I Have Mild Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Will Oral Appliance Therapy Work for Me?

Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy is the gold standard treatment for sleep apnea, but many people find CPAP uncomfortable and stop or never start therapy.

At Respacare in Bridgewater, New Jersey, our pulmonary and sleep medicine experts, Dr. Nehal Mehta and Dr. Prashant Patel, want nothing more than for our sleep apnea patients to sleep better. While our patients work closely with our CPAP clinic to develop a comfortable plan, some still find CPAP difficult to get used to.

To help our patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), we offer oral appliance therapy. Here, we explain how oral appliance therapy works and how it might work for you.

About obstructive sleep apnea

Sleep apnea is a condition in which you continuously stop and restart breathing while sleeping. It’s a serious condition, affecting sleep, blood oxygen levels, and overall health. 

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), is the most common type of sleep disorder. If you have OSA, blockages in the airway cause disruption in your breathing. 

When sleeping, the supportive muscles in your upper airway may overly relax so your throat collapses and blocks the airflow. Having large tonsils, a small jaw, or carrying excess body fat may be other contributing factors. 

Treatment for OSA aims to keep the airway open. CPAP uses air-positive pressure that streams into your nose or mouth through a mask to keep your passage open. While effective, you may not sleep well if your CPAP mask is uncomfortable or if the machine is too loud.

If your OSA is mild, then an oral appliance may work for you.

Oral therapy for OSA

The soft tissue in the back of the mouth can block the airway in people with OSA. Oral therapy is a mouthguard that positions your jaw so the soft tissue can’t block the airway.

We use SomnoGuard® for OSA oral therapy. It’s a mandibular advancement device that keeps your lower jaw and tongue in a forward position while you sleep so it doesn’t obstruct the inflow of air. With SomnoGuard, we custom-fit the oral device to match your bite so it’s more comfortable.

Studies show that oral appliance therapy is a safe and effective treatment for OSA.

Can oral therapy help you?

We do a sleep disorder test before we make any treatment recommendations. The information we gather from this test helps us understand the cause and severity of your sleep issue. For your convenience, we offer at-home sleep study tests.

If your test results show you have mild to moderate OSA, then oral appliance therapy may work for you. We also use SomnoGuard for snoring.

The one caveat we insist on when using oral appliance therapy for OSA is that you see your dentist regularly. Your dentist checks your bite, the positioning of your teeth, and the fit of your oral appliance to ensure it’s not moving your teeth or changing your bite. 

Are you considering oral appliance therapy for your OSA? Call us today or request an appointment online to schedule a consultation with your sleep medicine specialists. We can talk to you about SomnoGuard and help you decide if it can work for you.