit more about the.

The remplennish Jr. Yeah, that'd be awesome. And thanks for having us on again. Like, we really appreciate it. So. So thank you very much.

Of course. Thanks for listening to this podcast. If you found value in this episode and want to hear more of these Myotots, Airway and Feeding related episodes, be sure to leave a review on Apple Podcasts and share this episode on your social media platforms. You can access free resources and all I offer@halliebalkin.com or pop over to alliebalkin on Instagram to get all the latest updates.