Oral Appliance Therapy in Obstructive Sleep Apnea

This oral appliance keeps the mandible and the tongue in a protruded position. This results in an upper respiratory tract widening and/or reduced collapsibility of the upper airway, thereby preventing the upper airway collapse during sleep.

The CPAP machine delivers a stream of compressed air via a hose to a nose mask, splinting the airway (keeping it open under air pressure) so that unobstructed breathing becomes possible, reducing and/or preventing apneas and hypopneas

as a placebo, a thin (\< 1 mm), hard acrylic-resin palatal splint with only a partial palatal coverage was used