Oral Appliances

CPAP is short for continuous positive airway pressure. A CPAP machine is a kind of pump that comes with a mask that you wear over your nose or your nose and mouth. The CPAP machine forces a continuous flow of air pressure into your throat while you sleep to help you breathe. 

There are a couple of problems with relying on a CPAP machine to address moderate sleep apnea or severe sleep apnea. The first is that it does not actually fix the situation of suffering from sleep apnea. The patient can’t stop using the machine without returning to the problem of low nighttime oxygenation. If the power goes out or the person travels, reliance on this machine becomes very inconvenient. 

Also, many people do not tolerate a CPAP machine. Forty percent or more of those prescribed one of these machines give up on it because they are uncomfortable wearing the mask. They may not like the air pressure or the mask may make them feel claustrophobic. CPAP may be the first line of treatment for many patients diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea. But many CPAP patients will need to continue to search for a better solution. At StarBrite Dental, you can count on our dentists finding the most effective and comfortable solutions for your sleep apnea. We want nothing less for every one of our patients. 

Oral appliances and oral appliance therapy that are intended to relieve sleep apnea are usually called mandibular repositioning devices. A mandibular repositioning device fits over the upper and lower teeth and moves the lower teeth forward. This type of oral appliance therapy is an attempt to create more room in the mouth for the tongue so it does not drop to the back of the mouth where it can obstruct the upper airway. 

Another oral appliance therapy sometimes prescribed to sleep apnea patients is the tongue repositioning device or tongue stabilization device. These devices attempt to grasp the tongue and hold it away from the back of the throat during sleep. 

With either of these types of oral appliance therapy, however, there is no end. A person must continue this oral appliance therapy forever. Some studies find that obstructive sleep apnea may continue to worsen as long as oral appliance therapy continues. Therefore, oral appliance therapy may be a dead end as a solution for obstructive sleep apnea. Our heartfelt concern for your good health will inspire us to find the best removable dental appliances that provide you with the result you want. 

There are also surgical approaches to resolving obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). These do not involve the use of oral appliances or dental appliances. But they are invasive, require the use of heavy anesthetics and may have very painful recoveries. 

Surgeries include the following: 

• Cutting out part of the soft palate and uvula
• Surgically moving the lower jaw forward by cutting through the bone and restructuring it
• Removing tongue tissue
• Surgically moving the hyoid bone at the top of the neck
• Nasal surgery

One group that performs mandibular (lower jaw) advancement surgery warns patients getting this surgery that they may be off work for a full month while they recover. Many people can’t manage to take a month off work for recovery. 

In the case of severe anatomical abnormalities, perhaps one of these surgeries for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) might be right for a person. But if the anatomical problem can be addressed without surgery and without the pain of recovery, most people are likely to take this alternative if it is offered to them. Due to our intention to provide superior care for every patient, we will help you avoid a painful recovery from surgery if there is another way to eliminate sleep apnea. 

Using biomimetic oral appliances, the most common physical abnormality contributing to obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) can be successfully addressed. And it can be done without surgery or endless reliance on an oral appliance or a CPAP machine. 

A dentist with an advanced understanding of how structure is involved in obstructive sleep apnea is more likely to approach sleep apnea from a biomimetic approach. Biomimetic means that we look at how nature functions when developing a solution to a problem and mimic that method. In this case, progress in dental technology has resulted in oral appliances that utilize the intelligence of the body to resolve sleep apnea fully and permanently. 

A biomimetic oral appliance encourages expansion and growth in the upper and lower jaw bones, mimicking normal development of these bones. Multiple studies have shown that expansion of this bone structure provides more room for the tongue to rest in the mouth, preventing it from falling to the rear of the mouth during sleep. For many sleep apnea patients, this anatomical blockage is the event that causes them to stop breathing, which then causes their oxygen levels to drop. 

With no blockage of the upper airway, adequate oxygenation is possible all night long. The body is no longer stressed repeatedly during the night. The heart, lungs, liver and other organs can restore themselves during sleep.