The Bfit Sleep Oral Appliance allows for full movement of the mandible during the transitions between various stages of sleep. Find out why this is important in a mandibular advancement device.
There are many appliances from which to choose for Oral Appliance Therapy (OAT) for the treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). Unfortunately, the vast majority of oral appliances are designed to simply lock a patient’s mandible forward into a static position that presents a high risk for temporomandibular joint (TMJ) issues and a high risk for changes to the bite/occlusion. If left unchecked, changes to the TMJ and bite will lead to functional and esthetic compromises for the patient’s bite and smile along with eventual reduction in treatment efficacy of such appliances when treating OSA. The team at Bfit Sleep has ventured along a different path to provide a beneficial design change to what has been the status quo for OAT design.
Lack of a locked position allows for natural movements.
The Bfit Sleep Oral Appliance has recently arrived as an FDA Cleared device that has introduced a new term in the treatment of OSA: “Dynamic Advancement”. Dynamic is defined by a process or system characterized by constant change, activity, or progress.
The Bfit Sleep Oral Appliance defines itself as a dynamic advancement oral appliance which allows full movement of the mandible during the transitions between various stages of sleep. When a patient loses muscle tone and the mandible would fall back, the Bfit Sleep Oral Appliance holds the mandible forward to reduce episodes of apnea. The forward pull is provided by elastics or by springs which are lighter than the muscles but strong enough to provide the desired forward movement when muscle tone is lost at key points of the sleep cycle. The lack of a locked position allows for natural movements to occur when muscles are active but strong enough to engage mandibular advancement when needed.
The team at Bfit Sleep reviewed results for patients treated with the Bfit Sleep Oral Appliance in a single private clinic. The study of 50 patients included both men and woman with a pretreatment range of 5 to 58 AHI. It was observed that there was an average AHI reduction of around 50% from pretreatment values with 78% of patients considered to be treated (defined as 50% reduction in AHI or an AHI of less than 5). The office that provided this data switched away completely from static mandibular advancement appliances to the Bfit Sleep Oral Appliance’s dynamic mandibular advancement because of issues with bite changes and temporomandibular joint symptoms associated with the static advancement appliances that they were previously using.
Of the 50 patients, 5 reported TMJ discomfort from which 1 of the 5 discontinued care. Of the 50 patients, 2 discontinued care due to feelings of discomfort from having an appliance on the teeth despite being successfully treated with the appliance. No patients in this group of 50 were seen to have changes in their occlusion (after 6-12 months use). “Bite correction/reset appliances” or “morning aligners” are not used with the Bfit Sleep Oral Appliance.
Comfort is Key
The goal of the Bfit Sleep Oral Appliance is to have a sustainable, long term treatment process for patients. The Bfit Sleep Oral Appliance has been designed specifically to reduce the risks of TMJ changes and bite changes that seem to be common with static mandibular advancement appliances in order to provide a sustainable treatment method for patients to manage OSA.
Read more about the Bfit Sleep device in this article, “Oral Appliance Therapy Without Rigid Fixation. Comfort=Compliance,” at https://dentalsleeppractice.com/industry-news/oral-appliance-therapy-without-rigid-fixation-comfort-compliance/.
