When you become a new patient at the Advanced Dental Sleep Center, we will make finding the best treatment option for your sleep apnea as easy as possible. Our office is 100% committed to sleep. We do nothing else. We can treat many people in our office, and for those we can’t treat, we link up with other sleep professionals so that everyone can relieve their sleep apnea.

What to Expect at Your First Appointment

Your first appointment at the Advanced Dental Sleep Treatment Center can take up to an hour and a half. That’s because we need to evaluate your condition thoroughly, and getting to know you is important, too. Successful sleep apnea treatment isn’t just finding something that treats the condition–it’s about finding a treatment that you will use enough to get effective results. 

Here’s what will happen at your first appointment. 

We Will Listen to You

A medical history is essential to finding the right solution. We want to understand your situation in addition to obtaining the appropriate forms from you. 

We see people at all stages of the sleep apnea treatment process, including those who are:

  • Not yet diagnosed with sleep apnea
  • Considering their treatment options
  • Looking for an alternative to their current treatment
  • Wanting to resume treatment after stopping in the past

We want to understand what you’ve already tried and how it worked for you. We will ask questions to clarify the situation and better understand your experience. 

We Perform an Examination

Next, Dr. Melissa Sheets or another sleep dentist will perform a detailed examination. Based on your anatomy, we want to know what treatment options will work best for you. Whether you’ve tried sleep apnea treatments in the past or not, this exam will help you decide which treatments are best for you. 

Thanks to our thorough examination, we have a very high success rate for sleep apnea treatments, especially with oral appliance therapy. 

We Present You with Options

Based on your experiences and the examination, we will help you understand your treatment options. 

If you haven’t had a sleep test yet, we will arrange one. Also called a sleep study, this is the only way to diagnose sleep apnea. Most people can take this sleep test at home. Sometimes, you might have multiple sleep conditions or other reasons why you need to take a sleep test in a lab. Either way, a sleep physician will interpret the results to determine whether you have sleep apnea and how severe it is. At that point, we will call you in for another appointment. 

Once we have the sleep study results, we will recommend treatment options for you. If your sleep apnea is mild enough to only need home care, we will make lifestyle suggestions to help you control it. If you are a good candidate for oral appliance therapy, we will include this in your recommendations. Other times, people need CPAP, though we also offer a combined therapy that includes both an oral appliance and CPAP. Sometimes, we recommend different alternatives, too, like Inspire surgical sleep apnea treatment.

Achieving Great Results

If oral appliance therapy is the right choice for you, we will schedule a fitting appointment. Effective oral appliance therapy is custom-fitted to you, using a style of appliance that will work well based on your preferences and anatomy.

We’ll ensure your appliance is comfortable and practical, help you understand how to adjust it, and, if necessary, give you detailed care instructions. 

We will continue to help you get good results with your oral appliance. If you have questions, we’re here to answer them. In addition, we will follow up with you to ensure you are getting the desired results.

How Long Does It Take to Achieve Results with Sleep Apnea Treatment?

The truth is that many people feel better the first night they start sleep apnea treatment. It may be weeks or months since you got a good night’s sleep, and you may not remember what it feels like. When you do finally get great sleep, you will notice the difference. 

However, it may take time for some of the other sleep apnea symptoms to resolve. Most people will feel back to normal within a few weeks of using their sleep apnea treatment as recommended. If you don’t feel better by this time, we will want to reevaluate your treatment decision. 

For people with severe sleep apnea, you might have to try CPAP first. Your insurance company typically recommends you try it for 90 days before an alternative treatment. If you’re in that situation but having trouble adapting to your CPAP, we recommend that you start looking for a treatment alternative early. If you want insurance to keep paying, you might have a very tight schedule for returning your CPAP machine and starting a new treatment.

We’d Love to See You at Our Office

At the Advanced Dental Sleep Treatment Center, we are always happy to welcome new patients, who often become like friends and family. We also want you to understand how severe sleep apnea can be and why you shouldn’t procrastinate treatment. If you’re looking out for your health, schedule an appointment as soon as possible. We’d love to see you.

To experience the friendly and welcoming atmosphere of our office and the highly effective treatments we offer, please call Advanced Dental Sleep Treatment Center in Omaha at (402) 493-4175 today.