The crucial first step in figuring out what could be causing your sleeping problem is to have a sleep health consultation. We will go over your medical history, complete the sleep health questionnaire, and perform a clinical assessment during the appointment in order to determine what variables might be causing your poor sleep quality. It is crucial to assess a suitable course of action at this time because every patient and circumstance is different.
Our procedure is straightforward and easy to understand, with basic steps. We collaborate with primary care physicians and board-certified sleep physicians to diagnose, discuss, and provide the most lifestyle-friendly treatment alternatives. We will assist you in ascertaining the treatment-related Medical Insurance Benefits that are accessible to you.
Our objectives are to inform you about your problem, schedule a sleep test (if one hasn't been done recently), and work with your primary care physician or sleep physician. We will gather all the information required to create a personalized oral appliance for you if it is decided that this is the best course of action for treating your disease. We will walk you through every step of the process to help you better understand how it works and the goals we have set for improving the quality of your sleep.
An overnight sleep test is known medically as polysomnography (PSG). These tests can be carried out at home using advanced medical equipment that measures breathing, heart rate, oxygenation, snoring levels, and how these relate to sleep position and brain activity, or in a sleep lab under the supervision of a highly qualified medical technician. In order to begin the evaluation procedure, we can direct you to the proper board-certified sleep physician.
Additionally, we may recommend a medically certified home sleep test provider to you. These in-home sleep testing services will visit your residence to administer and show you how to use a testing apparatus properly. They will also personally help you with the test itself and the billing of your medical insurance. In addition, our office offers take-home pulse oximetry devices and Level 3 Ares Sleep units, which are approved by nearly all health insurance companies for thorough home sleep testing. These tools can be used to assess how best to manage the most successful course of therapy for you.
Testing at a sleep lab, where you are assessed by a sleep technologist while you are asleep, yields the most accurate results. In sleep labs, intervention therapy frequently enables the sleep technician to experiment with CPAP and oral appliance therapy treatment protocols to find the best settings to minimize the patient's arousals, interruptions, and fragmentation of sleep after initial testing has been assessed.
Following thorough testing, a Board Certified Sleep physician may fully evaluate the test findings and recommend the best course of action. The initial advice for OSA treatment typically involves CPAP therapy, contingent upon the severity of the sleep problem. However, the prescribing doctor will frequently recommend an alternate course of treatment using oral appliance therapy if the patient feels they cannot accept this form of treatment or if they do not think they will tolerate using the machine during a home trial.
This prescription will be forwarded to our office if oral appliance therapy is recommended as the best course of action. From this, we can attempt to produce an oral appliance with the best possible design in an effort to maximize patient health benefits. We will talk about the available options for the best appliance to employ and figure out how to properly position the lower jaw. We will assess a range of additional metrics that may enhance the efficacy of the treatment. In order to provide the most accurate prediction for the most beneficial lower jaw position, we frequently use the pharyngometer's sound wave testing in our practice.
The most ideal posture for opening the airway can be achieved by fine-tuning the lower jaw's proper alignment. Studies have indicated that the best course of treatment is not always achieved with further advancement of the lower jaw.
To maximize the patient's benefit, the "sweet spot" must be identified, where the lower jaw is shifted forward just enough and the bite is expanded just enough. Excessive forward motion or opening could be painful, unnatural, and not yield the best results.
Following a determination of the potential lower jaw best position for the appliance, a digital computer scan impression of the teeth is obtained, and the initial lower jaw position from our evaluation and testing is determined using an index.
The patient receives the finished appliance to use at home. The patient is supposed to return for a follow-up appointment after using it for a few weeks. An evaluation is conducted to find out how well they are adjusting to the appliance, whether their sense of wellbeing and level of daytime tiredness have improved, and whether their bed partner has observed any changes in their breathing or snoring while they are asleep.
Both the occurrences of gasping and choking should be decreased along with snoring. If it is found that making changes to the appliance now could help with the treatment, such changes can be made. To evaluate the effectiveness of the device, an overnight sleep test might be required after it has been used for a few more weeks. Follow-up appointments are to be scheduled on a regular basis to make sure the MAD is positioned correctly for maximum effectiveness.
We will begin the screening process by allowing you to take a quick sleep questionnaire . The results of the questionnaire will give the doctor an idea regarding the possibility of you suffering from sleep apnea. If the screening questionnaire will indicate a possibility of sleep apnea , the doctor will discuss sleep testing with you.
Take our sleep questionnaire by downloading it, filling it out, and bringing it to your consultation or sending it by email to SleepApneaCenterSD@gmail.com.