Dr. Michael Grandner

It's a blunt instrument.

If your airway wants to close, you blow enough air in there, it won't be able to close.

But for some people, it's too uncomfortable or whatever.

So there's other approaches.

The one I tend to use the most, especially with athletes who are often presenting with more mild to moderate sleep apnea anyway, are what are called mandibular advancement devices.

It's essentially a retainer you wear at night.

Mandibular, like your mandible advancement.

So essentially, it's a retainer that pushes your jaw forward.

And in a nutshell, that's all it is.

There's obviously a science behind it, but what it does is it creates a little muscle tone here, even when you're trying to rest.

So usually that's not a good thing, but it creates not enough muscle tone to keep you awake, but enough muscle tone to keep this part of your airway open a little more than it normally would be.

And for a lot of people with especially more mild sleep-related breathing issues, it does the trick.

That's all it takes to knock out at least...

enough of those events so that you don't end up noticing it anymore.

And you don't have to plug it in.

You don't have to switch out your hose every couple months.

Like it's a little easier.

You do have to get it adjusted.

And as your jaw remodels, you might have to do some adjustments.

You do it with a... There's a whole field called sleep dentistry.