The CPAP recall: What every dental professional needs to know

Editor’s note: Bethany Montoya, BAS, RDH, is the editorial director of DentistryIQ Clinical Insights. She is a dental sleep medicine provider specializing in prescription oral appliance therapy.

In health care, we have many gold standards that help guide patient care and ensure the best possible treatment outcomes. But what happens when a trusted gold standard becomes a major risk?

What happened with the CPAP?

In 2021, Philips, a world-renowned medical device manufacturer, made the decision to recall 5.5 million CPAP and BiPAP units after more than 116,000 users reported the breakdown of a black polyurethane foam that acts as a noise and vibration reducer.¹ This resulted in users inhaling and swallowing toxic foam particles and ultimately was responsible for the untimely demise of 561 individuals.

This experience has sent shockwaves across the medical community, as PAP therapy has long been touted as the gold standard in managing sleep-disordered breathing conditions like obstructive sleep apnea. In a settlement proposed to the FDA, Philips has announced that they will no longer be manufacturing PAP devices in the US and will likely owe several hundred million dollars to the government and affected consumers.

Also by the author … Triple threat: 3 signs you might have sleep apnea

An option for patients: Oral appliance therapy

The recent CPAP scare has left many sleep apnea sufferers and their health-care providers wondering what options are available that offer real results while minimizing the risks. This is where oral health-care professionals can lend their expertise in providing a dental solution for a systemic problem: oral appliance therapy (OAT).

When proper protocol is followed, OAT has been shown to achieve similar health outcomes as CPAP therapy and with a higher adherence rate.² This is likely because patients generally find an oral appliance to be more comfortable and discreet than a CPAP mask.

Some dental practices offer OAT as an adjunct to their preventive and restorative services, while others have made the full transition into exclusively practicing dental sleep medicine. Whatever the level of your involvement, the value of providing options in sleep apnea management to the patient population can’t be understated. Appliance therapy allows individuals to improve their quality of sleep, take on life’s demands with a clear head, and share the bed with their partner again—basic human needs that millions of American adults with sleep apnea are deprived of.

How can dental professionals advocate for their patients’ airway health? Here are some simple suggestions.

More about sleep apnea … Overcoming sleep dentists’ diagnostic obstacles

Include sleep-related questions on health history forms

Questions on health history forms that ask about snoring, quality of sleep, family history of sleep apnea, past sleep study results, and nighttime bruxing can help us have meaningful conversations about sleep with our patients while they’re in the dental chair. Rating tools like the Epworth Sleepiness Scale or the STOP-Bang Questionnaire require patients to quantify their level of daytime sleepiness and challenge their personal awareness.

Perform an airway assessment during every exam

Many clinicians don’t realize they can easily include an airway assessment in their sequence of care without adding additional time to the patient appointment. You can evaluate occlusion, soft tissues, enamel wear, and oropharyngeal space in tandem with the oral cancer screening—an important component of the routine dental exam that should never be omitted.