There’s a solution to your snoring problem. It’s called Oral Appliance Therapy. According to dentist, Dr. Micheal Uzelac, Oral Appliance Therapy works.
Uzelac, who had been diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), had an oral appliance made to help reduce his disrupted breathing during sleep due to snoring. It worked.
“I slept soundly for three nights in a row, and I felt wonderful,” he said.
(Via: https://www.valpolife.com/health/specialty/73600-oral-appliances-help-reduce-or-eliminate-snoring)
Oral Appliance Therapy may not be the common solution to snoring. Dr. Uzelac states that using a CPAP machine is the most common way to treat snoring. A CPAP machine can help reduce disrupted breathing during sleep.
“The most common treatment for obstructive sleep apnea right now is the CPAP machine,” Uzelac said. Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) involves wearing a mask or nasal cannula connected to a machine that delivers pressured air during sleep.
(Via: https://www.valpolife.com/health/specialty/73600-oral-appliances-help-reduce-or-eliminate-snoring)
CPAP machines may be popular but they’re not well-liked by snorers who are looking for a more comfortable and presentable way to solve their problem.
“The problem is, about 58% of people who are prescribed a CPAP machine don’t wear it,” Uzelac said. Some perceive the devices to be bulky, cumbersome, and uncomfortable.
(Via: https://www.valpolife.com/health/specialty/73600-oral-appliances-help-reduce-or-eliminate-snoring)
A better way to approach OSA and snoring is with the use of an oral appliance that could be custom-fitted to your mouth.
“With obstructive sleep apnea, the muscles in the throat relax and block breathing. Oral appliance therapy works like putting a door stop in a door,” Uzelac said. “The appliances help pull the jaw forward so the muscles can’t relax and block breathing.”
More than 100 oral appliances are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of OSA. They look like retainers or mouth guards, and simply fit over the upper and lower teeth.
(Via: https://www.valpolife.com/health/specialty/73600-oral-appliances-help-reduce-or-eliminate-snoring)
Take note that oral appliance therapy is best for folks who aren’t suffering from severe apnea. Here’s what Dr. Uzelac has to say about it.
Uzelac said those who tend to respond best to oral appliance therapy are those with less severe apnea, women ages 30 or older who are physically fit, and individuals who have a neck size of less than 17 inches. He stressed that addressing whole health is important in successful treatment of OSA.
(Via: https://www.valpolife.com/health/specialty/73600-oral-appliances-help-reduce-or-eliminate-snoring)
Your weight has a lot to do with your snoring. If you’re overweight, it can cause you to snore excessively. Even worse, it can lead to OSA.
Patients who suffer from OSA and excessive snoring many times are overweight and have other contributing factors like uncontrolled blood sugar (diabetes), and poor sleep habits at night (such as watching TV in bed). It’s just as important to address overall health as it is the snoring itself.
The severity of apnea is typically measured by the Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI), which gauges the number of breathing disruption and blood oxygen drops per hour during sleep. The higher the number, the worse your OSA.
(Via: https://www.valpolife.com/health/specialty/73600-oral-appliances-help-reduce-or-eliminate-snoring)
Aside from weight gain, age could also be a big factor. Unfortunately, sleep apnea gets worse as you get older.
Apnea, he said, gets worse with age and weight gain, and more than 30 million cases of sleep apnea are undiagnosed in the U.S.
(Via: https://www.valpolife.com/health/specialty/73600-oral-appliances-help-reduce-or-eliminate-snoring)
Dr. Uzelac has a good recommendation to reduce the severity of apnea.
“If you lose 10% of your body weight, you will reduce your AHI by 26%. If you lose 20% of your body weight, you’ll reduce your AHI by 32%. There is a direct relationship between overall physical health and apnea, but the fact is, if apnea goes untreated, it can be the basis of multiple life-threatening diseases,” Uzelac said.
(Via: https://www.valpolife.com/health/specialty/73600-oral-appliances-help-reduce-or-eliminate-snoring)
Since sleep apnea is manifested by snoring, it wouldn’t hurt to try oral appliance therapy. Choosing an oral appliance is not easy and you may need to consult a doctor. But if there’s one worth recommending, it’s https://snoringmouthpiecereview.org/snorerx.
This is actually a mandibular advancement device or MAD and it’s one of the various types of oral appliances. It comfortably holds you jaw in place so that it won’t shift backward to cause you to snore. Interestingly, the company behind this product is called Apnea Sciences Corporation.
If you’re interested in trying oral appliance therapy to say good bye to snoring, SnoreRX is a safe option for you to look into.
