Snoring and Sleep Apnea: Exactly What are the Facts About Oral Appliances Versus CPAP?

Obstructive sleep apnea is a condition in which your breathing stops for a very brief moment during routine sleep as a result of a narrowing or blocking of the airway. Patients may sometimes be experiencing hundreds of these apnea episodes, or interruptions in breathing, through any one given night. Most people identified as having this medical problem, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), have a major problem with snoring. Snoring becomes problematic either for themselves or for a partner, spouse or another member of the family with whom they are sleeping.

There are many different popular treatments for obstructive sleep apnea sufferers to get the condition under control, including snoring and apnea episodes. Oral appliances, or OAs, open the upper airway typically by pulling up while the OSA patient inhales and exhales. This will make the airways less narrow, which reduces snoring and, purportedly, apnea episodes too. Another major treatment for OSA patients is with the use of continuous positive airway pressure machines. CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machines actually send forced air through the airways, holding them open to avoid apnea and minimizing snoring.

Obviously, there's much debate concerning the various treatments for obstructive sleep apnea and which produces the best results. In some instances, the individual may go through less apnea episodes (which is a good thing), but then experience more snoring or additional negative effects. Investigation by scientists and professionals in the medical community has been conducted, especially in the last decade, to compare the effectiveness of CPAP versus other treatments like oral appliances.

CPAP Machines At Work

Before delving into the myriad of research projects scientists have carried out with obstructive sleep apnea affected individuals and CPAP technology, you must first understand how CPAP works to get sleep apnea along with other symptoms, like snoring, under control. More often than not in sleep apnea patients, the physiological reason for snoring and apnea episodes is because of the relaxation of muscles that occurs. This relaxation causes tissues in the back of the throat along with the uvula to collapse, which ultimately restricts the passage of air. Consequently, this has an effect on your breathing during the night.

Whenever a CPAP machine is prescribed for a sleep apnea patient, he or she is given a large machine as well as a CPAP mask. What happens during the night is that the affected individual wears the mask, that is connected to the machine. The CPAP machine forces air -- via the CPAP mask -- using positive pressure that gets delivered to the airway to avoid its obstruction and improve breathing. Along with improving breathing, the CPAP mask and machine also lessens snoring.

Research on CPAP Effectiveness

The analysis conducted on CPAP machines have largely centered on their effectiveness for reducing snoring, apnea episodes along with other symptoms related to obstructive sleep apnea. When you consider the complete body of research, you may conclude the CPAP is probably the most effective remedy on the market for OSA patients. However, you will find downsides as well.

Researchers at a university in Tokyo published a study in a 2004 issue of Internal Medicine where they looked at the patient's quality of life, depressive symptoms and excessive daytime sleepiness before and after receiving treatment using a CPAP machine. Prior to treatment with CPAP, scientists discovered that patients' quality of life was significantly linked to the ratings on their self-depression scales. Following treatment, however, self-depression scales diminished appreciably as also did the excessive sleepiness scale scores. The researchers concluded that treatment of snoring and obstructive sleep apnea with CPAP improves patients' quality of life by alleviating depression.

Being treated with a CPAP machine at home also has great benefits for ones relationship with a spouse or bed partner. Researchers at a university in Chicago, Illinois, published a 2007 study in the American Academy of Sleep Medicine in which they looked at the sleep of married couples, in both the laboratory and also at home. The researchers measured both the husband's and wives' quality of life (QOL) utilizing a special self-report scale, and they also required the individuals to take a sleepiness scale.

While the husband's adjustment to receiving treatment with CPAP was positive and actually raised his QOL scores, the same was not true for the wives. Whether it was the noise from the machine or simply being conditioned to arousal, the wives' QOL scores were less than the husband's after receiving treatment with CPAP. Quite simply, the husband adjusted better to being treated with CPAP than the wives' did. However, researchers conclude that a longer follow-up period is required in further research to find out if similar effects are seen.



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