Let’s talk about CPAP treatment and CPAP alternative treatments.  CPAP consists of an air compressor and mask which delivers pressurized air through the nose when a person is sleeping.  This apparatus opens up the airway from the inside – as if the air were an internal splint.  The biggest problem for using this method is compliance.  Patients complain of feeling claustrophobic, finding the mask offensive or that the strap around the head causes headaches.

What is a CPAP alternative treatment?  Try looking into an oral appliance approach, called a sleep appliance.  This gently moves the lower jaw forward causing a positive change in tongue position which helps open the airway.  This CPAP alternative treatment increases breathing potential as it opens the airway passages.  Even orthodontics can be performed to make more room for the tongue and widen the arch.  Many medical physicians do not understand the airway appliance as a CPAP alternative treatment and therefore, nearly always suggest CPAP.

Physicians are just beginning to realize the advantages of this increasingly acceptable and conservative CPAP alternative treatment.  Patients made need to ask their sleep physician about an oral airway appliance which is made by a sleep dentist.  There are many advances in the dental field whereby sleep apnea can be treated with CPAP alterative treatment.  If poor sleep interferes with your daily activities like reading, staying alert in meetings, watching television or when driving, discuss it with a sleep dentist who works with your sleep physician to make the CPAP alternative treatment work.