Game Changes: The future of Sleep Appliance Therapy

What does the future hold? In addition to that steady stream of new designs spoken of earlier …and ongoing research and development into the utilization of low level oxygen delivery/mechanisms for treating OSA, there’s another emerging trend/concept/awareness that has my immediate attention: the application of microchips in what I term “accountability therapy.”  

The next step toward higher percentage sleep therapy effectiveness needs to be made in the area of patient accountability. We must be able to make sure that our appliances are actually being used. Taking a sleep test to show that the appliance works when it’s worn just isn’t enough. We’re going to have to show that the patient is actually wearing the appliance – similar to what is already being done in CPAP therapy. That level of accountability promises to be a definite game changer in the field of sleep.

And talk about game changers…early prevention. Most sleep appliances today are essentially band-aids. They manage the problem of OSA but they don't prevent it. The future of sleep is active prevention and active treatment of the entire spectrum of sleep disorders.

The possibilities, as they say, are endless. Confidence in the here and now of sleep appliance therapy is a function of first embracing the fact that selecting the right appliance for your patients is never a case of one size fits all. Even when you’ve chosen what you believe to be the perfect appliance, it may still fail for a host of other reasons, e.g. inaccurate records, incomplete information, reluctance to consider combination therapy. Match the materials and technological componentry to the existing dental landscape of each individual patient….and then explore the third variable – the possibility that combined therapy may just be the “fitting” solution