Another common question we get is, can any dentists make one of these mandibular advancement splints? It’s a twofold question. In fact, it’s a difficult question to answer because, yes, any dentists, any technician; any oral health therapist physically can make one. It is not very difficult dentistry.
The problem is, is that we’re actually treating a medical condition with a dental appliance. That’s where the problems start because most dentists don’t know the condition they’re actually treating. So if you go to a dentist and they’re simply going to make you a splint and tell you to adjust until you feel better, that’s not the whole story.
And it’s a much more involved process than that as far as getting a satisfactory outcome. So my answer is no, not any dentist can do it to the satisfactory outcome of what, say, CPAP can do CPAP being the gold standard, even though CPAP doesn’t have as good a compliance meaning adherence to the treatment or it’s not as accepted. It does work in everyone. However, 50 per cent of people probably won’t be using it at five years, whereas the with a mandibular advancement splint at least 80 per cent would be using it at five years.
So five years after getting it. The other advantages, of course, of oral appliance therapy is that it’s portable, it’s non-invasive, it’s much more accepted by the bed partner. And so it’s generally a more effective treatment. So pointing out here the difference between efficacy and effectiveness.
