At the Sleep Institute, our goal is to help treat those who suffer from snoring and mild to moderate sleep apnea and for those who are CPAP intolerant. We focus on oral appliance therapy to treat this serious, yet often undiagnosed medical condition.
The process is simple. First, you’ll fill out a questionnaire which allows us to better understand your sleep habits and how these habits affect your daytime activities. You can submit this questionnaire securely online prior to arriving for your first visit.
We begin with a thorough discussion of your goals and concerns. If we determine you are a candidate, we will prescribe a Home Sleep Test (HST) for you. This is an easy way to obtain a proper diagnosis, which your medical insurance company will require. Within 10 days we will receive a medical report providing us with a physician note and diagnosis.
You’ll return to our office to review these results and receive a dental and airway exam, review of your history and screening of your tongue. If you are diagnosed with having sleep apnea and want to know if your insurance will provide coverage we will submit for a pre-determination from your medical insurance company. This may take anywhere from 1-4 weeks.
Once we get response from your medical insurance company we can discuss financing options. Once you agree we’ll take dental impressions of your mouth to fabricate a custom oral appliance for you.
Within 3 weeks, you’ll return to the Sleep Institute to be fitted with your custom appliance.
The last step – a fantastic night’s sleep!
At the Sleep Institute, we conduct home sleep testing rather than in-lab testing. Home sleep testing is an easy, affordable way to obtain a proper diagnosis of sleep apnea and snoring. As the name indicates, home sleep testing is done at home, rather than an uncomfortable sleep lab which can cost up to five times more. (NOTE: Medicare policy covers in lab sleep tests only.)
Home sleep testing is an ideal way for us to determine if you have sleep apnea. This method is:
We offer a comfortable and convenient Home Sleep Test instead of you having to sleep overnight at a sleep lab. The sleep test we offer combines clinical history, anthropomorphic data and the physiological data acquired at home to detect and determine the sleep disorder and severity.
The home sleeping device has a wireless physiological recorder that acquires nocturnal data. It measures blood oxygen saturation, pulse rate, airflow, snoring levels, head movements and head positions. A board certified physician will interpret the data and provide a written report and diagnosis.
At the Sleep Institute, we use FDA-approved Oral Appliance Therapy to treat sleep apnea. Because we customize your oral appliance to fit your mouth, they are comfortable and convenient. In fact, they are similar to sports mouth guard or orthodontic retainers. An oral appliance is more attractive than other sleep treatment options, because it fits entirely inside your mouth. With it in place, you can still talk, drink fluids and move about the room.
Unlike CPAP treatment, there are no hoses, straps or headgear – and so you can easily take your oral appliance when you travel. You’ll be able to sleep in any position. And, your bed partner will more easily accept it.
We’ve found compliance to be high, because you’re more likely to use it than CPAP because it is much more comfortable.
With this simple breakthrough device!