Loud snoring, gasping during sleep, or persistent daytime tiredness deserves an assessment. For some patients, a custom oral appliance is part of treatment.
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) happens when the soft tissues of your throat relax and collapse during sleep, repeatedly blocking your airway — sometimes hundreds of times a night. Each blockage jolts your body out of deep sleep to restart breathing. The result: daytime tiredness, and over time, elevated risk for high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. Snoring is often the loudest warning sign.
We screen your symptoms, airway, and tooth-wear patterns. Diagnosis of sleep apnea requires a sleep study, so we coordinate with your physician or a sleep specialist.
If your sleep clinician recommends oral appliance therapy, we fit a custom device designed to hold your lower jaw forward and help keep the airway open. Suitability depends on your diagnosis and dental assessment.
We fit the appliance and adjust it gradually, monitoring your comfort and symptoms. Tell us about jaw discomfort, tooth pain, or bite changes.
We monitor the appliance, your teeth, and your bite over time. Follow-up with your sleep clinician, including recommended sleep testing, checks how well treatment is working.
CPAP and oral appliances work differently. Your sleep clinician can help determine whether an appliance is an appropriate alternative, particularly if CPAP is difficult to tolerate. Do not replace prescribed CPAP with an appliance, including during travel, unless your clinician has confirmed a suitable treatment plan.
Snoring can occur with or without sleep apnea. A medical assessment helps distinguish the two. If primary snoring is diagnosed, your clinician may recommend an oral appliance; results vary and follow-up remains important.