Oral Appliances

Oral appliances can sometimes be the key to better sleep.

Emory Healthcare Sleep Center partners with dentists at Sleep Apnea & Snoring Solutions and Sleep Better Georgia who provide oral appliances for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). An oral appliance is a mouthpiece you wear while sleeping. It fits over your teeth like an orthodontic retainer.

Oral appliances work by gently pulling the jaw or tongue forward. This prevents your tongue from blocking your airway so you can breathe. A sleep dentist custom-fits an oral appliance to your mouth. It can be one piece or two pieces.

Some advantages of oral appliances are that they are:

You may have some mild side effects when you first use an oral appliance. These can include:

These side effects typically go away after a few weeks.

Oral appliances are a long-term solution for OSA, and you’ll have regular follow-up visits with your sleep dentist. They’ll assess your comfort and adjust the device as necessary.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved oral appliances for sleep apnea treatment. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends oral appliances for people who can’t use positive airway pressure (PAP) treatment for OSA.

Oral appliances are almost as effective as continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy for mild to moderate sleep apnea.

Once fitted with Oral appliance therapy we do a repeat sleep study on the appliance to make sure your sleep apnea is adequately treated.