Dental Appliance VS Palette Implants/Shaving and Uvula

faceless041974 · Post by **faceless041974** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 11:43 am

I have mild sleep apnea and my upper palette is large according to my doctor. I made an appointment to get one of the dental appliances but they require payment up front. I cant afford to pay right away so I was thinking of having the surgery done to remove my uvula and either have my palette shaved or the implants put in. I know the surgery is supposed to be painful. How much more painful is this surgery when compared to having your adnoids removed? I know I also have a problem with post nasal drip building up because of the upper palette being enlarged. Any insights?

CowboyDave · Post by **CowboyDave** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 11:56 am

I had a UPPP in 2000 and it is very, very painful. It fixed my snoring and apnea for a few years but now my apnea is back and I am on CPAP. I would NEVER go through that surgery again unless my life was in danger and that was my only option. CPAP is not bad at all once you get used to it, actually kind of relaxing. Good luck!

roster · Post by **roster** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 12:09 pm

[quote="CowboyDave"]I had a UPPP in 2000 and it is very, very painful. It fixed my snoring and apnea for a few years but now my apnea is back and I am on CPAP. I would NEVER go through that surgery again unless my life was in danger and that was my only option. CPAP is not bad at all once you get used to it, actually kind of relaxing. Good luck!

snork1 · Post by **snork1** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 3:04 pm

A friend of mine had a UPPP done by one of the top experts in the country. It took care of his mild apnea for about 10 years before it came back with a vengeance. That is one of the BETTER cases I have heard.

Really consider that surgery like that is NOT REVERSIBLE and it CAN mess with followup CPAP effectivity if you need to go that route.

I have done CPAP and dental device.

MY preference is dental device, which is at least reversible, albeit because its often "out of pocket" it may initially appear to be more expensive than other options, and its a gamble that doesn't work for everyone.

For further discussion on dental devices, pop over to the dental sleep medicine forum section of http://www.talkaboutsleep.com

faceless041974 · Post by **faceless041974** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 6:25 pm

Are those of you who had the operation and had the apnea come back overweight at all? Just wondering.

roster · Post by **roster** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 6:51 pm

faceless041974 wrote:Are those of you who had the operation and had the apnea come back overweight at all? Just wondering.

My friend is slightly overweight.

However, I doubt you can count on: surgery + slim = longterm cure.

snork1 · Post by **snork1** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 9:52 pm

faceless041974 wrote:Are those of you who had the operation and had the apnea come back overweight at all? Just wondering.

Definitely NOT the case in my friends case. He actually got VERY skinny due to stomach cancer treatments around the time the apnea came back.

Some apnea may be fat related, but there are a LOT of cases where its simply a genetic structural issue. My ENT said no amount of weight loss would ELIMINATE MY apnea.

Of course getting down to a reasonable weight is good for all sorts of reasons, and may IMPROVE your apnea if you are coming off of morbidly obese.

CowboyDave · Post by **CowboyDave** » Thu Jan 25, 2007 9:04 am

I am 6' and 210lb, not too overweight. I was 190 at the time of my surgery, but gained some when I quit smoking.