Sleep Apnea – A Sleeping Epidemic

… called a Thornton Adjustable Positioner, which is a brand name for a mandibular advancement appliance you wear like a mouth guard. My dentist had to take molds of my upper and lower teeth, then sent the molds to the company, who made the appliance to fit over my teeth at night. The two pieces hook together, and you can adjust it to pull your lower jaw forward when you sleep, which opens your airway and alleviates sleep apnea.

Anyway – turns out that the device, over the years, has pushed my front lower teeth forward almost a half an inch, so now I have a severe underbite. It has totally changed the bite pattern in my mouth so that now my back teeth don’t even touch or come together at all.

I went to an orthodontist who said that the appliance has caused this problem, and it’s going to take 6,000 dollars worth of orthodontia (braces) and 18 months to solve it.

There was no warning about this problem from the TAP maker. Should I get a lawyer and try to sue them for the
cost of the braces? My orthodontist said he would have NEVER offered these appliances, because even when they first came out, he foresaw that these kinds of problems were going to occur. Wish I had known him back then, but…

Yes, you can sue for personal damages. At the least, they would have to pay for the medical bills. You could probaly get alot more aswell. Get yourself a good lawyer though

For those of us with sleep apnea its very hard to obtain info on new apnea products.

I have Sleep Apnea, but I depend on my Dr., who also has Sleep Apnea, to suggest what masks to use. We just got done fitting me for a new mask and after 9 years I am finally getting a new machine, with warm air mist. Here is the web link the national sleep apnea organization. They have a forum that can possibly answer any specific questions you may have.
http://www.sleepapnea.org/
And here is the google search.
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGIH,GGIH:2006-46,GGIH:en&q=sleep+apnea

My brother has been prescribed the CPAP and can’t tell much difference in his sleep. He is due to go for a checkup to the sleep clinic and doesn’t want to tell them this because he’s afraid they will make him go through another $1000 worth of sleep tests to adjust settings or something.

So if he can make the CPAP thing work better without having to tell the docs, it will help his health and checking account. Anybody know about this?

Thanks =D

Some doctors will just up the pressure based on the symptoms. They can also use what is called an autopap. The cpap sense what the body needs and give the proper pressure. That can be his nightly machine or the DME company can loan it for a week to see what the setting should be.

Also if he just started, it may take a few weeks to a month to see any results.

I KNOW THAT YOU DO NOT WANT TO HEAR THIS:

>>>>>> BUT YOU NEED TO READ ALL THESE ANSWERS !!!!<<<<<<<

I HAD INSURANCE !!! BUT DID NOT GET PROPER SLEEP TREATMENT UNTIL LAST YEAR. I AM NOW 61 YEARS OLD AND I SWEAR TO GOD I FEEL LIKE I HAVE REGAINED BACK OVER 40 YEARS OF MY LIFE!

I APPARENTLY NEVER KNEW WHAT SLEEP WAS!

DO WHATEVER YOU CAN TO GO TO A SLEEP CLINIC, BEG WHATEVER YOU CAN IF YOU HAVE APNEA, AND YOU GET A CPAP YOU WILL SHORTLY BE A NEW YOU!!!

FOLLOW THE DOCTORS DIRECTIONS ORDERS, AND ALL SORTS OF WONDERFUL THINGS WILL HAPPEN!

IT IS POSSIBLE THAT A CPAP COMPANY HAS A PROGRAM, MY DAUGHTER IS ON A MEDICAL PLAN FROM THE MANUFACTURER FOR FREE AS SHE DOES MOSTLY CHARITY WORK FOR OTHERS. ONLY A DOCTOR WILL KNOW THIS, OR SALESMAN OF A CPAP MACHINE , AT ANY RATE IT WOULD CENTER AROUND A CLINIC.

I AM POSITIVE THAT THE CLINIC WILL WORK OUT SOMETHING REASONABLE. BUT THE RETAIL COST OF THE MACHINE IS $2000.00 AND THAT OVERNIGHT STAY CAN COST JUST ABOUT WHATEVER THEY WANT IT TO. IF A PERSON HAS INSURANCE THEY MAKE IT 2 NIGHTS AND A TOTAL COST OF SAY $15,000.00+ TO THE INSURANCE COMPANY FOR THE CLINIC. WITHOUT INSURANCE THEY CAN DO IT IN ONE NIGHT AT A COST OF FROM NOTHING TO SOME NOMINAL FEE PAID OVER TIME WORKED OUT AHEAD OF TIME.

MAIN THING IS SEE A DOCTOR WITH A CLINIC AS SOON AS POSSIBLE FOR ADVISE! IT WILL BE THE BEST THING YOU WILL EVER DO FOR YOURSELF!

JUST ASK AT THE CLINIC NEAREST YOU!

I SWEAR YOU WILL NEVER REGRET IT! AND IF YOU ARE MARRIED, AND OLDER I KNOW YOUR WIFE WILL GET THE POINT!

GOOD LUCK AND GOOD DREAMS,

APS

I was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea nearly 10 years (I’m 37 now), and I’m not, nor have I ever been, overweight or obese. I’m very active and exercise almost daily. I’ve been using CPAP since I was first diagnosed. There may be some surgical options and I’m meeting my ENT specialist soon. Has anybody completely gotten rid of sleep apnea with surgery? If so, how? What surgery?

Surgery only works if they know exactly where the obstruction is. If it is your tonsils or nasal polyps, surgery works well. If it is farther down the respiratory track, surgery works less than 50 percent of the time. Some people just have floppy airways.

Really get a few opinions of surgery before making any discussions. Go to sleepnet.com. These message boards are strictly for sleep apnea.

Related Blogs

• Nasal Polyps – Causes, Symptoms, Pictures, Treatment and Surgery

I have been diagnosed with both central and obstructive sleep apnea.

My sleep studies both showed that I do got 0.00% delta sleep, which I understand is the deepest sleep, and allows the brain to do its regulation and restoration of necessary functions, such as sending growth hormone into the body.

Is there any way to know why I am not making the effort to breathe at certain times in the night?

I am about to go on C-PAP, but am not convinced that I will get delta sleep.

Thank you for any helpful responses-

Hello Flam!

Here is what I learned about central sleep apnea:

A person with central apnea has issues with the respiratory center from the brain. The respiratory center controls the chest muscles to make breathing movements.

When the respiratory center stops working during sleep, then your breathing stops, too. The brain does not respond to the changes of the respiratory gas levels from the blood (oxygen and carbon dioxide).

In central apnea, you stop breathing in sleep for a period of time (at least 10 seconds), but there is no effort to breathe at all like in obstructive sleep apnea. Therefore snoring is not present in central apnea.

But I understand you have a mixed sleep apnea, so you have obstructive apnea symptoms, too. Snoring is one of the symptoms.

The cause of central apnea is unknown, but there are risk factors that can influence the development, such as:

* age
* gender
* sleep state
* thyroid disease
* neurological or cardiological abnormalities

I hope it helps!

Imbedded “comfort band” and SoftGel technology

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In this edition of the Innovations in Facial Plastic Surgery update, facial plastic surgery Dr D.J. Verret talks about snoring, OSA (obstructive sleep apnea), and methods for treatment including septoplasty, rhinoplasty, LAUP, UPPP, tongue advancement, and sleep studies. Dr. Verret’s office is in the north Dallas suburb of Plano, TX in the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area.

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Sleepnet MiniMe Pediatric Nasal CPAP Mask

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An estimated 40 million Americans are affected by a sleep disorder, many of whom are undiagnosed.

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