It is estimated that there are 2.5 million people in the US that have sleep apnea. . Sleep apnea is a condition that can be life threatening and is required to be diagnosed by a sleep physician using specialized equipment that is not available everywhere
untreated sleep apnea is a cause of daytime sleepiness and bed partner disturbance. A Silent Nite SL dental appliance can be a great solution. This article describes a personal journey to treatment with a home sleep study and a dental device.
Application of sleep therapies requires diagnostic procedures that isolate and quantify the disease. Where possible the same diagnostic procedures should be used to calibrate or manage treatment.
Pulse oximetry is the non-invasive measurement of a person’s oxygen saturation, the value expressed is SpO2. The most common forms of SpO2 testing is with a sensor attached to the finger, earlobe (pediatric application is often on the child’s toe), or forehead (reflectance testing). It is important to understand that perfusion, skin pigmentation and thickness, ambient light sources and nail polish and acrylic nails all will affect the acuity of pulse oximetry or SpO2 testing.
Until the release of the Nox T3, the over riding standard for sleep diagnostics was the in lab sleep study ordered by a physician and monitored in the hospital or private lab by a sleep technologist. In the United States this care has a high cost and the study requires an overnight stay in a sleep lab which can be inconvenient.
