Four novel prosthodontic methods for managing upper airway resistance syndrome: An investigative analysis revealing the efficacy of the new nasopharyngeal aperture guard appliance

Abstract

Nasopharyngeal aperture guard, the novel method stated in this article is the better modality for managing obstructive sleep apnea, among the five different appliance therapies.

Treatment of upper airway resistance syndrome in adults: Where do we stand?

“…From the 17 articles analyzed, 4 were about CPAP treatment [1,23,24,25] , 1 about drug treatment [26] , 1 about CPAP and surgery [27] , 1 was about rapid palatal expansion [28] , 4 about surgery [22–32] , 5 about oral device treatment [33–37] and 1 about external nasal device [38] . The definition of UARS also varied.…”

“…Other studies only considered objective parameters from sleep study. The polysomnographic parameters considered were AHI less than 5–15 events/hour (10 studies) [24,25,27,28,31,32,34,35,37,38] , RDI<5–10 events/hour (3 studies) [29,30,33] , RDI>5 events/hour (2 studies) [31,35] , Pes more negative than 10 or 20 mmH 2 O (8 studies) [1,23,24,27,29,30,33,35] , total arousal index (TAI)>5–15 events/hour (7 studies) [1,24,25,33,34,35,38] , the presence of excessive daytime sleepiness or fatigue or snoring (9 studies) [22,25,26,29,30,32,33,36,38] and presence of RERA or flow limitation (3 studies). [25,27,28] …”

“…Oral devices increase upper airway dimensions and are often indicated for mild SBD. There are some case reports [33–36] and a prospective study [39] published about oral device as UARS treatment. Some authors noticed polysomnographic differences, such as a decrease in the total arousal index (TAI) [33,34,37] , a less negative mean Pes [33,34] , an improvement in sleep efficiency [37] and lower oxygen saturation [37] .…”

“…Other types of oral devices besides the mandibular advancement device were also published as case reports but the study did not report clinical or polysomnographic changes pre- and post-treatment [36] .…”