Amundsenskinne

Dr Thomas Meade was the first dentist to develop a snoring splint and on whom I base my splint, and who taught me. His splint was fitted directly into the mouth, but was a bit more cumbersome to use.

There are many varieties of apnea splints that lock the lower jaw in a weak underbite. In recent years, variants that are used in both the upper and lower jaw have been common, without me seeing any advantage in doing so. This places great demands on the splints being connected correctly, otherwise the user will have a displacement of the lower jaw which can cause problems in the temporomandibular joints, while at the same time one cannot open the mouth completely when yawning. The splints will also be useless if the user has to undergo dental treatment so that the splints do not fit in place afterwards. In addition, they take several weeks to complete, and the cost is disproportionately high and the adjustment (titration) will only be approximate anyway. If the practitioner also increases the cost of the treatment with exclusive large X-rays that are not used in addition to other diagnostics, it becomes unreasonably expensive in relation to the fact that it is still not possible to make a specially adapted splint that fits in place without further ado. Here, the Amundsen splint will be more flexible. It is only attached to the upper jaw, and has a holder that the lower jaw can balance against. This provides free movement sideways, and full gap height. The teeth should be examined in advance if there is a major need for treatment, otherwise it will be possible to make adjustments to the splint without major problems during small treatments such as making a filling in the upper jaw. The cost is only a fraction of other types of splints that are used, and the adjustment is completed in a day or two. Should adjustments be needed, this can be done quickly. Usually there may be chafing, but it only takes five minutes to relieve the pressure. A splint is a foreign element in the mouth, and it may take about two weeks to get used to it, but it usually goes well the first night, especially since you don't have a partner who wakes you up several times when you snore. You don't have to sleep on the couch in the living room right away. I have used this type of splint myself since 1992, and have had no problems. One condition for the splint to be successful is that the front teeth in the lower jaw can withstand the load when you bite against the splint. This is usually a minor problem, but if there is a tendency for loose teeth, such as with gum inflammation (periodontitis), we can make a passive splint in the lower jaw that distributes the pressure load over all the teeth below. The Amundsen splint protects you against bruxism (teeth grinding) by giving the muscles a different direction to grind in, and then they lose a lot of their power. If you still manage to grind vigorously, it is better that it affects the splint than the teeth. The appliance can usually be fixed by extending it again without making a new one.