These are quite uncomfortable, actually. They can have a negative impact on your teeth and jaws (says my dentist friend who wears one every night). So less invasive => yes, but still far from perfect.
I bought a couple of them off Amazon several years ago. The first one I stopped using after a few nights as the kibble felt like it was cutting the insides of my mouth. The next one, I've used for 2 years. Immediately felt the benefits of having a good sleep at night. Friends that I often travel and bunk with tell me my snoring is much more reduced. I could sleep on my back without choking!
I stopped after 2 years because I noticed my front lower teeth no longer align with my upper teeth. I can't use my front teeth to 'saw' off food anymore. I always woke up with a really sore jaw and lots of pain around my teeth. The lower teeth always felt like it was bent forward when I woke up.
Lately, I've been considering getting another pair, because I think the one I used was meant to be swapped out every 6 months, which I obviously didn't do.
I was fitted for one, and was told that the lower jaw is held forward by using the upper teeth as an anchor. Over time they can cause upper and lower teeth to move.
For those who want to simulate the feeling, touch your tongue to the front of your top teeth and jut your jaw forward so you can close your jaw with your tongue staying in place, sandwiched between the front of your top teeth and back of your bottom teeth.
It was wildly uncomfortable and I gave up after three nights. Also didn't notice better sleep.
Wow, I can (just barely) slide my bottom teeth in front of my top teeth, but not with the tongue in between, and it still feels extremely weird and uncomfortable...
To see a photo, image search "apnea sleep guard." By jutting your lower jaw forward, it is supposed to move your whole lower jaw assembly including tongue forward. It is the tongue drooping back towards your throat that causes the snoring for most. This, in turn, should reduce episodes of reduced oxygen then leading to less wakeful events since your body is not having to jerk itself awake to keep air flowing.
I have one, and it works well. It's the default treatment here, where CPAP is reserved for the morbidly obese.
But the effect of jaw displacement is real. Every morning it takes a few hours to move the lower jaw slowly back. And I've visited a dentist in another country, who advised against it (and had apparently rarely seen it).
My dentist wanted me to get one to use as a retainer to stop my bottom middle teeth from sliding or something. I never once fell asleep with it in and after about two weeks of trying (and each night giving up after a few hours) I put it in a drawer and forgot about it. More effective at keeping me awake than caffeine lol
That sounds like the mouth guard I use because I grind my teeth at night but the mouth guards the article is talking about are different. These mouth guards for snoring move your lower jaw forward while a mouth guard for grinding doesn't.
