Do you hate your CPAP? Custom dental oral appliances, provided by an experienced dentist, offer a medically valid therapy to control your sleep apnea.

What is Oral Appliance Therapy? Could it free you from the head straps, chin strap, hose and CPAP mask?

Oral Appliance Therapy uses FDA approved oral appliances which can be the answer to treating your snoring or Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Snoring can diminish the quality of life for you and your loved ones. Obstructive sleep apnea affects your overall health and you should seek treatment from qualified doctors with extensive experience in treating this condition. If you can not tolerate CPAP or had surgery which has failed to fully treat the situation, oral appliances can be your answer.

If you have ever worn a custom orthodontic retainer, orthotic for nighttime teeth grinding or an athletic mouthguard, you have an idea what it is like to wear one of these oral appliances. Oral appliances can vary in design as there are over 50 FDA approved appliances. All of them, in one way or another, advance the lower jaw to open your airway.

The principle behind oral appliance therapy is not new. During the 1930s, the first oral appliance to keep the lower jaw forward and assist in keeping the airway open was used. In the 1970s, the surgical procedure to move the lower jaw forward was developed. In the 1980s, the Tongue Retaining Device was developed and is still used on selected cases today. Only recently have the adjustable mandibular advancing oral appliances been developed and utilized. Although there are a number of mandibular advancing devices, they all are striving to do essentially the same thing. That is:

1. Move the lower jaw, tongue, soft palate, and hyoid bone into a position to help create a more open airway.
2. Help to prevent airway closure during sleep by stabilizing the tongue, mandible, and hyoid bone.
3. The appliance gives the tongue muscles an artificial muscle tone. This increased muscle tone makes the tongue less likely to relax and cover the airway during sleep.

Multiple peer review studies in prestigious medical journals have shown that oral appliances are better tolerated by patients than CPAP therapy.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has stated in their position papers that Oral Appliance Therapy is a valid and comparable treatment for upper airway resistance syndrome, mild and moderate Obstructive Sleep Apnea and is indicated for severe Obstructive Sleep Apnea where surgery has failed or if patients are unable to wear CPAP.

Oral Appliance Therapy has developed into a fully recognized form of therapy for snoring, Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome and Obstructive Sleep Apnea. This treatment works hand-in-hand with current medical therapy and therefore your treating dentist is an integral part of the medical team treating your medical problem. The dentist must also be familiar with all of the types of therapy to treat snoring and sleep apnea. This includes surgery, cpap, oral appliance therapy, and any combination of these treatments. Standards of care now dictate that some form of follow-up testing be performed to verify a patient's treatment success or failure. After the appliance has been seated and adjusted, the initial screening test should be performed from the dentist's office as this is the most economical and patient-friendly. These tests allow us to determine the optimum position of the jaw for the best sleeping oxygen level for the patient. This is essential before the patient is referred back to their physician for another sleep study. Patients should know that symptoms alone are not always an accurate gauge for one's treatment success.

For those patients who require more treatment than an oral appliance, we now have the TAPPAP. This is a custom attachment for a CPAP machine to attach directly to an oral appliance. There is no need for any headgear and straps and the air pressures are usually lower. Read more here ...

Once a patient has an oral appliance and their problem is controlled, they need to understand that they are only managing their problem, not curing it. For this reason they need to be seen annually to monitor their condition. Life is dynamic and our oral and medical conditions change. This is why oral appliances need to be monitored.

Austin Apnea & Snoring Therapy uses FDA registered dental oral appliances to treat mild and moderate sleep apnea and to provide a more comfortable alternative to CPAP. Our office is an in-network provider for most major medical insurance companies.