ProSomnus Inc, a developer of medical devices for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), announced the results of a retrospective study demonstrating the efficacy of precision oral appliance therapy (OAT) compared to traditional OAT for the treatment of OSA. 

The study indicates that precision oral appliances by ProSomnus appear to be more efficacious than traditional oral appliances for all severities of OSA. Shouresh Charkhandeh, DDS, shared the data in a poster presentation at the European Respiratory Society and European Sleep Research Society’s Sleep and Breathing 2023 Conference, held from April 20 to 22 in Prague, Czech Republic.

In the study, researchers sought to determine whether precision OAT has a different efficacy than traditional OAT. They reviewed the published literature and abstracts presented at scientific meetings that evaluated commercial oral appliances, stratified data by OSA severity, and defined efficacy as a residual apnea-hypopnea index less than 10 h-1. Fifteen sources were identified for mild to moderate OSA, and 12 were identified for severe OSA. The total pooled sample size was 1,641 patients with OSA.

Key findings from the study include:

  • Precision OAT was efficacious in 100% of individuals with mild OSA, while traditional OAT was efficacious in 85%.
  • Median efficacy for precision OAT in individuals with mild to moderate OSA was 92%, while that of traditional OAT was 75%.
  • Median efficacy for precision OAT in individuals with severe OSA was 59%, while that of traditional OAT was 50%.

“Oral appliance therapy has been improving over the past two decades and has become a great therapy choice for patients with OSA,” says Charkhandeh in a news release. “Being preferred by most patients and with very high patient adherence rate, especially compared to traditional CPAP therapy, it could be considered the first line treatment for OSA patients. This can be further improved by increasing the efficacy of treatment and focusing on precision dental sleep medicine. Of course, device design and manufacturing could play a significant role in that.”

According to Len Liptak, co-founder and CEO of ProSomnus, “There is a prevalent misconception that all oral appliance therapy devices are equally efficacious because they share the same mechanism of action: mandibular repositioning and stabilization. The findings of this study, that precision oral appliances are likely more efficacious than traditional oral appliances across all levels of OSA severity, challenge this misconception and should serve as a catalyst for additional consideration and research.”