Authors : Abhijeet Kadu, Uday Kamat, Gaurav Pratap Singh, B Jayan, Neetu Gupta
DOI : 10.18231/j.jco.2017.020
Volume : 1
Issue : 4
Year : 2017
Page No : 1-9
“Laugh and the world laughs with you, snore and you sleep alone.” Putting a social spin to this innocuous condition highlights prevalence of sleep disordered breathing amongst the population. Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS) is defined as interrupted airflow despite persistent respiratory effort. OSAS is associated with medical comorbidities such as hypertension, ischemic heart disease, pulmonary hypertension etc. The well-known signs, symptoms and craniofacial risk factors of OSAS are posterior tongue posture, hypoplastic mandible, increased hyoid distance and neck circumference. Although the gold standard for diagnosis of OSAS is overnight polysomnography, the lateral cephalogram provides crucial information about the airway dimensions. With an increase in adult population seeking treatment and a knowledge of craniofacial growth and development,
the orthodontist is at a unique vantage point wherein he/she can identify susceptible individuals. Management involves a team approach between orthodontist and pulmonologist. Orthodontic management involves oral appliances and maxillo-mandibular ortho-surgical procedures. Oral appliances are an effective and efficacious treatment modality which can provide cogent improvement. In a developing country where it might not be possible for all patients to afford expensive medical therapy, oral appliances provide a viable alternative and help reduce the economic and disease burden. This paper will describe two cases of OSAS which were managed conservatively with Oral Appliance therapy showing two different modalities of treatment. There was amelioration in the symptoms of OSAS, improvement in general health as well as a significant improvement in the quality of life.
Keywords: Mandibular advancement device, sleep apnea, snoring.