SLEEP APNEA TREATMENT

Oral appliance therapy may help adults with a physician-confirmed sleep apnea diagnosis whose symptoms, anatomy, and medical plan make a custom appliance a reasonable option.

Patients with loud, chronic snoring – Snoring almost every night, especially with pauses or gasping sounds, is one of the most common signs of obstructive sleep apnea.

Patients with witnessed breathing pauses – Pauses, gasping, or choking observed during sleep are important reasons to seek medical evaluation.

Patients with daytime sleepiness or poor focus – Exhaustion despite enough time in bed, daytime napping, memory problems, and reduced mental clarity often follow fragmented sleep.

Patients waking with headaches or a dry mouth – Morning headaches, dry mouth, or a sore throat can accompany mouth breathing and sleep-related breathing problems, although each has other possible causes.

Patients who cannot tolerate CPAP – Adults who decline positive airway pressure therapy, or who struggle to use it consistently, may be candidates for a custom, titratable appliance under a sleep physician’s plan.

Patients managing blood pressure or cardiovascular risk – Obstructive sleep apnea is associated with high blood pressure and cardiovascular risk, so diagnosis and treatment belong under medical care.

Sleep apnea is diagnosed and managed medically. Our role is the dental side of that plan: evaluating whether your teeth, gums, bite, and jaw function can support a custom oral appliance, then fitting, adjusting, and monitoring it alongside the prescribing sleep physician.

Adjustment takes time. A sense of fullness, extra saliva, or mild jaw and tooth awareness is common early on and often settles as you adapt. Persistent pain, bite changes, or limited jaw movement should be evaluated rather than waited out, so we ask you to tell us about discomfort, appliance damage, or disrupted sleep and we will reassess the fit.

Feeling better does not on its own confirm that sleep apnea is controlled. Wear the appliance exactly as prescribed, keep any follow-up testing your sleep physician recommends, and plan on periodic dental review to monitor fit, oral health, jaw comfort, and tooth position over the long term.