Oral Appliance Therapy is a medically proven treatment for patients suffering from Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome, and Chronic Snoring. This treatment modality involves a comprehensive diagnostic process, a custom Oral Appliance, and follow-up home sleep testing to ensure effective treatment.

Snoring and Obstructive Sleep Apnea occur when the airway completely or partially collapses while you’re asleep, which interrupts your normal breathing. It happens when your tongue and the muscles in your neck relax and impinge on the tissues that make up your airway, which obstructs air flow. Oral Appliance Therapy works by preventing the tissues and muscles involved from blocking the airway by holding the jaw in a stable position. The Oral Appliance looks similar to a night guard, except it’s specially designed to treat abnormal breathing during sleep, and it is highly customized for each patient.

Oral Appliances can be much easier to use than other devices, such as Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) masks, and have much less impact than invasive surgery. In fact, many patients can obtain complete relief from their Obstructive Sleep Apnea simply from using an Oral Appliance. In some cases, however, depending on the patient’s unique anatomy, combination therapy may be needed to achieve the best results.

Oral Appliance Therapy is much more than just wearing a device while you sleep; it’s a whole process, involving a range of medical and dental diagnostics, specific recommendations for each patient, custom Oral Appliance fabrication, and follow-up sleep tests to determine the effectiveness of the treatment.

At San Francisco Dental Sleep Medicine, we us Oral Appliance Therapy as our primary treatment approach for our patients. If you have Obstructive Sleep Apnea and want to avoid wearing a CPAP mask or undergo surgery, Oral Appliance Therapy could be right for you. Click here to schedule a complementary one-on-one consultation with Dr. Chenin. He will explain the whole process and answer any questions you have.