Apnea Management Services

AMS Treatment Options

Apnea Management Services (AMS) offers a unique variety of treatment options for patients who have been diagnosed with sleep disordered breathing. Since there is an overwhelming variety of positive airway pressure devices (PAP) and accessories to choose from, AMS has carefully selected a limited number of products from leading manufactures that are best suited for reliability and patient comfort.

Each PAP device utilized at AMS is able to store patient compliance data which enables us to routinely download this information into our database. By storing and tracking the patient’s PAP compliance information, we can easily monitor progress and more accurately follow our 8 Step Support Program therefore greatly increasing the positive effects of treatment.

PAP Therapy Options:

1) CPAP – Continuous positive airway pressure: Most common form of therapy prescribed for obstructive sleep apnea patients. Provides selectable air pressure levels that open the upper airway during sleep.

2) Bilevel PAP – Used to treat OSA patients who have difficulty tolerating CPAP. This device is more comfortable for patients by providing an expiratory pressure which is lower than the inspiratory pressure.

3) Auto Bilevel PAP – A new hybrid device that combines bilevel technology with a software algorithm capable of adjusting two pressure settings. This unit has the ability to adjust automatically to the patient’s snoring and apnea events.

4) Adaptive Servo-Ventilation – New emerging technology that uses advanced software algorithms to control PAP pressure delivery with a backup rate. This device is typically used on patients suffering from more complicated central or mixed apneas and periodic breathing, also known as complex sleep apnea.

In certain situations there may be a need to consider an alternative treatment when patients have mild to moderate sleep apnea and snoring. An oral appliance may be recommended as the best option in these patients. The devices are similar to a mouth guard used by athletes and is worn to bed at night. Assistance in choosing from the wide variety of devices available is best determined by a dentist who specializes in this area.