Patient Instructions

Monitoring Appliances

Dr. Rogers will carefully follow and guide your progress throughout your treatment. You will be seen in the office several times to ensure acceptance, comfort and effectiveness of the therapy. Instructions will be given on proper adjustment of the appliance and any areas of discomfort will be addressed. The objective will be to resolve the snoring and daytime tiredness through gently and gradually repositioning the lower jaw.

Care & Feeding of Oral Appliances

Your oral appliance is easy to care for. Each morning, simply brush it with a toothbrush and toothpaste. Rinse it well and allow it to sit in its case all day with the top open. Be sure it is up, out of the way, where no curious dogs can chew on it! Also avoid extremes of temperature, especially heat since the appliance may distort.

Two times each week, the appliance should be soaked for 15 minutes in the ultrasonic cleaning container using the cleanser tablets. This will disinfect and keep the appliance looking its best.

Examine your appliance frequently and call Dr. Rogers if you observe any broken areas.

Exercises

Very often patients find that they are unable to close their teeth completely in the morning immediately after removing the appliance. This is normal and is due to a temporary jaw joint change. This will generally resolve within 10 or 20 minutes on its own as the joint drifts back into its normal position. After 20 minutes, jaw exercises are helpful to re-establish joint position and good tooth contact. This can be accomplished by clenching the teeth together and holding for several seconds and then releasing and then repeating the “clench/release” for a minute or so. Or, you may "clench/release" on the soft plastic exercise tabs that were provided to you.

Side Effects

Most of the side effects encountered during appliance use are minor and temporary. They include tenderness to teeth, muscles and joint. Dry mouth and increased salivation is also noticed frequently. In addition, teeth will not meet properly for 10 to 20 minutes after first removing the appliance after a nights use (see exercises). Dr. Rogers will work with you to manage these occurrences and minimize any problems.

It should be noted that in many the cases, a permanent bite change will occur over the years due to a small, permanent change in jaw joint position and/or minor tooth movements due to the pressures placed by the appliance each night. It is critically important to keep up with annual evaluation visits allowing Dr. Rogers to monitor any possible changes in your bite. They are most easily managed if discovered in the early stages.

When to Call the Office

Please feel free to call the office anytime you have a concern that you feel needs personal attention by Dr. Rogers or his staff. For most instances, however, it is most convenient to email your concerns to us at info@pittsburghdentalsleepmedicine.com. We check emails often and will respond within 24 business hours or less. In this way we can quickly and easily answer any questions or suggest you schedule an appointment to make an office visit.

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