Welcome back to Good Day Stateline.
We are hanging out at Dreier Family Dental again with Dr.
Dryer and Cara. Hi, guys. Hello.
Thanks for having us.
Tonight,
we want to
talk about CPAP machines and what's been going on with them.
So we got to know what to see. Yeah, of course.
So last time we were talking about sleep
apnea and treatment options that are available
we want to talk about
kind of the conventional treatment
that there always has been,
and that is CPAP,
continuous positive air pressure is what that stands for.
I know a lot of
everybody is kind of seeing one of those maps,
you know, somebody that uses one of those.
It's a match that goes on your face.
There's a hose that goes down to the machine
and it is continually pumping air into your lungs
to inflate your body, you know,
so you're breathing well,
having oxygen throughout the course of the night.
So that's
kind of a conventional treatment and what people are
having effect now because of the recall. Yeah.
So tell us a little bit about the recall.
Yeah.
So back in July of 20, 21, there was a large CPAP
recall affecting the users of the Philips brand.
So there is two main CPAP makers, Philips
and ResMed, and Philips had the huge recall.
And what's happening with that is in the machine,
the foam is breaking down and degrading, releasing
toxic gases and the foam particles
that the patients are now breathing.
And so that's affecting a lot of the users
who previously had our or new patients
trying to get one are being on a waiting list.
So obviously that can create a problem. Yes, right.
Because we talk about how sleep apnea is
really, really serious.
And so not being able to treat it
with conventional treatment, you got to do something else.
Absolutely. So tell us what that is.
Yeah.
So the next treatment that, you know, the treatment
that we offer here in
our office is what's called the oral appliance therapy
Basically, it's a mouth guard, if you will, that helps
bring the lower jaw forward,
which brings this forward as well as the airway open.
So a patient is able to breathe on their own
without having to be, you know,
strapped through a machine and plugged into the wall.
Yeah.
Well, even just looking at the two things right here, I mean,
I would think that.
Yeah.
And we do have a lot of patients that do use the oral appliance
for traveling and things like that.
Instead of using the C-pap machine,
it can just be more convenient not having to check it
and things like that.
So and that's newer,
just not just to you, but to everyone, right?
Yeah, absolutely.
It's been around for a while.
I mean, it's not a new treatment,
but it's
definitely coming more into play now because of the recall.
Now, that being said,
the most severe cases of sleep apnea
and oral patients may not be the appropriate treatment.
So that's where CPAP
definitely still has its place in treatment of sleep apnea,
and that's going to be those more severe cases.
But for those patients out of the mild to moderate
range and oral clients is a really great option.
Yeah, or patients
who have had CPAP therapy and they just can't tolerate it.
I mean, you find so many patients
who do try this and tap and it works great for them.
But then there's some patients
who try it and they just can't wear it.
So is the oral therapy treatment something that you would only
find better than?
Yeah.
So dentists definitely do make these appliances.
They are
you know,
sleep physicians are starting to get more and understanding
that an oral finds is a great option as well,
where previously it was
mainly just pushing CPAP and BiPAP as well.
But yes, an oral appliance is definitely
something that your dentist is going to help
you get because of it
being with the oral for the little cavities,
making something fit your mouth and get comfortable with them.
And so you find somebody that
a little more personalized.
Absolutely. It is perfect.
I mean, it's perfect fit perfectly just for the patient.
So it's scanned.
We have a digital scanner
that makes a perfect 3-D copy of your mouth,
and so the appliance will fit you.
And just so
if somebody thinks this might be for me,
how do they get everything started?
Yeah, so they will definitely contact us that way.
We could set them up to even take the sleep study.
And then if we find they have it and it is something
that we are going to treat them for,
we will use our digital scanner to take those impressions
get that off to the lab and get a better for them.
So how do we get in contact with them? Yeah.
So Southern Wisconsin Sleep Solutions is, is our city
that we're doing our oral appliances through
you can find us online or you can also find us that
Janesville family dentist. And that's our main page