Untreated, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) has consequences throughout your body. These include cardiovascular issues, metabolic problems, difficulty functioning during the day, and excessive daytime sleepiness. But you can minimize these effects with an effective treatment option that works for you.

Many people rely on positive airway pressure (PAP) therapy to help with sleep apnea. However, there are other treatment options. In these cases, your healthcare provider may recommend an oral device to help treat sleep apnea. Learn more about oral devices and how they can be beneficial for people with obstructive sleep apnea.

What Are Oral Devices for Sleep Apnea?

Oral devices or oral appliances are designed to help treat sleep apnea. They aim to open your airway to prevent it from collapsing while you sleep.

Mandibular Advancement Device

Mandibular advancement devices (MADs), also known as mandibular advancement splints (MASs), aim to move and hold your jaw in a position that will help keep your upper airway open. There are many different types of MADs and they work in different ways, but they all try to hold your lower jaw forward. They come in both one and two-piece designs, and some of them allow your jaw to open and close and move side to side, while others don’t.

Tongue-Retaining Device

Tongue-retaining devices (TRDs) try to prevent airway collapse by keeping your tongue in a certain position all night. They often use suction to hold your tongue in place. TRDs may be useful for people who don’t have enough teeth or their teeth aren’t healthy enough to use MADs.

Who Should Use Oral Devices for Sleep Apnea?

Oral devices are generally used to treat sleep apnea in people who can’t use PAP machines, like continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines. If you can’t sleep with a PAP machine or it causes other problems for you, talk to a healthcare professional about other options, like oral appliances.

Who Shouldn’t Use Oral Devices for Sleep Apnea?

Oral appliances aren’t recommended in several situations. For people who need help with sleep apnea right away or very quickly — such as people with unstable heart failure, irregular heartbeat, hypertension, and chronic lung disease — an oral device won’t provide quick benefits. Oral devices often require weeks or months to be as effective as possible.

If you have very severe drops in your oxygen levels at night, oral devices may not help you raise your levels effectively. You may need to figure out a PAP solution to raise your oxygen to the level that your body needs to function well.

You’ll also need to make sure you can put your oral device in properly and take it out on your own. If you have muscular or joint limitations, you may need to consider other forms of treatment.

Finally, people with significant or severe dental or jaw conditions, as well as those currently wearing braces or retainers, won’t be able to use oral devices to treat sleep apnea. If you live with any of these, talk to your dentist to see if there might be any of these devices that could meet your sleep apnea treatment needs.

Are Oral Devices Effective in Treating Sleep Apnea?

Different oral devices have different levels of effectiveness. In general, they’re more effective for people who:

• Have mild to moderate sleep apnea
• Mostly experience apnea when they’re lying on their backs
• Are younger and have a lower body mass index

Getting your oral device custom fitted by a dentist may also make it more effective. These aren’t hard and fast rules, but oral devices do tend to work better in these situations.

Overall, oral devices are effective at treating sleep apnea, but not as effective as PAP options. In people with OSA, oral devices can:

• Lower the number of times a person stops breathing at night
• Raise oxygen levels
• Help reduce snoring
• Improve quality of life by decreasing daytime sleepiness
• Lower the number of cardiovascular issues a person experiences due to sleep apnea (more research is needed to confirm this)

Among the different types of oral devices available as part of your treatment plan for sleep apnea, MADs are the most recommended and the most effective. They help with snoring, raise your oxygen levels, reduce how sleepy you are during the day, and help lower your blood pressure. More specifically, a type of MAD called a precision-post device may be the most effective. These allow for a lot of precision in holding your jaw in place. MADs still don’t work as well as PAP options, but people report liking them better because they are willing to use them more and because MADs have fewer side effects.

Is an Oral Device Right for You?

While PAP treatment is more effective, people are more likely to stick with using oral devices, because they’re both easier and, often, more comfortable. If the option is a PAP machine that you won’t use or an oral device that you’ll use, the oral device seems to be better than not treating apnea.

How To Get the Most Out of an Oral Device for Sleep Apnea

To get the most out of an oral device for sleep apnea, you’ll want to make sure it fits well and that you use it regularly. There are a few things you can do to make sure you’re getting the most out of any oral device your doctor or dentist gives you for sleep apnea.

• Get your device fitted by a specialized dentist — They’ll check your mouth and recommend the best device based on your dental health and other factors.
• Adjust your device gradually — You want to change your mouth position slowly so that you can tolerate the device and get the most out of it. Your dentist will tell you how.
• Wear your device every night — Your dentist will tell you exactly how often and how long to wear your device, but you should plan to use it every time you sleep.
• Clean your device regularly — Your device will have specific cleaning and care instructions that you should follow.
• Go to follow-up visits to check your sleep apnea and track any oral changes — You want to make sure the device is helping and not harming your mouth in any way.

If you have any questions about an oral device you’re using to treat sleep apnea, talk to your doctor. They can help you with any problems that come up, including discomfort in your teeth or your mouth. Many times, these can be fixed by adjusting your device or using a different one.

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On MySleepApneaTeam, people share their experiences with sleep apnea, get advice, and find support from others who understand.

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