By Dr Sam Talpis

It is most important to take steps to minimise the possibility of occlusal changes over the longer term with the use of a mandibular advancement splint(MAS).

Several companies provide various forms of bite tabs with their appliances, supposedly acting as deprogrammers, claiming they can overcome bite changes. The consensus from experts in the field is that these are largely ineffective.

The Morning Aligner

There has been an exciting development in preventing and assessing occlusal changes with the advent of the Morning Aligner (MA). The MA was introduced by Dr Jamison Spencer, a world expert in dental sleep medicine and a keynote speaker at the recent Australasian Sleep Association and American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine Conferences.

The MA is fabricated chairside at the fitting visit and places the upper and lower teeth into the centric pre treatment occlusion. The patient uses the MA every morning after removing the MAS. There are currently studies assessing the effectiveness of the MA and the initial results are very positive.

Benefits of the MA

It places the mandible back each morning, very precisely into the initial starting centric occlusion position prior to receiving the MAS,
The patient will be very aware of any changes in the occlusion before it can become a problem.
We have designed a MA (3DS Align) which is a pre-formed template with a thermoplastic material specifically designed for use with oral appliance therapy – this usually only takes around 90 seconds to fabricate.

We feel it is extremely important to provide a MA for patients receiving a MAS, and have organised for 3D Sleep to include one with every appliance.