Barron Associates Receives Grant Award to Develop Novel Dental Appliance

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) current practice parameters recommend oral appliance therapy as a first-line treatment in patients with obstructive sleep apnea. Approximately half of patients who attempt positive airway pressure (PAP) therapy cannot tolerate the treatment and prefer an oral appliance as a less invasive and more portable therapeutic option. However, a major factor limiting wider application of oral appliance treatment is the present inability to objectively quantify patient adherence.

Barron Associates was awarded a grant to develop the Dental Sentinel, a miniature adherence and sleep monitoring micro-recorder that can be implanted into an oral appliance (e.g., an orthodontic retainer). The Dental Sentinel overcomes present barriers to wider adoption of oral appliances, and offers the capability for highly accurate adherence monitoring. The instrument employs novel sensors to determine daily use, and provides objective measurement of improvements in the apnea-hypopnea index.