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[Treatment] SomnoDent
#1
SomnoDent
Went to see my doctor and I'm still taking the mask off at night. I have tried for the past 4 years, multiple masks and pressure ranging from 8-10. That hasn't worked. I do sleep walk on occasion and the doctor thinks it may play a role as to why I take my mask off at night. He is now suggesting SomnoDent which is sort of like a set of dentures that pulls your bottom jaw out allowing your throat to be more open.

Has anyone heard any feed back about it? Is it worth a shot?

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#2
RE: SomnoDent
(03-26-2016, 02:54 PM)nap80 Wrote: Went to see my doctor and I'm still taking the mask off at night. I have tried for the past 4 years, multiple masks and pressure ranging from 8-10. That hasn't worked. I do sleep walk on occasion and the doctor thinks it may play a role as to why I take my mask off at night. He is now suggesting SomnoDent which is sort of like a set of dentures that pulls your bottom jaw out allowing your throat to be more open.

Has anyone heard any feed back about it? Is it worth a shot?

Hi nap80, welcome to Apnea Board.

Using a "Dental Appliance" which advances the lower jaw can sometimes reduce our untreated AHI by half if our OSA is Mild, but I think it might not help as much if our untreated OSA is Moderate or Severe. So if our untreated AHI is 10 then perhaps a dental appliance may reduce it to around 5. But results vary widely, so nothing is guaranteed.

Dental appliances made by dentists tend to be very expensive, but there are relatively cheap ones which are not custom made for us, which we can place in hot water to soften and which then molds itself to our mouth/teeth. Much cheaper but less long lasting and perhaps wouldn't work as well.

If you do try a dental appliance, do not keep progressively advancing the jaw as much possible in an attempt to reduce the AHI ever lower. It doesn't help and tends to cause problems to our jaw and teeth alignment.

So I think it may help a little, and I think it can be combined with CPAP.

Might even be helpful in preventing a Full Face Mask or hybrid mask from pulling our teeth out of alignment.
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#3
RE: SomnoDent
(03-26-2016, 02:54 PM)nap80 Wrote: Went to see my doctor and I'm still taking the mask off at night. I have tried for the past 4 years, multiple masks and pressure ranging from 8-10. That hasn't worked. I do sleep walk on occasion and the doctor thinks it may play a role as to why I take my mask off at night. He is now suggesting SomnoDent which is sort of like a set of dentures that pulls your bottom jaw out allowing your throat to be more open.

Has anyone heard any feed back about it? Is it worth a shot?

It is worth a shot. I've been using the Somnodent for over 3 years now. Its very easy to use. I just throw it into a container of warm water at night, (keep it in a container of water during the day), toss in a Polident pill for 2 or 3 minutes to clean it, rinse off, and place it into mouth. It comes with kit with instruments to use for adjusting, mainly tightening, (or you could loosen it), that is, to bring lower jaw a little forward, which I've done about 8 times during the last 3 yrs. I have the dentist to check the device in an appt about once a year.

I don't think there's much difference in my AHI with or with the device. I still have my old bipap machine (Respironice Bipap System One) and my old S8 Resmed as backups, but seldom use them. With mild sleep apnea, (around 11 without a cpap) it has served me well, and is a lot less trouble. (I was not able to adapt to cpap after 10 years, and 4 machines (one which I paid for myself), and about 10 masks. So I pretty much gave up on it.
PAP Mode: VPAP-S
EPAP 8.4 IPAP 10.6 
ave AHI = .5 (so far)
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#4
RE: SomnoDent
(03-26-2016, 06:59 PM)vsheline Wrote:
(03-26-2016, 02:54 PM)nap80 Wrote: Went to see my doctor and I'm still taking the mask off at night. I have tried for the past 4 years, multiple masks and pressure ranging from 8-10. That hasn't worked. I do sleep walk on occasion and the doctor thinks it may play a role as to why I take my mask off at night. He is now suggesting SomnoDent which is sort of like a set of dentures that pulls your bottom jaw out allowing your throat to be more open.

Has anyone heard any feed back about it? Is it worth a shot?

Hi nap80, welcome to Apnea Board.

Using a "Dental Appliance" which advances the lower jaw can sometimes reduce our untreated AHI by half if our OSA is Mild, but I think it might not help as much if our untreated OSA is Moderate or Severe. So if our untreated AHI is 10 then perhaps a dental appliance may reduce it to around 5. But results vary widely, so nothing is guaranteed.

Dental appliances made by dentists tend to be very expensive, but there are relatively cheap ones which are not custom made for us, which we can place in hot water to soften and which then molds itself to our mouth/teeth. Much cheaper but less long lasting and perhaps wouldn't work as well.

If you do try a dental appliance, do not keep progressively advancing the jaw as much possible in an attempt to reduce the AHI ever lower. It doesn't help and tends to cause problems to our jaw and teeth alignment.

So I think it may help a little, and I think it can be combined with CPAP.

Might even be helpful in preventing a Full Face Mask or hybrid mask from pulling our teeth out of alignment.

It has crossed my mind that the FFM might cause, over time, some dental problems due the the pressure on teeth/gingiva. But breathing seems to outweigh any such adverse effects. I suppose keeping the mask as loose as possible but still achieving low leaks is the optimum route.
Inspired
Bigwink
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#5
RE: SomnoDent
I just started using a SomnoDent device as a supplement or backup to my CPAP therapy and it works well for me. I have mild apnea (untreated AHI ~5), but for me any apnea at all destroy restful sleep and wipe me out. I ordered the device (which was fully covered by my insurance) intending to use it as a backup, when traveling for a few days, or when I want to finish off the night or grab some extra sleep without CPAP. Lucky me, I got the device two days before the power supply on my pump died, and the SomnoDent was all I had for 9 days (while waiting for a warranty replacement on the power supply). After a couple nights of getting used to having the gear in my mouth, it was surprisingly comfortable to wear and the weirdness of my bite in the morning is quickly and easily set back to normal with some simple exercises. So, yeah, I'm a fan.
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