Mandibular Advancement Splint

What is a MAS?

A MAS is an appliance which fits exactly to both your upper and lower teeth. It is worn while sleeping to help treat snoring and sleep apnoea. It is vitally important that a MAS is fitted by a dentist to ensure intimate fit so that you will not damage your teeth or jaws.

What is sleep apnoea?

In basic terms, a person diagnosed with sleep apnoea stops breathing for short periods during the night, reducing oxygen levels in their body. This may lead to quite harmful effects such as high blood pressure and heart disease. Most people with sleep apnoea experience a feeling of waking up tired or daytime tiredness. On a dental level, many people with sleep apnoea grind their teeth at night which can cause harm to the teeth and jaw joints. Sleep apnoea is diagnosed by a sleep physician with a sleep study, or an ENT surgeon.

How does it work?

While you are sleeping, the MAS holds your lower jaw (mandible) forwards, enlarging the airway space at the back of your throat. This aids oxygen supply when you sleeping to combat sleep apnoea and tightens the tissue in this area to combat snoring.

What about CPAP?

The main treatment for sleep apnoea has traditionally been a CPAP machine used while sleeping. This is still the gold standards treatment. However, there are more and more studies which show equivalent results for MAS devices in mild and moderate apnoea cases. MAS devices have also been shown to work well to increase effectiveness of CPAP machines by turning down the pressure of the CPAP machine which many people find unpleasant.

Importantly, studies greatly favour MAS in terms of patient comfort and compliance. Many people do not tolerate CPAP masks well and as a result end up not using them even when they should! That most people can wear a MAS with greater comfort makes it a fantastic CPAP alternative. A MAS has the advantage of portability for travels and overnight stays.

Anything else I should know?

The main possible side effect of long term MAS use is a potential to increase jaw joint pain in some people. Your dentist will assess this. The other matter to be aware of is the possibility over a long period of time causing your lower teeth to tip forwards slightly. Your dentist will assess this also and help with any changes you may see. Most MAS users do not notice any change and in fact won’t let anybody tell them to stop using it due to the benefits they feel!

What now?

Before providing you with a device to treat sleep apnoea you must first be diagnosed with sleep apnoea and be told that a MAS would be helpful for you. Please call us if you would like us to aid in a referral for this.

If you have a diagnosis of sleep apnoea or would just like to know more, please call us and arrange a free consultation to discuss your MAS options.

If you have not seen us before, it is best to book a full comprehensive examination, as we need to make sure that you are dentally healthy before making a MAS for you. This ensures the MAS does you no harm and that your MAS will fit accurately for as long as possible.