Oral Appliance Therapy for Sleep Apnea – Las Vegas, NV
Ditch the CPAP Machine & Regain Restful Sleep
If your general doctor or sleep specialist has diagnosed you with obstructive sleep apnea, they may recommend CPAP treatment as the ideal solution. However, the bulkiness, discomfort, and difficulty involved with the machine’s use can result in intolerance; in fact, nearly half of patients on average stop using it at the end of the first year. That’s why Dr. Pam West and her staff here at iSleepSolutions in Las Vegas, NV recommend oral appliance therapy for patients who suffer from mild to moderate sleep apnea.
This approach uses a device that is custom-fit for your unique mouth and is exceptionally easy to use when compared with traditional CPAP therapy, and the results can transform both your health and your overall quality of life. Combined therapy is also available for patients with severe cases who may not achieve optimal results with only an oral appliance.
Most Common Types of Oral Sleep Appliances Prescribed for Sleep Apnea Treatment
- Mandibular Repositioning Device – This kind of oral appliance is designed to slightly reposition your lower jaw (mandible) in a comfortable way, as well as the tongue, uvula, and soft palate. Therefore, during sleep, the airway should remain much clearer for easy breathing.
- Tongue Retaining Device – This type of oral appliance’s job is to hold the tongue forward away from your airway; this prevents it from falling backward and inadvertently causing sleep apnea. Dr. West typically recommends this choice for patients with unusually large tongues, a significant amount of tooth loss, or chronic joint pain.
iSleepSolutions Effective Oral Appliance Options
- SomnoDent® Avant™- The innovative design gently closes your mouth, so you breathe through your nose while you are sleeping. This eliminates snoring in most people, as well as preventing dry mouth, which is a common complaint with other oral appliances (and CPAP). This appliance includes the Bflex soft liner which provides optimal comfort and a more secure fit.
- Herbst Advance Elite™ - This material has greater resistance to the bending and flexing forces that occur when you open and close your mouth, so is less likely to break. This appliance also includes the Bflex soft liner.
- SomnoDent® Fusion – Along with the Bflex soft liner, this appliance includes replaceable “wings” that are used to move your jaw forward and stop your tongue and soft tissues from blocking your airway during sleep. The upper and lower pieces are separate and users like that they can place the upper splint on their teeth, and then their lower splint, making it easy to wear every night.
- Panthera Classic – Made of medical grade nylon polyamide type 12. This material has high tensile strength and is resistant to bruxing, cracking and abrasion. Top end biocompatibility ensure the rarest levels of allergy and intolerances. Easy to clean, retains clean white appearance.
- Vivos mmRNA/DNA -These daytime-nighttime appliances gradually expand the palate and arches to further develop the patient’s jaw. The oral cavity takes on a more developed structure; the jaw and tongue assume better positions; the airway opens and remains open to supply the body with improved airflow. Oral and overall health problems can subsequently diminish and disappear.
- HealthyStart® - For kids, the HealthyStart® System is a fantastic solution! It's a pain-free, non-invasive, and non-pharmaceutical approach to opening the airway and straightening teeth without braces. This system utilizes a series of appliances to tackle symptoms of Sleep Disordered Breathing, which affects 9 out of 10 children. These symptoms often go unnoticed or untreated and tend to worsen over time.
Most Common Side-Effects
Most side-effects associated with the routine use of a customized oral appliance can be corrected very easily. These could include:
By providing a morning positioning appliance, we can effectively alleviate many of the common side effects
- An abundance of saliva
- Joint discomfort
- Muscle discomfort
- Dental discomfort
- Dry mouth
In rare instances, the use of an oral appliance may cause unwelcome tooth and jaw movement. We do strongly recommend that patients attend regular appointments with Dr. West so that our team can determine whether any concerning issues are occurring as soon as possible.