Saturday, March 5, 2011

Wisconsin Sleep Apnea Treatment: Oral Appliances are a comfortable alternative to CPAP, BiPAP or A-PAP

Treatment of sleep apnea is vital to the health and welfare of patients diagnosed with sleep apnea. CPAP treatment was once the only treatment offered to most patient. This is no longer the case. Dental Sleep Medicine ofers comfortable oral appliances as a comfortable alternative to CPAP.

Most sleep physicians follow the AASM guidline and offer oral appliance therapy as a treatment choice. Some sleep physicians have not kept up with the research and are not aware that recent studies have shown that properly titrated cpap oral appliances can be as effective as cpa.

60% of all patients who try cpap cannot tolerate and discontinue treatment while 90-95% of patients are successful with oral appliance therapy. The majority of patients offered a choice prefer oral appliance therapy to cpap and most insurance companies now cover oral appliance therapy.

Coverage of sleep apnea treatment saves insurance companies money by reducing heart attacks and strokes, hypertension, aiding in diabetes treatment and reducing motor vehicle and work-place accidents.

Employers have found that employees who have had effective sleep apnea treatment have higher output, lower medical expenses, and fewer workplace accidents and worker compensation claims.

Some sleep physicians continue to bad mouth oral appliance out of ignorance or due to bad experiences with untrained dentists providing poor quality treatment in the past.

Many dentists do not understand the importance of follow-up polysomnography in all patients. Failure to follow proper protocols can put patients at risk.

Other physicians have financial intrests in DME companies and are loathe to lose the income sales of cpap and cpap supplies generate.

I provide Dental Sleep Medicine treatment with oral appliances to patiens in Southeast Wisconsin including Lake Geneva, Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee. I am certified in Dental Sleep Medicine and a Diplomate of the American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine. I am a former Asistant Professor at Rush Medicak Schools sleep center and have over 25 years successfully treating sleep apnea with oral appliances.

http://www.ihateheadaches.org/