A Ten-Year Follow-Up Case Report on the Treatment of Severe Obstructive Sleep Apnea Using a Mandibular Advancement Device

Abstract

This report describes the challenging case of a 45-year-old male Caucasian patient with morbid obesity and severe obstructive sleep apnea who was followed up for over 10 years by a multidisciplinary team that included sleep and dental medicine professionals, physiotherapists, and nutritionists. The patient underwent seven polysomnographic studies during the follow-up period; furthermore, nocturnal digital monitoring (NDM) was performed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The polysomnographic study revealed that the apnea-hypopnea index of the patient reduced from 131.7 ev/h to 9.4 ev/h without symptoms, while his NDM oxygen desaturation index varied because of weight gain during the COVID-19 pandemic. This case report highlights the importance of a multidisciplinary team in ensuring the success of mandibular advancement device therapy with excellent clinical outcomes. Furthermore, this report suggests that NDM was a good tool for follow-up during the COVID-19 pandemic.