Dr. Sean Rayment of Medfield Smiles provides oral appliances to effectively improve the quality of our patients’ lives. These devices are effective alternatives to other remedies or living with an undesirable condition. If you have any of the following conditions, you may be eligible to opt for appliance therapy.
Sleep Apnea
Sleep apnea is categorized by the cause of the pauses in breathing you experience during sleep: obstructive apnea if the soft tissue of the mouth and throat physically block the airway, central apnea if the brain fails to send the right signals to the muscles in charge of breathing, and complex apnea if both causes are present.
Appliance therapy is useful for treating mild and moderate cases of obstructive sleep apnea. By moving the jaw forward, this therapy prevents the soft tissue of the mouth and throat from blocking the airway. Cases that involve severe blockage of the airway, or are not entirely caused by airway obstruction, will require their conventional treatments. However, a majority of sleep apnea patients can still benefit from an oral appliance.
Snoring
Snoring is one of the most common symptoms of sleep apnea, but it does not necessarily lead to the condition. Even on its own, however, snoring can lead to you or your spouse having difficulty sleeping. If you would like relief from your snoring conditions, you can talk to a sleep physician about receiving an oral appliance. The same repositioning of the jaw that treats sleep apnea can be used on a smaller scale to overcome snoring.
Clenching and TMJ
Jaw clenching and TMJ disorder are both caused by the movement of the facial muscles in incorrect ways, and clenching is often a symptom of the disorder. While the muscular movement is present at all times, it is particularly active when you are asleep.
An oral appliance can alleviate the nighttime symptoms of TMJ disorder and jaw clenching. Treating these conditions during sleep prevents many of their oral health side effects, such as teeth grinding together and wearing themselves down. In fact, an oral appliance is often one step of the overall treatment process for clenching and TMJ.
Contact Us for Oral Appliances
Medfield Smiles offers oral appliances in Medfield, Norfolk, Westwood, and all nearby MetroWest communities. We can work with you and your various specialty doctors to help you get the appliance that is right for your particular oral health needs. For more information, call or email our practice today.