Sleep Apnea Mouthpiece

Snoring is one of the most common signs of sleep apnea, but you may also suffer from:

• Daytime fatigue

• Headaches

• Irritability and mood swings

• Forgetfulness
  
  

While these symptoms indicate sleep apnea if your CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine or another mouthpiece is collecting dust in the closet, you may benefit from one of Dr. Keropian’s patented sleep apnea mouthpieces.

You don’t need to keep your family up all night with your snoring, or suffer the long-lasting negative impact that insufficient sleep has on your health.

We have dedicated our practice to creating innovative and customized solutions for sleep apnea, temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain, and related symptoms. He invented the Full Breath Solution to help patients like you get better sleep.

A sleep apnea mouthpiece is a night guard that holds your soft tissue out of your airway. When that soft tissue partially or totally obstructs your airway while you sleep, it leads to snoring and sleep apnea. However, not all sleep apnea mouthpieces are created equal.

Our patented sleep apnea mouthpieces are highly customizable. They’re moldable to fit your teeth and gums precisely, and they also have adjustable wire tails that hold your tongue in place, so it doesn’t relax into your throat and block your airway.

We also offers a mouthpiece that combines with a compressed oxygen machine to provide a steady stream of oxygen while you sleep, to both keep your airway open and enhance your body’s nighttime restoration and healing processes. 

While CPAP machines are the number one treatment for sleep apnea, 60-80% of users reject the treatment.

Many dentists recommend mouthpieces that fit over the upper and lower jaw and push your jaw forward to drag your tongue away from your airway. Not only are these appliances uncomfortable, but they only reduce your blockage, which is clinically referred to as the Apnea-Hypopnea Index, by 42%.

Our customizable mouthpieces are more comfortable and effective than other sleep apnea devices on the market. Our mouthpiece are smaller and gently depress your tongue instead of pulling your jaw out of its normal position, which is sometimes called a bite.

Perhaps most importantly, all of these benefits mean that you’ll actually use the mouthpiece. Far too often, we see patients who have CPAP machines or other mouthpieces but don’t use them. Because you’ll use our mouthpiece, you can count on your sleep apnea symptoms to lessen, so you get better, more restorative sleep.

Call Full Breath Center of Beverly Hills or make an appointment online today to learn more about our patented mouthpieces and customized sleep apnea solutions.

Unlike sleep apnea where you have obstruction, apnea, then arousal, UARS patients typically have mostly obstructions and then arousals. As mentioned previously, all UARS patients have some form of fatigue, almost all state that they are “light sleepers,” and almost invariably, they don’t like to sleep on their backs. In some cases, they actually can’t. Some people attribute their poor quality sleep to insomnia, stress or working too much. Due to repetitive arousals at night, especially during the deeper levels of sleep, one is unable to get the required deep, restorative sleep that one needs to feel refreshed in the morning. In most cases, the anatomic reason for this collapse is the tongue. There are many reasons for the tongue to cause obstruction including being too large or being overweight. But once it occurs, the only thing you can do is to wake up.   

In deeper levels of sleep, especially during REM sleep, the normal protective layers of muscle tone that keeps your airway open during inspiration diminishes. So, if your airway is normal to begin with and you take a deep breath in, a vacuum-like pressure is set up and the back of your tongue can fall back completely. 

When awake, you’re fine, but once you start to fall asleep, the tongue falls back and you wake up, either fully or subconsciously. This is why so many people can’t fall asleep on their backs and therefore, have unconsciously trained themselves to roll over to their side or their stomach where the tongue collapse is less likely, although it can still happen. This can happen 10, 20 or 30 times every hour preventing you from sustaining deep sleep. You may realize that you are waking up sometimes, but the vast majority of arousals are subconscious. If this happens for a few nights in a row and you return to your normal sleep habits, you’re fine. But if it occurs continuously for months or years, then certain events can happen. 

Due to repetitive arousals, your body goes into almost a chronic state of low-grade stress. Think of what would happen if somebody poked you with their finger every few minutes while you tried to sleep for 6 months straight. Think about how you would feel the next morning. Think about how you would feel after months or years of inefficient sleep. You would feel tired, groggy with no motivation to do anything, have focus or concentration problems, or, you could feel depressed. 

 In general, UARS is treated like sleep apnea. In general, the options are nasal breathing optimization, dental appliances, CPAP, or surgery, as a last resort.