Management of OSAS: The ELIBA® Device Can Help the Patient?

Abstract

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is one of the most challenging diseases to treat in medicine. Here, the authors describe a case of OSAS treated with a lingual elevator of Balercia (ELIBA®). The patient, a forty-five-year-old Caucasian male, had a chief complaint of numerous episodes of nocturnal apnea. After several visits with specialists, a polysomnographic examination was performed, in which the patient’s apnea hypopnea index (AHI) was 30.4, and a lingual elevator was prescribed. The lingual elevator helped to keep the patient’s tongue in the correct position and prevented the tongue from reverting back to the soft tissue spaces in the mouth. After six months of treatment with the lingual elevator and dietary adjustments, the patient’s AHI decreased to 11.6. This simple yet customizable approach is a comfortable and easy option for patients to reduce night apnea episodes.

Prevalence of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome: A Single-Center Retrospective Study

“…For several years, the dentist has represented an important figure as a diagnostic sentinel, and—along with sleep medicine specialists—had a key role in its therapeutical treatment. Therefore, it is important to underline that OSAS should be addressed in a multidisciplinary way and that teams composed by different figures, such as specialists in pneumology or neurology, maxillofacial specialists, dentists, otolaryngologists and nutritionists, should treat this syndrome in the best possible way [ 21 ]. It is also important that the above-mentioned specialists know and fully understand that this condition should be addressed through an appropriate treatment plan.…”