Chin-Up Strip Inventor's Personal Story

Dale D. Miller, JD - In 1999, I decided to take a life changing risk to "Simply Helping the World Sleep." I walked away from my law practice in Wisconsin. Moved to Atlanta to be near a major airport so I could travel and give talks at Hospital sleep support groups around the U.S.  Email [email protected]

Now as I look forward to the new year of 2018, when I will turn 75, I definitely made the wrong decision from a financial point of view. However, the "feel good" inside of me has improved significantly. I sleep well and receive "good news" from Chin-Up Strip users every day. www.chinupstrip.com

Over 8 million FDA cleared Chin-Up Strips die cut from 3M medical grade tape have been shipped to sleep centers, resellers, snorers and Cpap users world wide. Nevertheless, our sales revenue has not allowed us to advertise in a manner that would significantly increase sales and help millions more potential users "enjoy more good nights and great days." We need partners to join us in our effort to "Simply Help the World Sleep."  

Looking back, I did not sleep well for many years. During the decade of my 40's I woke up congested and tired. My wife and children told me I snored loudly every time I fell asleep. Relatives and friends joked about my snoring the same as we had joked about my Father's snoring before he died in his sleep in November 1983. I am sure my Father would have lived longer with today's advances in sleep medicine.

In the late 1980's I became involved, as a personal injury trial attorney, in two auto accident cases where drivers fell asleep driving during the daytime! People died and others were seriously injured. Those sad cases convinced me to schedule my first sleep study at St. Joseph's Hospital in Marshfield WI in 1993.

I was 50 yeas old in 1993. My RN wife told me for years that I stop breathing during sleep. After my first hospital sleep study, Dr. Honsotia informed me that I am a nocturnal mouth breather suffering with a serious condition called sleep apnea.

My respiratory disturbance index (RDI) was 22. I would stop breathing, for 10 seconds or longer, 22 times per hour!

Dr Honsotia prescribed Cpap therapy for me. Cpap (continuous positive airway pressure) machine changed my life. I had more energy, but dry mouth and jaw pain from the Chin Strap that jammed my upper and lower teeth together was a problem. During a follow up doctor visit, I asked if mouth breathing could be the cause of my snoring and sleep apnea and dry mouth. Dr. Honsotia said: "I wish we had a tolerable cure for mouth breathing. That would help you."

After that doctor visit, my RN wife and I worked on coming up with a simple way to keep my mouth closed during sleep. We laughed about how difficult it may be to find a tolerable device to keep an attorney's mouth closed, even when sleeping.

On December 21, 1995 I returned to St. Joseph's Hospital for a second full night sleep study using no device the first half of the night and using only our original Chin-Up Strip the second half of the night. Dr. Honsotia indicated the first half of the night, I snored and experienced numerous sleep apnea events. The second half of the night, using only our Chin-Up Strip, my snoring was reduced significantly and my Respiratory Disturbance Index dropped to 5 which was in the normal range.

Dr Honsotia said: "Attorney Miller you need to get a patent on your Chin-Up Strip device as soon as possible! There are millions of people who would benefit from using your simple device to control mouth breathing." 

In 1997 and 1998, patient sleep studies were conducted to "Evaluate the Chin-Up Strip" in a hospital sleep center in Lexington, KY under the direction of a University of KY sleep medicine doctor named Barbara Phillips, MD.

1997- 98 Sleep Study Data Published in CHEST Cardio-Pulmonary & Critical Care Journal 10/98 p.383S University of KY Medical College Columbia Hospital Lexington, KY - Barbara Phillips, MD, FCCP, MS. 

Conclusions - Clinical Implications "We conclude that the Chin-Up Strip combined with Breathe Right nasal strip is an effective alternative treatment for the primary snorer, as well as for mild OSA patients who are not surgical candidates or cannot tolerate CPAP."

After the sleep study was published, we set up our website www.chinupstrip.com and attended sleep medicine meetings and Med Trade shows. Drugstore.com began selling Chin-Up Strips 1999. Walgreens bought drugstore.com and Chin-Up Strips are on Walgreens.com also. We need a partner to help us offer our strips in “brick and mortar” drug stores in addition to “click and order” websites.

Dan Cohen, MD, the founder of CNS – The Breathe Right nasal strip Company – was very helpful in recommending where to manufacture and market our Chin-Up Strips. 3M Medical Specialties supplies medical grade tapes which are die cut into Chin-Up Strips. We offer 3 different shaped strips to satisfy our customers around the world.

Hospital sleep centers have been our best source of referral customers. I have been a speaker at hospital sleep support groups around the U.S. (A.W.A.K.E.) since 1999.

Since 1999, DKSH in Japan and British Snoring and Sleep Apnea Association have been ordering more than 200,000 strips per year in bulk 1000 count rolls. We also ship individual customer orders world wide from our website using stamps.com.

Chin-Up Strips and Breathe Right strips have not been cleared by FDA to treat Sleep Apnea, alone or together. Use as accessory with Cpap therapy.

FDA cleared "Indications for Use" - 510(k)

?1. Chin-Up Strips support the chin during sleep, thereby promoting and enhancing nasal breathing, by reducing mouth breathing and oral venting.

2. Chin-Up Strips promote and enhance nasal breathing to help Breathe Right nasal strips reduce or eliminate snoring.

I have used Chin-Up Strips to limit my nocturnal mouth breathing since December 1995. Simply getting older was not the reason I had low energy and daytime sleepiness during my late 40's. The primary cause was mouth breathing and sleep apnea which have been treated with Chin-Up Strips and Cpap since December 1995.

I am very grateful to the experts in sleep medicine who have helped me.

At time of this update, I continue to use my Cpap with AirFit P10 nasal pillows and Chin-Up Strips which control my mouth breathing. They have allowed me to enjoy an active life into my 75th year now. Virginia and I married in Milwaukee 10/31/1964.

• End dry mouth and oral venting with CPAP
• Reduce loud mouth snoring the first night
• Safely limit mouth breathing comfortably

Dale D. Miller, JD – Inventor – Enjoy More Good Nights and Great Days. www.chinupstrip.com

[email protected] – Revision 3 - January 2018 – Atlanta GA office 1-678-482-8508