I know we have a few CPAP users here. Is anyone using an oral dental device such as SomnoMed?

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never do yesterday or today what you can put off til tomorrow or next year.

I’m a lifelong mouth breather thanks to a youth filled with sinus infections. CPAP mask only for me.

My brother and I talked about this same topic the last time saw him back in January. Since he travels a lot, and various countries have different electric systems and thus require different adaptors (and in some places electricity is not constant), it makes a lot more sense for him. He had a lot of good things to say about it.

However, the problems he has includes that whenever he has dental work done and it changes the topography of his dental surfaces, he has to have a new device made as it no longer fits properly. He also stated that with continued use it has caused his jaw to protrude more and thus it is more difficult for him to bring his back teeth together. Both of us have overbites; the device is apparently slowly fixing his but he is nearly 60 years old now!

If there is anything else he said (and I remember it), I'll either modify this post or post again.

Diana

I have too much central apnea for that kind of thing to help. CPAP fixes that too,

Wife has been using a dental device for at least a decade for her apnea. She couldn't tolerate the CPAP. I had read about the devices, and she had asked her dentist about it. But he had never heard of them! Eventually he read up on them and she got one. I think it's called a Tap-3, or something like that. Basically it's a two piece device, one goes over the upper teeth, the other over the lower. They connect together, so when she has it in, she can't open her jaw completely. But it forces her jaw into a position that keeps the airway more open.

It has definitely cut back on the snoring, but not 100%. She still snores, though not as loud or as often. The first couple of years, she had to have it adjusted every few months until it was just right. The first device lasted maybe 6 or 7 years before it started to need to be replaced. She'll probably be due for a new one in a couple of years.

I was diagnosed with apnea when i was 40 or 50 pounds over weight. I couldn't bear the mask—post-nasal drip made me take it on and off several times before i even fell asleep. I did get one of the dental devices after giving up on the mask. I don't know how effective it was. When i went for my second test the technicion kept coming into the room and waking me up to take my device and adjust it to push my lower jaw out even further. I think they decided it wasn't helping that much, but I kept using it for a while until i started finding the lower part somewhere under the covers in the morning. Don't know if it fell out or if I took it out in my sleep. I threw it away finally and in the meantime lost 40 pounds and felt like i was sleeping okay just sleeping with pillows behind me so I was almost upright.
I'm still alive.

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And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once.
—Friedrich Nietzsche
Western Massachusetts

I used a SomnoMed device for about 5 years. It worked great. I then gained a few more pounds and "graduated" up to a CPAP. If you can use a SomnoMed with improvement in your apnea, I highly recommend it, as does my wife.

I'm steering towards the SomnoMed device in spite of the price. Got a couple friends that are happy with it as well. One of them uses a re-align device in the AM for 10 mins or so.

I tried a CPAP, miserable. I'm about 10 lbs over and was told moderate apnea when I was 20 over.
Tried a toss away device. It was OK, but not really fitted to my narrow jaw.

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!#$@@$#!

never do yesterday or today what you can put off til tomorrow or next year.

Im sure weight is a big component -- but My dad was 5"8" & 145 his entire life... always snored like a train. Had a cpap later in life, helped a ton.

I got one about 10 years ago... I was sleepy at 10 am and 3 pm no matter what I did. magic. No problems with just a nose pillow one. I have a really small throat? Cant open my mouth very wide.

Wife snores, bought an adjustable bed... helps some... but she prob needs more. No way in hell she can take a mask or mouth guard... bad sniuses.

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Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.

I’ve been using a cpap for the past 15 or so years. Started with a mask, which I could barely tolerate, so off it came during the night. Then the cpap stood idle for awhile. Finally changed to a nose pillow and it did wonders.
I think those mechanical devices are ok for people with minimal apnea, but are dangerous for anyone with moderate or heavy sleep apnea. It’s not just the snoring. That’s just a symptom. There’s a lot of stuff going on when you have sleep apnea that is dangerous to your health. Studies have shown that people with untreated sleep apnea have other related health problems and a shorter lifespan.