Sleep Apnea

Who Can Be Helped by Jaw Surgery and Other Maxillofacial Surgeries?

Posted on 14. Jan, 2010 by admin in Treatments for Obstructive and Mixed Apneas

It is not yet possible to predict precisely who will be helped by these surgeries. More experience is needed with this type of surgery as a treatment for sleep apnea before such predictions can be made with assurance. Many factors may influence the outcome, including not only the structure of the skull and soft tissue, but also obesity, age, neuromuscular control of the airway, the presence of other sleep disorders, and, of course, the skill and experience of the surgical team.

Mandibular advancement is the simplest and safest of these procedures and is being used more often nationally, although its usefulness has not yet been fully established. It has been used only in a relatively small number of patients with complicated apnea. An example is one patient who had a very small jaw and a small airway opening and for whom neither UPPP nor medication had helped. In this case, surgery did not completely eliminate his apnea, but it cut it by approximately half. As with many examples of sleep apnea surgery, whether the results are successful depends on if you define “success” as complete elimination of the apnea or if you are satisfied with elimination of half of the apnea.

Among 1,000 people with obstructive apnea studied at one sleep center, about 6 percent had an obviously malformed lower jaw, and another 32 percent had a slightly short lower jaw. It is among these people that the best candidates for mandibular advancement surgery would probably be found, because their apnea is likely to arise in part from structural problems in the lower pharynx — a jaw and tongue positioned further back and lower than normal and an unusually small lower airway opening.

These complicated surgeries for sleep apnea should be planned as a team effort, involving the sleep specialist, an ENT specialist, the maxillofacial surgeon who will perform the actual mandibular surgery, and an orthodontist if teeth are to be repositioned.

The surgery itself is fairly safe if it is performed by an experienced surgeon. It is, however, performed under general anesthesia, which, as noted previously, is especially risky for people with breathing disorders.

Related posts:

1. Sleep Apnea Treatment, Jaw Surgery And Other Maxillofacial Surgeries Maxillofacial surgery is surgery on the mandible (lower jaw) and the other bones and tissue of the face. Head...
2. Treatments for Obstructive Apneas, Jaw Retainers Another type of oral device that has been tested in several laboratories and sleep clinics is a jaw retainer, also...
3. Treatments for Obstructive Apneas, Palate and Tongue Surgeries Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP) has been the most common type of surgery for sleep apnea. Under general anesthesia, a scalpel is...
4. What do you know about sleep apnea surgeries? I hate the mask (as many people do). I have severe obstructive sleep apnea. I am considering surgical options but...
5. Who Can Be Helped by a Tracheostomy ? Anyone with obstructive or mixed sleep apnea can be helped by a tracheostomy. Nowadays the people chosen for tracheostomy usually...

Tags: Jaw Surgery, Maxillofacial Surgeries