Types of Oral Appliances in Dentistry
                     Types of Oral Appliances in Dentistry
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Oral appliances are the devices applied to the patients oral cavity for a certain 
period of time to treat various disorders associated with the oral cavity. Oral 
appliances are commonly used to treat sleeping apnea and temporomandibular 
joint disorders.
Types of oral appliances
There are several types of oral appliances available depending on the type of 
disorder in oral cavity. These include:
Mandibular repositioning devices
Mandibular repositioning devices are made of heat sensitive acrylic material. 
These are custom fitted to each patient’s mouth. These are used to treat 
sleeping apnea. Patients with sleeping apnea have narrowed air ways during 
sleeping. It is fitted to the lower jaw to reposition the mandible to the normal 
position. This will push the tongue and soft tissue to open the air ways and 
restore normal breathing during sleeping.
Tongue retaining devices
It is used in patients with elongated tongue. It is a device used to keep the 
tongue in normal position during sleeping. It is used to treat obstructive sleeping 
apnea syndrome. It is a custom made device made up of soft pliable material. It 
should be worn while sleeping. It has a compartment in which tongue is 
positioned by means of negative pressure. Tongue retaining devices require 
adaptation to the patient holding tongue in the compartment. Therefore tongue 
exercise and adaption program is given prior to the insertion of tongue retaining 
device.
Orthodontic appliances
Orthodontic appliances are the devices applied to the teeth to position them in 
normal position. Orthodontic appliances include orthodontic retainers and space 
maintainers.
Orthodontic retainers are custom made orthodontic appliances used to position 
the teeth in its place after removal of braces. Orthodontic retainers are either 
fixed or removable retainers.
Space maintainers are used to keep the space for the permanent teeth to erupt 
and come out of the gums. If these are not used the gap created by the missing 
tooth replaced by the shifting of the adjacent teeth then surgery is necessary to 
correct the abnormality. These are custom made by the orthodontist and made 
up of plastic or metallic material. Space retainers are either fixed or removable.
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