New Discoveries About Sleep Apnea Treatment in Vero Beach

When it comes to sleep apnea treatment, for years, it has been assumed that oral appliance therapy (OAT) is only helpful for those who have mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea. For those with severe sleep apnea, it has been believed that only CPAP therapy or surgery could truly address the issue. However, at Florida Dental Sleep Disorders, we’ve been able to provide successful sleep apnea treatment in Vero Beach for a wide range of patients using OAT despite the severity of their sleep apnea. In fact, we have shown that oral appliance therapy can offer fantastic results even for those with the most severe sleep apnea. Of course, you don’t have to just take our word for it—we have the numbers to back it up!

Successful Sleep Apnea Treatment in Vero Beach

Every year, various physicians refer patients to us who they believe could benefit from oral appliance therapy. This is typically based off of their findings from a sleep study. When a patient comes to see us, we evaluate them, make an oral appliance, and then we test their sleep again to see if we’ve been able to reduce their sleep apnea symptoms. From 2012-2016, the numbers looked like this:

“N” is the number of sleep apnea patients we had referred to us in a given year, but what in the heck does “AHI” stand for? It stands for “Apnea-Hypopnea Index,” which refers to the number of times a person’s breathing stopped per hour while they were sleeping before they received any treatment. An AHI of 15-30 is moderate to severe sleep apnea, while anything over 30 is considered severe sleep apnea. So on average, all of the sleep apnea patients we saw in 2012 had 38.6 apnea events per hour while they slept (this includes people with both moderate and severe sleep apnea).

The next column to the right refers to the patients’ average AHI after we applied OAT, and the column after that shows the difference in the average AHI before and after treatment.

So What Am I Looking At?

First and foremost, this graph shows that OAT is able to drastically reduce the number of apnea events a patient experiences during the night, which leads to deeper, more restful sleep. More interestingly, it also shows that OAT is even effective for those patients with severe sleep apnea. This means that even more people may be able to get sleep apnea treatment without a CPAP machine, which is great news for anyone who has ever actually slept with a CPAP!

How Can I Get Oral Appliance Therapy?

Whether you are simply having issues with your sleep or have already gotten treatment for your sleep apnea with a CPAP machine (and dislike it), OAT may be able to help you get the rejuvenating, comfortable sleep you need. To get an oral appliance, simply consult your doctor, let them know about your sleep issues, and tell them you’d be interested in oral appliance therapy. From there, they’ll be able to refer you to the right doctor to determine if this approach is right for you. If it is, you’ll likely end up in our office, and in a matter of no time, we’ll provide you with a completely custom-made appliance that will help you sleep soundly throughout the night!

About the Author

Kenneth A. Mogell, DMD, DABDSM, has successfully provided a CPAP alternative in Vero Beach for over 25 years using custom-made oral appliances. In 2013, he became the first Diplomate of the American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine in Palm Beach County and one of only three in the state of Florida. If you have any concerns about you or a partner’s sleep, or if you’re ready to get rid of your CPAP machine, you can contact him today.