The Various Dental And CPAP Devices For Sleep Apnea
Continuous positive air pressure (CPAP) therapy is the first line of treatment provided for sleep apnea patients. CPAP devices are used to provide the therapy. Other devices for sleep apnea patients include dental appliances. A description of the various devices used in the treatment of sleep apnea patients is provided below.
Dental devices: These are used in the case of patients who cannot tolerate CPAP devices. These can be used for the treatment of patients of mild to moderate sleep apnea. The dental devices include the mandibular advancement device (MAD) and the torque retraining device (TRD).
Mandibular advancement device (MAD): it is used very widely by patients of sleep apnea. Its appearance is akin to that of a sports mouth guard. Use of MAD helps keep the airway always open. It is able to do so by forcing the lower jaw down and slightly forward.
Torque retraining device (TRD): It is just a splint that keeps the airway open by holding down the tongue in its place. TRD is used less often than MAD by sleep apnea patients. Both these devices may need to be adjusted or replaced from time to time. The advantage of MAD is to effect a significant reduction in apneas. This is specifically so, when the patient sleeps either on the stomach or the back. However, their efficacy is very much reduced if the patient adopts the side-on sleeping position. Airflow reduction in severe apnea patients is another advantage with MAD. It also helps improve sleep in many apnea patients. Patients tolerate MAD much better than they do a CPAP device. MAD also helps reduce the snoring frequency and loudness. Dental devices also have their own disadvantages. These include night time pain, excessive salivation, dryness of lips, and discomfort in teeth. Further, the efficacy of dental devices is far lower than CPAP devices. The cost of these dental devices is high. CPAP machines: They are used most effectively for providing CPAP therapy to patients of sleep apnea. They consist of CPAP masks, tubes, and a fan. Positive air pressure is generated by the fan. The pressurized air passes through tubes into the CPAP mask. Two different types of masks are used. One is the nasal CPAP mask. It is worn over the nose by a sleep apnea patient. The pressurized air then passes through the patient's nose into the upper airway and helps keep the passage always open when the patient is asleep. Further, the pressurized air provides denser oxygen to the patient. A disadvantage of the nasal CPAP mask is that if a sleeping patient opens his/her mouth while using the nasal CPAP mask, air will leak out from it. This disadvantage of the nasal CPAP mask led to the development of CPAP devices for sleep apnea that uses a full face mask. A full face mask covers not only the nose, but also the mouth and face. So, this arrangement prevents the air leakage issue.
Sleep Apnea
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