Don't Want Surgery? Try Snoring Oral Appliance

Snoring has been linked to some life-threatening illnesses like hypertension, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular diseases. Many studies have reached to similar conclusions. Researchers have associated sleep and oxygen deprivation in snoring to these illnesses. Snoring also has its anti-social impacts and could aggravate an already shaky relationship.

The snoring sound is produced by the flapping of the soft tissues in the air passage. The factors that cause snoring are as simple as a cold and relaxed neck muscles during the night or such anatomical abnormalities as enlarged tonsils and adenoids, or thicker soft palate. The tongue sometimes plays a role in snoring especially in, but not limited to, older people in which the tongue becomes soft and flabby and tends to fall backwards in sleeping positions. In this case, you might need a snoring oral appliance.

A snoring oral appliance is the use of a device (like an orthodontic retainer) fitted in a patient's mouth and pushes the lower jaw so that the air passage is widened or opened. Snoring oral appliances come in varying designs but all are designed for a certain purpose and that is to open the air passage to facilitate better breathing at night.

A snoring oral appliance usually consists of two formings and is inserted into the back of the mouth holding the upper and lower jaw. Other snoring oral appliance works by gently pushing the lower jaw forward to create a wider opening and avoid obstructions. There is a type of snoring oral appliance that has a tongue sleeve that holds the tongue and sucks it to a position that it unblocks the throat opening.

Another type of oral snoring appliance works by actually moving all that contribute to snoring: the lower jaw, tongue, soft palate, and hyoid bone to a position that creates a wider opening to improve breathing. As old as snoring itself, the principle used in snoring oral appliance came from a 1930 patent of the first snoring oral appliance that kept the lower jaw forward to open the airway. Still used in selected cases today, the Tongue Retaining Device was first developed in 1980.

Since a snoring oral appliance is now widely used in the treatment of snoring and sleep apnea, the medical society is looking forward to more practitioners to provide adept services. The snoring oral appliance is more personalized and easily tolerated by patients because it is worn just like an orthodontic retainer or mouth guard. The snoring oral device, in most cases, can provide relief and treat snoring and sleep apnea. However, in severe cases, a patient might want to opt for other types of treatment such as homeopathic remedies or surgery.