Oral Appliances for the Management of OSA -An Updated Review of the Literature

Oral appliances (OAs) are becoming increasingly recognized not only as an alternative, but also possibly as an adjunct treatment modality for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Compared to Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP), the gold standard therapy, OAs are less efficacious but are more accepted and tolerated by the patients which may in turn lead to a comparable therapeutic effectiveness. Different oral appliance designs currently exist and even more are constantly emerging. Additionally, state of the art technologies are being utilized in the fabrication of many however, all the currently available OAs employ the same mechanism of action by targeting the anatomical component involved in the pathogenesis of the disease. Furthermore, the scope of use of OAs is expanding to encompass more than just the dentate patients but to also include edentulous patients.For OA patients, the dentist is a member of an interdisciplinary team managing OSA and constant communication and follow up with the sleep physician and other team members is necessary for disease management.

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