Treatment of mild obstructive sleep apnea using twin block oral appliance

Abstract

Objective: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a condition where obstruction of upper airways appears periodically while patient asleep that can be complete (apnea) or partially (hypopnea). This condition is most common on male population with obese body. A prosthodontist can try to help by providing oral appliances (OA) for patient to use while they were asleep. OA were designed to thrust mandible forward and downward so that minimalize the chance for obstruction of upper airways to occur.  Case Report: A forty years old patient was complaining about his bad sleep quality. He stated that he often awakens gasping for air while sleeping for almost 3 months, he also stated that he felt exhausted and sleepy during daytime. Patient then prompted to undergo sleep test using home sleep test device ApneaLink Air from Resmed. According to the data gathered by the device, patient was diagnosed having mild sleep apnea and then treated with OA twin block. Result:  Patient felt improvement on his sleep quality, even though home sleep test while using oral appliance had not been done.  Conclusion: Oral appliance can be used to improve patient with mild obstructive sleep apnea sleep cycle.