New guidelines for Treatment of Sleep Apnea and Snoring have been released by the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine and American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

I am glad to report the new guidelines are essentially the same as my office guidelines have been for 30 years of treating sleep apnea and snoring.  In fact these are almost identical to my guidelines when I was a visiting Assistant Professor at Rush Medical School Sleep Disorder Service in 1985.

These are basically the same guidelines that I used along with the other 19 charter and founding members of the Sleep Disorder Dental Society in 1991.  The Sleep Disorder Dental Society later became the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine

The new guidelines were published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine

http://www.aasmnet.org/Resources/clinicalguidelines/Oral_appliance-OSA.pdf

The discourage use of over the counter appliances and support the use of custom appliances.

It is critically important for patients to do follow-up visits with their sleep physicians and dentists.