• The Journal of the Korean dental association
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.190-195
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• 2010

Oral appliance therapy is a simple, reversible way for improving snoring and/or obstructive sleep apnea. It may be indicated for the patients who are unable to tolerate continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) or who have potential risks for surgical intervention. Oral appliance therapy increases airway space by the providing stable anterior positioning of the mandible, pulling out tongue, lifting up soft palate, or changing the muscle activity of the genioglossus. Currently, more than 80 different types of oral appliances have been introduced for snoring and/or obstructive sleep apnea. They are classified by their characteristics such as mode of action, adjustability and material used. This article provides a detailed clinical protocol and treatment procedure for oral appliance therapy.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.21-28
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• 2014

Objective: Few studies have evaluated the personality characteristics of patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and simple snoring. We investigated the personality characteristics of OSA and simple snoring patients and compared differences in personality between the two groups using the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ). Materials and Methods: Two hundred and thirty-seven patients who were suspected to have OSA or simple snoring participated in this study. A self-questionnaire which included the EPQ was administered to all participants. All subjects underwent polysomnography in a sleep laboratory and those with an apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) ${\geq}5$ were included in the OSA group, while those with an AHI <5 were included in the simple snoring group. Results: OSA patients had significantly lower scores for Psychoticism (F=4.563, p=0.034) than simple snorers. There were no significant differences in Extraversion (F=3.029, p=0.083), Lie (F=0.398, p=0.529), or Neuroticism (F=3.367, p=0.068) scores between the two groups. In the correlation analysis of the OSA group, AHI was positively correlated with Extraversion score (r= 0.16, p=0.029) and negatively correlated with Lie score (B=-0.31, p<0.001). Using multiple stepwise linear regression analysis with the four EPQ parameter scores as dependent variables, Lie score was associated with older age (B=0.14, p<0.001) and lower AHI (B=-0.05, p<0.001), Psychoticism score was associated with higher Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI ; B=0.14, p<0.001), Neuroticism score was associated with higher PSQI (B=0.34, p=0.001) and female sex (B=3.15, p=0.003), and Extraversion score was associated with younger age (B=-0.08, p=0.020) and higher body mass index (B=0.26, p=0.023). Conclusion: This study suggests that patients with OSA are significantly less prone to psychotic personality characteristics than those with simple snoring. Among OSA patients, higher AHI was correlated with low falsehood and high extraversion tendencies.

• Journal of the Institute of Convergence Signal Processing
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.105-110
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• 2019

People sleep about one-third of their lives and their sleep time varies according to age. Adult usually sleep 8 hours a day. However, that dose not guarantee good sleep. The cause of this is due to sleep disorders like snoring and sleep apnea. In this paper, the smart pillow for detecting snoring among sleep disorders is investigated. This pillow consists of two microphones located on the left and right side of the pillow. For simple detecting, the snoring signal was converted into the pulse using a peak detection circuit. The decision of the snoring occurrence was by pulse duration. The accuracy of the snoring detection was about 97%. The research results show that the smart pillow can be use to detect the snoring during sleeping.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.463-469
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• 1996

Sonoring is caused by the repeated obstructions of versatile upper air way structure during sleep and is known as a kind of disease entity varing from simple snoring to obstructive sleep apnea syndrome(OSAS) which can cause serious cardiopulmonary complications due to its hypoxic pathophysiology. It has been reported that over 30% of middle-aged person have the problems of snoring and its accompanied symptomes and signs. Cephalometric measurements, frequently used to measure sella-nasion-subspinale(SNA) and sella-nasion-supramentale(SNB) angles, can provide the informations about the posterior airway space(PAS), the mandibular plane(MP) and the position of hyoid bone. These informations are useful in determining the therapeutic modalities of the snoring and OSAS patients. However, with conventional routine upright position, it does not represent the actual images of obstructive mechanism during sleep but only show the images of awaken normal upper airway anatomy. Therefore we have taken dual images of a routine upright lateral and a supine cephalometric view to compare both.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.75-80
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• 2014

This paper proposed a method that can automatically classify sleep apnea by using features extracted from pulse rate variability(PRV) signals induced from piezo snoring sensor for patients with obstructive sleep apnea(OSA). We have extracted eight features(NN, SDNN, RMSSD, NN10, NN50, LF, HF and LF/HF ratio) based on time and frequency analyses of PRV. Sleep apnea was classified by a linear discriminant analysis(LDA). A performance was evaluated using snore recordings from 13 patients with OSA (ages: $54.5{\pm}10.5$ years, body mass index: $26.3{\pm}2.5kg/m^2$, apnea-hypopnea index: $19.2{\pm}6.0/h$). The sensitivity and specificity were $78.9{\pm}0.9%$ and $78.9{\pm}0.9%$ for training set and $77.7{\pm}10.9%$ and $79.0{\pm}2.8%$ for test set, respectively. Our study demonstrated the feasibility of implementing a piezo snoring sensor based on a portable device as a simple and cost-effective solution for contributing to the OSA screening.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.16-24
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• 2016

Background and Objectives: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is often undiagnosed but is an important risk factor affecting the health of an individual. The level of awareness of the illness among patients with OSA is low and is not correlated with severity of the illness. This study was conducted to compare awareness of OSA symptoms and illness between patients with OSA and simple snorers. Materials and Methods: Two hundred eighty-two patients who were suspected of having OSA participated in this study. All subjects underwent overnight polysomnography. Those with an apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) ${\geq}5$ were classified as the OSA group, while those with an AHI < 5 were classified as the simple snoring group. A sleep questionnaire, which included items on awareness of the illness, OSA, and sleep symptoms, was administered to all subjects and their bed-partners. Results: Simple snorers were much more aware of their symptoms such as snoring, irregular breathing, and apnea than were patients with OSA. Bed-partners of simple snorers were also more aware of the participants' sleep symptoms than were partners of patients with OSA. However, the duration of OSA symptoms was longer in the OSA group. In the correlation analysis, the level of awareness of OSA symptoms was negatively correlated with AHI, age, body mass index, and Epworth Sleepiness Scale score. Among the sleep questionnaire and polysomnography results, only Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index was positively correlated with level of awareness of OSA symptoms. The minority of the respondents had heard about the treatment methods of continuous positive airway pressure and oral appliance and preferred them as treatment options. Conclusion: This study suggests that simple snorers are more aware of their symptoms than are patients with OSA. A higher severity of OSA, represented by a higher AHI, is correlated with lower awareness of one's OSA symptoms.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.60-67
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• 1994

Objectives: The Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is characterized by snoring, observed apnea during sleep and excessive daytime sleepiness. The overnight polysomnographic recording is used to investigate patients with possible obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. But the overnight polysomnographic recording is time consuming, expensive, and labor-intensive. Recently in diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, several simple screening tests have been suggested. Methods: This study was performed to assess the probability of application of clinical features and the degree of oxygen desaturation as a screening test for the obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. The sensitivity and specificity of the self-report of clinical features including snoring, observed apnea during sleep, excessive daytime sleepiness and insomnia were tested. And the degree of oxygen desaturation measured by oximetry in 42 subjects were compared with the overnight polysomnographic recording results. Results: In the prediction of apnea index more than 5, the sensitivity of observed apnea during sleep, snoring, excessive daytime sleepiness and insomnia were 96.8%, 93.5%, 38.7%, 25.8% and the specificity of those clinical features were 182%, 36.4%, 100%, 72.7%, respectively. In the prediction of apnea index more than 5, the sensitivity and specificity of the combination of more than three self-report clinical features were 54.8% and 90.9%. The degree of oxygen de saturation and maximal apnea duration in the group of apnea index more than 5 were significantly different from those in the group of apnea index below 5(P<0.001). And the apnea index was significantly correlated with the degree of oxygen desaturation and maximal apnea duration(P<0.001). Conclusion: These results suggest that application of clinical features alone as a screening test for the obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is inadequate because of it's high rate of false positive and false negative results. The degree of oxygen desaturation measured by oximetry is possibly applicable to screening test and follow up evaluation of treatment efficacy for the obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.

• Sleep Medicine and Psychophysiology
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.45-51
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• 2006

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) syndrome disrupts normal sleep. However, there were few studies to evaluate the asymmetric distribution, the one of the important factors of normal sleep in OSA subjects. We hypothesized that asymmetry would be broken in OSA patients. 49 male subjects with the complaint of heavy snoring were studied with polysomnography. We divided them into two groups based on the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) fifteen: 13 simple snoring group (SSN, average AHI $5.9{\pm}4.4$) and 32 OSA group (average AHI $47.3{\pm}23.9$). We compared split sleep variables between the first half and the second half of sleep within each group with paired t-test for the evaluation of asymmetry. Changes of sleep architecture of OSA were higher stage 1 sleep% (S1), total arousal index (TAI), AHI, and mean heart rate (HR) and lower stage 2 sleep% (S2), REM sleep%, and mean arterial O2 saturation (SaO2) than SSN subjects. SWS and wake time after sleep onset (WASO) were not different between two groups. In split-night analysis, OSA subjects showed higher S2, slow wave sleep% (SWS), spontaneous arousal index (SAI), and mean HR in the first half, and higher REM sleep% and mean SaO2 in the second half. Those were same pattern as in SSN subjects. Mean apnea duration and longest apnea duration were higher in the second half only in the OSA. No differences of AHI, ODI, WASO, and S1 were found between the first and the second half of sleep in both groups. TAI was higher in the first half only in the SSN. SWS and WASO seemed to be influenced sensitively by simple snoring as well as OSA. Unlike our hypothesis, asymmetric distributions of major sleep architecture variables were preserved in OSA group. Losing asymmetry of TAI might be related to pathophysiology of OSA. We need more studies that include large number of subjects in the future.

• The Journal of the Korean dental association
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.238-248
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• 2015

Sleep related breathing disorders(SRBDs) are a group of diseases accompanied by difficulties in respiration and ventilation during sleep. Central sleep apnea, obstructive sleep apnea(OSA), sleep-related hypoventilation, and hypoxemia disorder are included in this disease entity. OSA is known to be the most common SRBDs and studies show its significant correlation with general health problems including hypertension, arrhythmia, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome. The diagnostic process of OSA is composed of physical examinations of the head and neck area and also the oral cavity. Radiologic studies including cephalography, CT, MRI, and fluoroscopy assist in identifying the site of obstruction. However, polysomnography(PSG) is still considered the gold standard for the diagnosis of OSA since it offers both qualitative and quantitative recording of the events during a whole night's sleep. The dentist who is trained in sleep medicine can easily identify patients with the risk of OSA starting from simple questions and screening questionnaires. Diagnosis is the first step to treatment and considering the high rate of under-diagnosis for OSA the dentist may play a substantial role in the diagnosis and treatment of OSA which will eventually lead to the well-being of the patient as a whole person. So the objective of this article is to assist dental professionals in gaining knowledge and insight of the diagnostic measures for OSA including PSG.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.167-171
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• 2016

Purpose: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common medical disorder with serious complications if untreated. Dentists play a vital role in the early diagnosis of this condition, thereby improving patients' prognoses. The purpose of this study was to identify patients with a high risk of OSA using simple cephalometric measurements in patients receiving routine dental care. Materials and Methods: The present study was conducted on 206 patients divided into a high-risk group and a control group after answering the Berlin questionnaire. Cephalometric analysis of a digital cephalogram was performed to measure the upper airway diameter (UAD) and mandibular-to-hyoid bone distance (MP-H) by 2 observers at 2 different times. Results: Among 206 patients, 93 (45%) were included in the high-risk group and 113 (55%) were in the control group. No significant difference was present between the groups with regard to gender, and the patients ranged in age from 18 to 65 years. The UAD measurements in the high-risk group were significantly lower than in the control group, and the MP-H measurements were significantly higher in the high-risk group than in the control group. The UAD was lower in middle-aged patients in both groups. Conclusion: Our study found that the UAD was lower in individuals with a high risk of OSA. Also, we found that middle-aged individuals of both genders were more likely to develop OSA. Dentists play a vital role in diagnosing patients at a high risk for OSA via thorough clinical examinations, risk factor analyses, and simple cephalometric analyses.