,Airway Metrics system helps dentists quickly and easily determine the optimum treatment position for oral appliance therapy, ,Dentistry offers many opportunities to provide life-changing care. From enhancing the esthetics of a patient’s smile to restoring trauma-damaged teeth or healing infected gingiva, dentists offer treatments that improve self-esteem, function, and health. Today, more and more general practices have begun implementing another potentially life-changing service—oral appliance therapy for sleep-related breathing disorders, including obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)., ,The Airway Metrics system from Kettenbach provides clinicians with valuable subjective data for creating the best position for the device and can be used with a pharyngometer to capture objective data., ,“The pharyngometer allows us to see the collapsibility of the patient’s airway (the objective data) and the Airway Metrics system allows us to see how repositioning affects the airway,” explained Anjoo Ely, DDS, DABDSM, who has been using Airway Metrics since 2013. The system includes 2 key components—Mandibular Positioning Simulators and the Snore Screener—as well as a bite registration fork and vertical titration keys., ,You start the process by capturing the patient’s “best snore,” then use the Snore Screener to repeatedly test that snore sound with the mandible in different positions using the Mandibular Positioning Simulators. As Dr. Ely explains it, “Let me open you up and insert the bite jig. Now, give me your best snore and let’s see if this position is actually going to prevent you from snoring.”, ,By placing the patient’s upper and lower central incisors in the simulator notches, you can test over 50 mandibular positions to determine what works best for each patient. “In a nutshell, the simulators allow us to find different vertical and protrusive combinations to put the patient’s mandible in the best position to reduce snoring and create the most effective device,” said Dr. Ely., ,
, ,“[Patients are] grateful. They think that the technology has really improved and that they’re getting a top-notch device.”,– Anjoo Ely, DDS, DABDSM, , ,You’ve probably encountered new patients with an OSA oral appliance that’s not doing its job. “If a patient comes to me with a device that’s not providing maximum medical improvement, I use the titration keys to check different verticals on the existing appliance,” explained Dr. Ely. “We’re checking to see if adding some vertical will make a difference for the patient.”, ,One of the things that Dr. Ely likes best about this system is that the jigs “play really nice with our scanners. We can put some impression material on the jig, register the bite, and then go in with our scanner to capture the bite and then send it off to the lab.” Dr. Ely uses Kettenbach’s Futar D Slow to take bite registrations for OSA oral devices., ,Using the Airway Metrics system has helped minimize appointment times in Dr. Ely’s practice. “In that regard, it’s a practice builder,” she said. “It can free up my time for more patients.” Shortened appointments benefit patients as well, providing them with an effective solution more quickly. “Patients come in and I do this testing and they say, ‘Wow, I never had all of this done before,’” said Dr. Ely. “They’re grateful. They think that the technology has really improved and that they’re getting a top-notch device.”
