Any success stories with dentist made mouthpiece devices?

Has anyone had any success with mouthpiece devices to open the airways?

And if so, do these differ greatly from dentist to dentist in their effectiveness? I have not gone past initial discussions with any dentists, but I have had some say off the cuff prices for making the mold and providing me with the device ranging from $200 up to $1800. I can't imagine what could be much different, other than profit.

I have one, $500. My Dr said other Dr's charge $3,500 for the same thing. It sits in a drawer. He said it is like "yoga for your jaw muscles". Very uncomfortable and painful the day after using it. It stretches your lower jaw forward.

I suppose it does nothing to control central apneas. And you will never know if it works unless you do a sleep study with it in use. My husband said it stopped my snoring. But I don't trust that it is working as good as my cpap machine.

Yeah I figure it cant help centrals at all. Of course my non ASV doesnt either. And the mask I cant get myself to use does little for me, either

Guess I will keep trying the mask. I try every night, but give up after an hour or so of tossing and turning. Its crazy... the mask doesn't even "bother" me that much from an uncomfortable standpoint, but it seems to put me in permanent mild fight or flight and I cannot rest. I am out in 3-5 minutes after I take it off.

hifiaudio wrote:Yeah I figure it cant help centrals at all. Of course my non ASV doesnt either. And the mask I cant get myself to use does little for me, either

Guess I will keep trying the mask. I try every night, but give up after an hour or so of tossing and turning. Its crazy... the mask doesn't even "bother" me that much from an uncomfortable standpoint, but it seems to put me in permanent mild fight or flight and I cannot rest. I am out in 3-5 minutes after I take it off.

If you have read posts over the past couple of months, you have noticed many suggestions to wear the mask while watching TV or a movie. After several days your face should become accustomed to the feel. There are dozens of different masks available. Be sure you are fitted properly with the proper type of mask.

Yes m dentists that sell and fit mouthpieces to cure sleep apnea, drive nicer cars and have bigger homes! Jim

LSAT wrote:

hifiaudio wrote:Yeah I figure it cant help centrals at all. Of course my non ASV doesnt either. And the mask I cant get myself to use does little for me, either

Guess I will keep trying the mask. I try every night, but give up after an hour or so of tossing and turning. Its crazy... the mask doesn't even "bother" me that much from an uncomfortable standpoint, but it seems to put me in permanent mild fight or flight and I cannot rest. I am out in 3-5 minutes after I take it off.

If you have read posts over the past couple of months, you have noticed many suggestions to wear the mask while watching TV or a movie. After several days your face should become accustomed to the feel. There are dozens of different masks available. Be sure you are fitted properly with the proper type of mask.

Yeah I guess I will give that a try again. So I did successfully use the mask for a while, a few weeks of 4, 5 and even 7 hours a night a few times. Then quite literally almost all of a sudden I just simply CANNOT go to sleep with it anymore. Not sure what changed.. something mental I guess. So your suggestion to go back to basics and start with wearing it with TV is probably a good one.



I have tried all sorts of masks now thanks to the fine people at Cpap.com. I have gone through an Airfit P10, Quatro FX, and now the Amarra View. None do better than the Simplus for me, so I will keep trying on it. I think I have dozed a time or two in the last couple of nights, but once my face relaxes I wake up with a noisy leak. So if its loose enough not to bother me, it ends up leaking. Or I tighten it to where it is too uncomfortable to ever relax and sleep.

I sooooo wish I could stick with the SwiftFX, but I still have not come up with a reliable taping method that doesn't take 20 minutes to do in the first place and still doesnt somehow "blow through" during the night.

AS A SLEEP TECHNOLOGIST FOR 10 YEARS NOW I HAVE DONE STUDIES ON SEVERAL PATIENTS WHO USED THE MOUTH DEVICES AND NOT ONE HAD ANY SUCCESS. IT COMES DOWN TO THE SOFT MUSCLE TISSUE STILL COLLAPSING ESPECIALLY IN REM SLEEP DUE TO THE CHEMICALS BEING RELEASED EVERY 1AND 1/2 HOURS FROM YOUR BRAIN THAT TRAVEL DOWN AND PARALYZE YOU SLIGHTLY SO YOU DON'T ACT OUT YOUR DREAMS. CPAP WORKS.

maureenb wrote:AS A SLEEP TECHNOLOGIST FOR 10 YEARS NOW I HAVE DONE STUDIES ON SEVERAL PATIENTS WHO USED THE MOUTH DEVICES AND NOT ONE HAD ANY SUCCESS. IT COMES DOWN TO THE SOFT MUSCLE TISSUE STILL COLLAPSING ESPECIALLY IN REM SLEEP DUE TO THE CHEMICALS BEING RELEASED EVERY 1AND 1/2 HOURS FROM YOUR BRAIN THAT TRAVEL DOWN AND PARALYZE YOU SLIGHTLY SO YOU DON'T ACT OUT YOUR DREAMS. CPAP WORKS.

Maureenb, how many patients did you study and for how long? What type of dental device was used? What percentage of people with mild, moderate, and severe apnea had an AHI below 5, 10, 15 and for how long did the results last?

How were they tested? Was a full scale sleep study used or was a home study used?

Come on, as a sleep professional, surely you know better than to make a claim without providing the necessary details to back up your contention.

49er

+100, 49er
Not very professional without citing actual, peer-reviewed studies,
---And with statistically RELEVANT samples.