Oral Appliance
Oral Appliances are dental devices used to treat snoring and sleep apnea. They are worn in the mouth while sleeping and work by pulling the lower jaw forward. This action pulls the tongue forward. These devices can be quite effective in treating problem snoring and mild sleep apnea. As such, they are often enthusiastically advocated by dentists. Unfortunately, because many patients find sleeping with these devices uncomfortable, many patients are simply unwilling to tolerate them. And for patients who do regularly use an oral appliance, shifting of the teeth or jaw-joint pain are possible side effects. Because of these limitations, and because, in our experience, what patients truly desire are effective solutions that don't require the regular use of unpleasant devices, we don't typically use oral appliances as "first line" therapy. Instead, we reserve their use for patients who cannot be adequately treated with minimally invasive procedures, or for those patients who choose an oral appliance (despite their limitations) in favor of their lower treatment cost.
