Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Dentures and oral appliances for treating sleep apnea

Do you have a CPAP device/snore preventer that can be used by a patient who is totally edentulous?

Yes there are appliances that treat apnea. The first class is TRD or tongue retaining devices. They are not my favorite but are an easy option for denture patients.

I prefer to stabilize dentures with implants which allows the use of any oral apppliance.

I make a custom appliance that is spring loaded to push the upper and lower denture in place while advancing the mandible. It is a custom appliance and has not been approved by the FDA so it cannot be marketed.

An interesting fact is some patients with sleep apnea sleep with their dentures out. In some patients, I just had one recently, just wearing your dentures while sleeping can cure apnea.

http://www.ihateheadaches.org/