Phototherapy for Non-responders to Oral Appliance Therapy for Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a medical condition where a person has great difficulty with breathing, or stops breathing all together, while asleep. This is a medical condition for which one of the current standard treatments is the use of a custom made dental appliance to help hold the person's airway open while asleep so that the person does not suffocate while sleeping. However, while the majority of OSA patients are able to tolerate the use of oral appliance therapy (OAT) for OSA, some patients are incomplete responders to OAT. These patients, despite having improvement, may still have a disease index above the diagnostic threshold for OSA. Phototherapy (laser therapy) has been used as a method to stiffen the soft palate and parts of the tongue to prevent their collapse. This is a type of cold laser therapy that does not cut/ablate tissue (similar to healing laser therapies). Thi