Benefits of the DNA Appliance
The DNA Appliance (Daytime/Nighttime Appliance) is different from most sleep apnea treatments because it’s focused not just on resolving the symptoms, but actually seeking to cure the causes of sleep apnea. Most oral appliances just try to hold your airway open while you’re wearing the appliance. But the DNA appliance tries to reshape your airway so that you can avoid sleep apnea, even when you’re not wearing the appliance.
This fundamentally different approach to sleep apnea offers many benefits, such as:
- Long-term (possibly permanent) results
- Correction of bite problems
- Resolution of TMJ symptoms
- Teeth straightening
- Reshaping the profile
- Improved nasal breathing
- Elimination of nasal snoring
These benefits come as a direct result of DNA’s focus on the teeth and jaws as a treatable cause of sleep apnea. The process of reshaping the jaws and moving the teeth impacts your appearance and makes more room for proper breathing.
The DNA Appliance can even improve snoring and sleep apnea related to the nose, which most sleep appliances can’t do.
Why the DNA Appliance Works
Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when the airway becomes constricted. This is partly because of the position of the jaw during sleep. Since the jaw supports the airway, repositioning the jaw helps the jaw stay open. That’s the focus of most sleep apnea appliances.
But the DNA appliance asks why the airway is even susceptible to collapse in the first place. For many people, the answer is that the upper and lower jaws developed in such a way that the airway was constricted. This developmental problem can be corrected in children using the Healthy Start method, but for adults it takes a different approach. The DNA Appliance exerts force over time to reactivate the body’s developmental mechanisms and expand your jaw. In the process, it also opens up your airway, which will reduce the severity of your sleep apnea, and may even cure it.
Reshaping the jaw allows more room for your teeth, which can be straightened by the DNA appliance just as they can be straightened with regular orthodontics. And in the process of reshaping your jaw, the DNA appliance can improve your profile, addressing cosmetic complaints like a receding jaw.
And because your upper jaw is the floor of your nasal cavity, reshaping your upper jaw is also reshaping your nasal cavity. With a wider nasal cavity, you can experience better nasal breathing and may even resolve snoring caused by your nose.
A Removable Oral Appliance
The DNA Appliance is a custom-crafted removable appliance designed to reshape your jaw. It has midline screws that apply sideways force to your jaws, helping to expand them. Wearing an upper and lower appliance helps to create force that can help the lower jaw move forward.
You’ll wear the DNA Appliance for as long as you can manage, at least 16 hours a day. Remove it only for eating and cleaning your teeth. Depending on your case, you will wear the DNA Appliance for 8-12 months.
Learn if DNA Appliance in Columbus, OH is Right For You
Not everyone with sleep apnea is a good candidate for the DNA Appliance, but for some people it isn’t just a treatment for sleep apnea, it’s a cure. To learn whether the DNA Appliance is right for you, please call (614) 848-5001 today for an appointment with Columbus, OH sleep dentist Dr. Mike Firouzian at Firouzian Dentistry.
