How Oral Appliances Can Help Sleep Apnea Patients
If you suffer from mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea, oral appliance therapy may provide the solution you need. With sleep apnea, the airways collapse during sleep, and oral appliances help to prevent this from happening by holding the tongue or supporting the jaw.
Benefits of Oral Appliances
Compared with CPAP, a more involved approach to dealing with sleep apnea, oral appliances are more portable and can be more comfortable to wear while sleeping.
Research shows that when it comes to helping patients with mild-to-moderate sleep apnea, oral appliances are 60-70% effective. Meanwhile, the non-invasive therapy is 85%-90% effective in reducing or eliminating snoring.
What to Expect with Oral Appliances
There are different types of oral appliances, but they all provide one of two methods for keeping airways open during sleep: holding the tongue in place (tongue retaining devices) and repositioning the lower jaw (mandibular repositioning devices).
Both types of appliances are small acrylic devices, where tongue-retaining devices fit by suction on the tip of the tongue, while mandibular repositioning devices fit over your upper and lower teeth.
Where Can Houston Residents Get Oral Appliance Therapy?
To be eligible for an oral appliance, a patient would first need to determine whether he or she has sleep apnea. Houston Sinus & Allergy offers a home sleep study that can assist in diagnosing sleep apnea. Then, our clinic’s sleep apnea expert, ENT physician Dr. Nguyen, can discuss the treatment with you and get you fitted for an oral appliance. So book an assessment or contact our Houston office today, and get the relief you need!
