Custom Oral Appliance Therapy

Custom Oral Appliance Therapy is a non-surgical treatment option for patients with snoring or obstructive sleep apnea who are appropriate candidates. The appliance is worn during sleep and is designed to gently support the jaw and tongue in a position that helps keep the airway more open during the night. 

This treatment may be recommended for patients with mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea, snoring, or those who are unable to tolerate CPAP therapy, depending on their diagnosis, medical history, and physician recommendations. 

At Meadowlark Airway & Wellness, oral appliance therapy is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Every patient has different anatomy, sleep concerns, dental health, jaw function, comfort needs, and treatment goals. Because of that, we offer multiple custom appliance options and carefully select the appliance design that is most appropriate for each individual patient. 

Rather than using the same appliance for every case, we evaluate each patient’s airway, bite, jaw joints, dental condition, sleep study findings, medical history, and lifestyle needs before making a recommendation. This allows us to choose an appliance that supports comfort, function, durability, and treatment effectiveness. 

Our goal is to find the right appliance for the right patient — not simply provide a standard device. 

Our care includes: 

  • Custom-Fabricated Appliances 

  • Multiple Appliance Options 

  • Progressive Adjustments 

  • Comfort Optimization 

  • Objective Follow-Up Testing 

  • Long-Term Monitoring 

How Myofunctional Therapy Compliments Other Treatments: 

  • Addresses Functional Patterns and compensations that May Contribute To Airway Collapse Or Instability.  

  • Improves function & coordination of the muscles of the tongue, lips, cheeks, throat, and airway 

  • Establishes healthy habits to support: nasal breathing, proper oral rest posture, efficient swallowing, airway stability & long-term treatment success.  

Myofunctional Therapy may improve outcomes when combined with:  

  • OAT: helping patients adapt more comfortably to their appliance while promoting improvement in airway-supportive muscle function 

  • CPAP Therapy: Supporting nasal breathing and improving comfort and compliance 

  • Orthodontic Treatment: Encouraging healthy oral rest postures and muscle function during and after treatment 

  • Tethered Tissue Release: helping retrain muscles and establish proper functin before and after tongue &/or lip tie release procedures. 

  • Airway Expansion Therapies: Supporting long term stability, muscle function and healthy breathing habits 

  • Patients will complete a sleep and airway evaluation, review any available sleep study results, and complete the necessary dental records to determine whether oral appliance therapy is appropriate. 

    We evaluate factors such as airway anatomy, sleep study findings, dental health, jaw joint comfort, bite relationship, clenching or grinding, nasal breathing, treatment goals, and lifestyle needs. 

  • A custom appliance recommendation is made based on the patient’s individual findings. Once the appliance is created, it is fitted, and patients are shown how to insert, remove, clean, and care for it. 

    Patients should expect a short adjustment period as the mouth, jaw, and muscles adapt to wearing the appliance during sleep. 

  • Patients return for follow-up visits to evaluate comfort, fit, jaw position, symptom changes, and appliance effectiveness. Adjustments are made gradually. 

    Long-term follow-up is recommended to monitor the teeth, bite, jaw joints, appliance condition, and sleep-related outcomes. A follow-up sleep test may also be recommended to evaluate how well the appliance is supporting nighttime breathing. 

Patient Expectations