How To Treat Sleep Apnea in Wayland WITHOUT a CPAP

If you’re like many people with sleep apnea, you have a love/hate relationship with your CPAP. You need it to get restful sleep and protect your health, but the machine itself causes so many other problems. The mask is uncomfortable, it makes a lot of noise, and it doesn’t travel very easily. This is why up to 50% of all the people who have been prescribed CPAP machines stop using them within the first year. Isn’t there another way to treat your sleep apnea in Wayland? Fortunately, there is, and today, Dr. Michael Putt is going to discuss a few different ways you can treat your sleep apnea and get rid of your CPAP.

1. Oral Surgery

The most common form of sleep apnea is called Obstructive Sleep Apnea, or OSA. It is caused by the tissues in the mouth and throat relaxing into a person’s airway as they sleep, and this obstructs their breathing. This can be caused by a large soft palate, tonsils, or adenoids. With oral surgery, these tissues can be reduced or completely removed to help a patient suffering from OSA. It can also be used to correct a misaligned jaw. In any case, oral surgery usually requires a patient to be put under general anesthesia, stay in a hospital for a few days, and spend at least a week recovering.

2. Oral Appliance Therapy

If oral surgery sounds like too much trouble (as it does to most), an easier way to treat your sleep apnea is with oral appliance therapy. With this, you would wear a small, custom-made mouthguard to bed each night. It works by gently positioning your jaw forward or holding your tongue in place so that your airway cannot become blocked throughout the night. The devices are easy to use and effective, as 95% of patients who use them have seen a dramatic increase in their sleep quality.

Also, one of the best things about oral appliance therapy is that you don’t have to see a specialist to get it. You just need to visit your dentist in Wayland. At Wayland Dental, for example, we have been using oral appliance therapy to help patients with sleep apnea for years. I, along with my team, are fully trained to use this method and have found it to be a great alternative for patients with mild to moderate Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Wayland.

3. Combined Therapy

This solution actually uses both a CPAP and an oral appliance. For patients suffering from severe sleep apnea, a CPAP is usually their only solution. Combined with an oral appliance, however, a patient can start using a nasal mask instead of a full-face mask, and can usually put the machine on a lower setting. This cuts down on both the noise and the discomfort of the CPAP for many people and allows them to sleep much more comfortably.

Is An Oral Appliance Right For Me?

The only way to find out is to see a sleep medicine specialist. Fortunately, our practice works with many sleep doctors in the area and we can guide you to one. If they think oral appliance therapy would help your sleep apnea, you can then come to our office and have one made.

If you’d like to know more about oral appliance therapy, combined therapy, or want to start getting an oral appliance, just give us a call today.