Snoring And Oral Devices
Snoring on the whole is a lifetime problem, usually to the long suffering partner, woman or man. Snoring and its related more significant condition sleep apnoea, can add serious strain to a relationship, ruin sleep, result in expulsion of the guilty snorer to a separate bedroom or the couch affect health, worsen cardiovascular health and in the most significant of cases lead to untimely death.
Many treatments have been proposed for dealing with this problem ranging from the gold standard, a continuous positive airway pressure pump (CPAP) which takes the form of a face mask attached to a positive pressure air pump, numerous daunting and regularly unpleasant surgical techniques, jaw forward posturing devices, to the bizarre e.g. The infliction of an electrical shock on the unfortunate snorer.
One of the most thoroughly researched and successful treatments is bringing the lower jaw forward in sleep. These include joined plastic gum shields, plastic trays, acrylic jaw posturing devices, orthodontic functional appliances, postural head pillows and lots more. Basically all of these systems rely on the action of bringing the lower jaw into the "recovery position" and by doing so, advancing the mandible, tongue, and tongue base. As the tongue adopts a forward position, it has been shown that the uvula and the soft palate, that small dangly thing and the soft piece of skin at the top back of the mouth, follow the tongue forward. Both the advancement of the tongue and soft palate lead into to an opening of the airway, improving air circulation and stopping snoring, removing the obstruction being the most important cause of sleep apnea.
The snoring is far worse if the jaw and the tongue along with the soft palate drop backwards against the back of the throat under the influence of gravity. Rolling the snorer onto the side will partially overcome the gravitational pull and open the airway by the jaw and tongue moving forward and to the side.
Whilst in many cases these devices have been found to be very successful, in reality there is now a entire industry building up to supply these appliances, most have their restrictions and complications in the short and of more importance in the long term.
Loran Simon is a Director at Somnowell. Somnowell manufacture the world's first chrome cobalt oral device for use in the management of snoring and sleep apnoea.
