Appliances

Introduction

You are not alone in your desire to find a solution to your problem with snoring and or obstructive sleep apnea. Sleep-breathing problems affect people in all walks of life on every continent of the globe.

Dr. David Stern practising in Richmond Hill as a Board Certified member and a Diplomat of the American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine works together with medical doctors specializing in Sleep Medicine to treat this potentially life threatening condition. As a practising dentist for 30 years, Dr. David Stern has been treating snoring and sleep apnea for the last 25 years and has successfully treated this bothersome and potentially life threatening condition with non invasive, non surgical oral appliance therapy treatment with extremely high rates of success.

Oral appliance therapy is recommended by The American Association of Sleep Medicine as the first line of treatment for mild or moderate sleep apnea and for severe sleep apnea when cpap is not tolerable or indicated.

What can a small, professionally custom fitted dental sleep mouthpiece do for you?

  • Ensure a good night’s sleep for your bed partner and ensure that you spend the night in the same room
  • Help prevent heart disease, sudden cardiac death, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, depression, memory loss and even erectile dysfunction
  • Help prevent driving and work-related accidents caused by the excessive daytime sleepiness related to sleep apnea
  • Provide an alternative for the 25 – 60% of people with sleep apnea who cannot tolerate or would rather not use a CPAP device

To find out if oral appliance therapy is right for you, contact a qualified dentist who has been Board Certified by the American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine today.

ORAL APPLIANCE THERAPY… LIKE A BREATH OF FRESH AIR.

Oral Appliance Therapy

Oral Appliances are placed in the mouth and are worn much like an orthodontic appliance or sports mouth protector. They are worn during sleep to prevent the collapse of the tongue and soft tissues in the back of the throat so that the airway stays open during sleep. The appliances promote adequate air intake and help to provide normal sleep in people who snore and have sleep apnea.

Oral appliances can be used alone or in conjunction with other means of therapy such as continuous positive air pressure (CPAP). Determination of proper therapy can only be made by joint consultation of our office and your sleep physician.

Types of Oral Appliances

Currently, over 80 different types of dental devices for snoring and sleep apnea are available to specially trained dentists to treat sleep disordered breathing. At first glance, this number appears overwhelming but on close examination each of the appliances falls basically into one of two categories and the diverse variety is simply a variation of a few major themes.

Mandibular Repositioning Appliance

Mandibular repositioning appliances

Mandibular repositioning appliances are by far the most numerous type on the market. They all function to reposition and maintain the lower jaw (mandible) in a protruded position during sleep. It is felt that this serves to open the airway by indirectly pulling the tongue forward since the tongue is attached to the lower jaw, by stimulating activity of the muscles in the tongue and making it more rigid, and by holding the lower jaw and other structures in a stable position to prevent opening of the mouth.

Thin shells are placed over the upper and lower teeth and a device is incorporated that will pull the lower jaw forward as necessary to open the airway.

Currently, there are over 80 different types of oral appliance available. Oral appliances may be used alone or in combination with other means of treating OSA, including general health and weight management, surgery or nasal continuous air pressure (CPAP).

How Oral Appliances Work

Oral appliances work in several ways:

  • By repositioning the lower jaw, tongue, soft palate and uvula
  • By stabilizing the lower jaw and tongue
  • By increasing the muscle tone of the tongue
  • By dilating or increasing the size of the airway

By virtue of our education and training in oral appliance therapy, we are familiar with the various types and designs of appliances and can determine which one is best suited for your specific dental and medical conditions. Our office will work closely with your sleep physician as part of the medical team in your treatment and on-going care.

Even after the initial phase of treatment is complete, we will continue to follow you to be sure that treatment remains successful and to evaluate the response of your teeth and jaws.

Appliances Used in Our Office

We use several types of oral appliances in our office depending on your specific oral health, including the size and shape of your mouth and tongue. Dr. Stern will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each with you before making a final choice.

The Panthera D-SAD

Using the latest in 3D printing technology the Panthera D-SAD is custom-made to fit you. New digital age 3D oral scanning techniques used, comfortably capture unprecedented details and information about your dental arches.

There is no more need for messy and goopy, uncomfortable impression materials that may make you gag!

Thanks to this new hi tech process, it allows for the most predictable fitting, durable, smallest and lightest appliance on the market that is perfectly adapted to each patient.

The Panthera D -SAD is so well made that it comes with a 3 year warranty. 

The Panthera D-SAD Scanner
3D intraoral digital scanner
The Panthera D-SAD_model
panthera-d-sad appliance

SOMNODENT© MAS

SomnoDent

The SomnoDent© MAS is a custom-made device, consisting of upper and lower dental plates with a unique patented fin-coupling component, which allows normal mouth opening and closing.

This feature provides incremental and adjustable levels of lower jaw advancement, which improves the effectiveness and comfort-level of treatment as the jaw is moved only as far as is required to alleviate snoring and reduce OSA.

SILENCER

The Silencer Dental Appliance

The Silencer is a laboratory fabricated fully adjustable oral appliance for the treatment of sleep apnea and snoring. The appliance features a titanium precision attachment, which controls the anatomical settings of the appliance. It is capable of anteroposterior adjustment as well as vertical adjustment through a range of 10mm, in both dimensions. The design of the precision attachment also allows lateral movement of the mandible which respects and protects the TMJ. The titanium Halstrom Hinge© is made of implant grade titanium.

THE TAP©

The TAP dental appiance

The TAP© (Thornton Adjustable Positioner) uses a hook and socket mechanism to shift the lower jaw forward. An adjustment key for the TAP© permits the patient, after consultation with their dental specialist, to adjust the protrusion of the lower jaw to the most effective and comfortable position. The metal components found in the TAP© are composed of medical grade stainless steel.