Oral Appliances: Another Treatment Options

Specially fit oral appliances represent another therapeutic approach to sleep apnea in patients who are not candidates for positive airway pressure. Most of these fit over the upper and lower teeth and pull the lower teeth forward to advance the jaw and expand the size of the airway. These devices can prove very helpful in selected cases.

However, they are best utilized in milder cases of sleep apnea since they tend to be less reliably effective than positive airway pressure, and they are far less likely to improve low blood oxygen levels during sleep to an adequate degree. Other disadvantages include TM joint pain which can cause patients to be unable to use them consistently, changes in dental occlusion and the fact that they typically must be purchased and adjusted, followed by overnight sleep studies to find out if they corrected the patient's sleep apnea to an adequate degree.

At the same time, they represent a valuable alternative in selected patients.

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Oral Appliances: Another Treatment Options