Abstract
A sleep apnea syndrome (SAS) is one of the most common diseases. The respiration of SAS patients stops in sleeping, and it causes many diseases. In the USA, the position of dentists on SAS has been established, and dentists have cooperated with medical doctors. In Japan, however, SAS is almost unknown among dentists. So, I report about a dental approach to SAS, and I hope the understanding of SAS will be deepened among dentists.
One of dentists' roles on SAS is to diagnose craniomandibular abnormality of SAS patients with lateral cephalograms. SAS patients have (1) dolico facial pattern (long face), (2) low positioned hyoid bone, (3) normal positioned maxilla and retruded mandible, (4) long soft palate and (5) narrow airway, and sometimes have tonsils and/or adenoids.
The other dentist's role on SAS is to treat with oral appliances (OA) . There are two types of OA; one is the sleep splints type and the other is the tongue retaining device (TRD) type. A purpose of OA is to advance the mandible and the tongue, and to expand the airway of SAS patients. However the mechanism, the indication, and the quantities of advancement are not clear. So we will continue studies on OA about these points as we have done.
