Treatment options for snoring

ResMed.com

Treatment options for your snoring depend on a number of factors, but the two key ones are these:

• Do you snore through your nose or through your throat?
• Do you snore and have obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA)?

At ResMed, we have solutions for throat snorers, as well as for throat snorers with sleep apnea. This includes both mild to moderate OSA as well as more severe cases of OSA.

Throat snorers who don’t have sleep apnea

You fall into this category if you’ve tested for sleep apnea and obtained an apnea-hypopnoea index (AHI) score of less than 5. If you don’t know what your AHI is, we strongly recommend you get screened. Otherwise, you risk adopting a solution to the wrong problem.

At ResMed, we believe one of the most efficient treatment options for throat snoring is a custom made device1,2 that simply fits in your mouth and helps keep your lower jaw forward while you sleep – this in turn helps keep the back of your throat open.

These devices go by many names but we call ours a mandibular repositioning device (MRD) and its named Narval CC™*.

Are you a nose snorer? Then MRDs are probably not for you. You’ll need to investigate options that include sprays, nose strips, chin straps and more. Visit your country’s sleep association for recommendations.

Throat snorers with mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea

If your AHI levels fall between 5 and 30, ResMed offers both the Narval MRD as well as full range of positive airway pressure (PAP) therapy options. MRDs are a first intention therapy option and a clinically-proven alternative to PAP therapy for snorers with mild to moderate OSA.3,4,5

Users tend to prefer oral appliances over CPAP, so they tend to wear them for longer periods.6 This higher ease of adoption means that they are equally as effective as CPAP.7

Throat snorers with severe OSA

If your AHI levels are over 30, your sleep physician will recommend PAP therapy as a first choice. There are different types of PAP therapy, including APAP, CPAP, and bi-level therapy. ResMed has a full range of masks, devices and accessories to make your PAP therapy as comfortable and non-intrusive as possible.

If you’ve demonstrated that you do not support PAP therapy, your sleep physician can prescribe an MRD. In fact, in the largest multilevel study of its kind, users with severe OSA who regularly wore Narval CC were just as likely to reduce their AHI levels by 50% as wearers with mild to moderate OSA.1

Other options for treating snoring include surgery and radiofrequency treatment.

References

01 Vecchierini MF & al. A custom-made mandibular repositioning device for obstructive sleep apnoea-hypopnoea syndrome: the ORCADES study. Sleep Med. 2016 Mar;19:131-40. doi: 10.1016.

02 Lim et al. Oral appliances for OSA. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2009, Issue 3.

03 Practice Parameters for the Treatment of Snoring and Obstructive Sleep Apnea with Oral Appliances: An Update for 2005, AASM report, Sleep 2006;29(2): 240-243, US Guidelines.

04 Non-CPAP therapies in obstructive sleep apnoea, ERS task force. Eur Respir J. 2011 May;37(5):1000-28, Systematic Review. Recommendations (European).

05 B. Fleury et al. OSAHS treatment with mandibular advancement oral appliance. Rev Mal Respir. 2010 Oct;27 Suppl 3:S146-56. Systematic Review.

06 Sutherland K. Oral appliance treatment for obstructive sleep apnea: an update. J Clin Sleep Med. 2014 Feb 15;10(2):215-27.

07 Vanderveken OM. Objective measurement of compliance during oral appliance therapy for sleep-disordered breathing. Thorax. 2013 Jan;68(1):91-6. doi: 10.1136.