Abstract for poster presentation:

OBSTRUCTIVE SLEEP APNOEA – ROLE OF ORTHODONTISTS

Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA) is characterized by cessation of air flow during sleep due to
an obstruction in nasopharyngeal or oropharyngeal region. It is a state-dependent condition
occurring only during sleep, leading to inadequate hours of sleep as also a deteriorated
quality of sleep. It may be caused due to many factors and many treatment modalities have
been employed – both surgical and nonsurgical.

Oral appliances (OA) have emerged as an effective alternative to positive airway pressure
(PAP), the recognized standard treatment that can be difficult for patients to tolerate. The
most commonly used OA reduces upper airway collapse by either pushing the lower jaw
forward with a mandibular advancement device (MAD) or preventing the tongue from falling
back over the airway with a tongue-retaining device (TRD) or by combining both
mechanism.

OA are typically more effective for people with mild OSA and for non-obese people but can,
for some, be effective for moderate and severe OSA. Some of the mainly used appliances
involve Oral Airway System (O2oASYS), Daytime Night-time Appliance (DNA), Thornton
Adjustable positioned – 2 (TAP), Tongue Restraining Device (TRD) and Intraoral Snoring
Therapy. Thus, the orthodontists provide a major contribution in diagnosis and proper
treatment planning for OSA.

DETAILS:

i. Name of presenter : Nimisha Nandakumar

ii. Year of study : BDS 2012 – 2017 (Intern)
iii. Name of college : Amrita School of Dentistry