A dental appliance is a special mouthpiece fashioned by a dentist to fit your teeth and jaw. Dental appliances have been used to treat grinding of the teeth and temporomandibular joint problems. Snoring occurs when there is excessive crowding of the air passage during sleep. As the person breathes, a vibration occurs in the tissues of the throat that produces the snoring noise. The main culprits are the soft palate and the tongue.
Dental appliances work by pulling the jaw and tongue forward in order to open up the air passage.
In a patient with OSA, this has the added benefit of allowing air to flow more freely so that that person can sleep better without fear of asphyxia. The appliance is set in the neutral position. Not every patient will achieve such dramatic results. This example was chosen for illustrative purposes. There are many different kinds of dental appliances which are claimed to be effective for the treatment of snoring.