Dental Services – Sleep Apnea
What is sleep apnea?
Sleep apnea is a fairly common condition in which your breathing stops and restarts while you sleep. This can prevent your body from getting enough oxygen. A physician (PCP, ENT or pulmonologist) can determine this through a sleep study and exam.
What can cause snoring?
Many types of snoring are caused by obstructive sleep apnea. This can constrict your airway and cause apnea and the loud vibrations as air tries to flow past (snoring). You can have very mild apnea in a sleep study but still have significant snoring. A physician (PCP, ENT or pulmonologist) can diagnose the condition and may refer you to Active Life Dentistry for treatment.
Treatment options
The first step is to be evaluated by your physician (PCP, ENT or pulmonologist) to determine the severity of the sleep apnea and snoring. Then the physician can recommend treatments such as mouthpiece, CPAP or even surgery.
What can Active Life Dentistry do to help?
If your physician (PCP, ENT or pulmonologist) thinks a mouthpiece can help (mandibular advancement device), make an appointment with Active Life Dentistry, as we have around 10 years experience making several devices including a DreamTAP mouthpiece. These devices help hold your lower jaw forward so the airway remains open and the tongue, neck and tissues don’t cause apnea or snoring.
Will insurance pay for it?
Active Life Dentistry doesn’t code for medical insurance and unfortunately, dental insurance won’t cover these devices.
Appointments
We will need only two appointments to make and deliver the device. In the first appointment, we take impressions of the upper and lower teeth and two bite record impressions. In the second appointment, we adjust and deliver the device and demonstrate how to take it out and clean it.