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NIGHT GUARDS & MOUTH GUARDS
WHICH TREATMENT IS RIGHT FOR YOU
There’s no individual treatment that will work perfectly for all individuals suffering from Obstructive Sleep Apnea, but the options covered here are all good places to start. OSA patients should be evaluated by a physician and have a sleep study performed. This will help determine if you, or the patient, has mild, moderate, or severe OSA. Mild to moderate cases respond best to oral appliance therapy.
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DENTAL SLEEP DISORDER APPLIANCES
In addition to the common mouthguard, there are a few varieties of dental sleep devices designed to treat mild to moderate Obstructive Sleep Apnea and other sleep disorders. While we can’t cover all the available options here, these are three of the most commonly used treatments.
MANDIBULAR ADVANCEMENT DEVICES
Compared to the appliances we’ll discuss later, mandibular advancement devices are much more popular and widely used. They’re intended to treat snoring and mild to moderate Obstructive Sleep Apnea, and are sometimes known as dental sleep devices or oral appliances.
These essentially work by pushing the lower jaw forward. Since the tongue is attached to the lower jaw, this moves the tongue and other soft tissue forward, thereby opening your airway.
TONGUE RETAINING DEVICES
Tongue retaining devices work similarly to mandibular advancement devices, but there are some important differences. Instead of moving the jaw in order to adjust the position of the tongue, tongue retaining devices attach directly to the tongue to achieve the same result.
Compared to mandibular advancement devices and other sleep disorder appliances, tongue retaining devices can come with fewer complications and side effects. On the other hand, they’re also generally less comfortable, and it can take weeks or even months to be able to wear them without discomfort. Both have been shown to be equally effective in treating mild to moderate OSA.
CPAP AND DENTAL SLEEP DEVICE
CPAP, which stands for continuous positive airway pressure, is designed to apply air pressure to your airway in order to keep it open overnight. While the pressure is designed to be mild, only enough to have the desired effect, CPAP is still associated with discomfort from the air pressure, along with the fit of the mask.
In an attempt to alleviate the intensity of the side effects of CPAP, physicians often recommend using another sleep disorder appliance along with your CPAP mask. The combination of these treatments allows you to use your CPAP mask at a lower pressure than you would if you were using it alone, making the side effects less of an issue.