What Is Oral Appliance Therapy?
Oral appliance therapy offers a custom approach to sleep apnea treatment in Tulsa for some adults with diagnosed obstructive sleep apnea. You wear the device in your mouth while you sleep. It gently moves the lower jaw forward to help keep the upper airway open.
Our dentists evaluate your teeth, bite, and jaw to determine whether an appliance is appropriate. If it is, we fit and adjust the device, then coordinate follow-up sleep testing to check how well it controls your sleep apnea.
A CPAP Alternative
for the Right Patient
CPAP is an important and effective treatment for obstructive sleep apnea, and we do not view oral appliance therapy as a replacement for CPAP in every case. The right choice depends on your diagnosis, health, treatment history, and individual needs.
Oral appliances may appeal to qualifying patients because they are:
- Small and easy to travel with
- Quiet during use
- Free from masks, tubing, and bedside machinery
- Custom-made for the patient’s mouth
- Adjustable as treatment progresses
- Simple to place before going to sleep
Some patients who cannot comfortably use CPAP may be appropriate candidates for oral appliance therapy. Others may benefit from using an appliance together with CPAP through combined therapy.
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Who May Be a Candidate
for an Oral Appliance?
An oral appliance is not right for every person who snores or has sleep apnea. Appropriate treatment begins with a confirmed diagnosis and an evaluation of your medical and dental circumstances.
Oral appliance therapy may be considered for adults who:
- Have diagnosed obstructive sleep apnea
- Cannot tolerate CPAP consistently
- Prefer an alternative after discussing treatment with their medical provider
- Need a portable treatment option for appropriate circumstances
- Have dental and jaw conditions that allow an appliance to be worn safely
- Are willing to return for adjustments and ongoing follow-up
If you have symptoms but have not yet been diagnosed, Healthy Sleep Tulsa can help you get set up for appropriate sleep testing. A qualified medical provider interprets the study and makes the sleep apnea diagnosis.
How We Choose the
Right Appliance for You
There is no single sleep appliance that is best for every patient. Differences in teeth, jaw relationships, tongue space, comfort preferences, dexterity, and insurance requirements can all affect which design makes sense.
Our doctors evaluate your mouth and treatment needs before recommending an appliance. Healthy Sleep Tulsa works with several designs, including:
- ProSomnus EVO
- EVO Herbst
- SomnoMed Avant
- Avant Herbst
- RPM02
Having multiple options allows our doctors to select an appliance based on the patient rather than trying to fit every patient into one device.
At your complimentary consultation, you can also see appliance samples and ask questions about how different designs look, feel, and function.
What to Expect From
Oral Appliance Therapy in Tulsa
Treatment follows a step-by-step process, so your appliance is based on appropriate testing and individualized records. We also continue to monitor you after delivery, rather than treating the appliance itself as the finish line.
Step 1: Start With a Consultation
Your complimentary sleep consultation gives us an opportunity to discuss your symptoms, diagnosis, CPAP experience, and treatment goals. We complete an exam, explain oral appliance therapy, and show you samples of the appliances we use. If you still need sleep testing, our team can help you get set up for a home study when appropriate.
Step 2: Evaluate Your Mouth and Airway
Before an appliance is ordered, our doctors evaluate factors that may affect treatment. This can include your teeth, gums, bite, jaw relationships, and airway-related anatomy. Healthy Sleep Tulsa also offers CBCT imaging and pharyngometry which can provide useful information for treatment planning.
Step 3: Capture Digital Records
We use iTero digital scanning to capture detailed records of your teeth and bite. Digital scanning allows us to gather the information needed for a custom appliance without traditional impression material. These records are used to fabricate a device that fits your individual mouth.
Step 4: Deliver and Adjust Your Appliance
When your appliance is ready, we check the fit and show you how to insert, remove, clean, and care for it. Treatment usually involves gradual adjustment rather than moving immediately to a final position. Our doctors balance airway goals with comfort and the health of your teeth, bite, and jaw.
Step 5: Verify Treatment
Feeling better or snoring less can be encouraging, but symptoms alone cannot confirm that obstructive sleep apnea is adequately treated. We coordinate titration sleep testing to help evaluate treatment effectiveness. Those results can help guide additional adjustments when needed.
Follow-Up Is Part
of the Treatment
Oral appliance therapy requires ongoing oversight because the teeth, bite, jaw, comfort, and sleep response can change over time. Our team keeps patients connected to care after the initial fitting process.
Healthy Sleep Tulsa’s follow-up protocol includes:
- An in-office visit approximately two months after appliance delivery
- Titration sleep testing to evaluate effectiveness
- A six-month telemedicine follow-up
- Yearly telemedicine visits
- Additional evaluation or adjustment when appropriate
We also communicate with referring primary care and sleep physicians to keep them informed about the patient’s progress.
Oral Appliance Therapy Questions Patients Commonly Ask
Oral Appliance Therapy Questions
Patients Commonly Ask
Patients often want to know how an appliance compares with CPAP, how comfortable it will feel, and what happens after they receive it. These answers can help you understand the basics before your consultation.
It depends on the patient and the measures being compared. CPAP generally provides greater improvement in measures such as breathing-event frequency and oxygen levels, while custom oral appliances can be an effective treatment for appropriate adults who cannot tolerate CPAP or prefer another option. Your diagnosis, medical recommendations, and follow-up sleep testing help determine whether oral appliance therapy is suitable for you.
A custom appliance is designed specifically for your mouth, but it may still take time to adjust to wearing it. Some patients notice temporary jaw soreness, tooth tenderness, changes in saliva, or changes in bite. Regular follow-up allows our doctors to monitor these concerns and make adjustments when appropriate rather than assuming discomfort should simply be ignored.
A store-bought or online mouthpiece is not the same as custom oral appliance therapy for diagnosed obstructive sleep apnea. Professional treatment includes a medical diagnosis, dental evaluation, a custom titratable appliance, adjustment, monitoring for dental side effects, and follow-up testing. Those steps help make treatment safer and allow for the objective evaluation of effectiveness.
Follow-up sleep testing is an important part of evaluating oral appliance therapy. You may notice less snoring or improved daytime energy, but those changes alone cannot show what is happening with breathing and oxygen levels throughout the night. Healthy Sleep Tulsa coordinates titration testing and uses the results alongside your clinical follow-up to guide treatment.
Obstructive sleep apnea is often a long-term condition, so many patients need ongoing treatment unless their medical circumstances change. Your sleep provider and dental sleep team can reassess your needs over time. Regular visits also allow us to monitor appliance condition, fit, dental changes, and whether repeat sleep testing may be appropriate.