Talk to your dentist, ask them about a TAP3 dental appliance or something similar:

https://tapintosleep.com/products/tap-custom/

As someone mentioned below - this will likely only work if your dad's sleep apnea is minimal to mild (probably - not a doctor).

I've been using one for...2-3 years now because the results of my sleep study showed that my AHI was just barely under the threshold to where they would recommend a CPAP, in other words insurance wouldn't pay for it. I believe I ended up paying out of pocket for the dental appliance but my dentist said I could call my healthcare insurance but I never did.

In terms of results - I don't "audibly" snore anymore wearing the appliance though I don't think my AHI is 0 wearing it...if that makes sense. But it's certainly helped, that and sleeping with 2 pillows to keep my head elevated. The long term day to day difference is subtle - the difference between "I badly need to take a nap in the afternoon" vs "I'd like to take a nap, that might be nice". A more "real world" example is that I used to struggle to make a 3.5 hour drive without needing to pull over because I couldn't keep my eyes open. I just did a 9.5 hour drive, I did stop for gas, but no issues with struggling to stay awake at all!

If you do go this route, because of the mouthguard, you can't "close" your lips at night - my lips were getting dried and chapped. I bought some 3M "Transpore" tape, but I imagine any kind of tape will do. Just a small strip to keep my lips "closed" together at night.

Somnodent Fusion, used these for 10 months they were quite comfortable. too bad i have Central sleep apnea so had to move to ASV. https://somnomed.com/en/dentists/somnodent/somnodent-fusion/

Try some new masks. Look for nasal pillows.

Depending on the severity of your dad's apnea it may do nothing.

Pretty sure you need to see a dentist who specializes in apnea. I wouldn't assume any otc product on Amazon is worth it.

Sleep apnea mouthguard are made by the dentist.

Mouth guards help some people with sleep apnea since, often, SA causes teeth grinding during the night, and that's not good for your teeth integrity.

If you have the financial means to do so, I highly recommend that you get a sleep study. There are companies that will mail you an at home sleep study for under $200 without insurance.

Some people have good results from oral appliances (mandibular advancement device), but not everyone is a good candidate for it. Sleep apnea can be due to obstructions at multiple airway sites—and an oral appliance will potentially not act on all these sites depending on the person. It’s totally possible that you see no improvement in your sleep with an oral appliance, but actually do end up having sleep apnea.

The over the counter oral appliances try to be once size fits all. Some people have success with them, but a lot of people find them uncomfortable and ineffective compared to an oral appliance fitted by a dentist.

Regardless of anything, you’re going to have to get a sleep study. If the mouth piece improves your sleep, you will believe you have sleep apnea and get tested. If the mouth piece fails, you still will not be able to rule out sleep apnea.

Have you done a sleep study? If you do have sleep apnea you definitely want to get it treated quickly. The overall life improvements are really great. A sleep doctor will be able you get you the right treatment for you. For almost all of us here, proper treatment has been life changing, and life saving.

I have success with a product from Amazon. This mouthguard has soft inside and harder outside. It requires a 1-tine setup: dip in the hot water so it gets soft. Bite on it so it takes the shape of your teeth. Once it cools down it stay that way. Way cheaper than dentist's customized option.

My OSA is caused by relaxed muscles. My chin lowers further during sleep, causes some muscles to block my airway. This mouthguard keeps my chin in place, while protecting against any potential teeth grinding.

It was not comfortable at first. I removed it in the middle of the night. I adjusted the screw (lower chin position) and it is OK now. I was about to create a "success'" post about this, but I saw yours so I decided to reply. I know it is not for everyone but I hope this helps others.

I use plackers. I’ve used others before and if they didn’t fit perfectly I used scissors and cut them down to fit. I prefer the cheap ones to the one made by the dentist.

As someone who clenched my teeth so hard, I actually have cracked through a number of feelings, I totally know where you’re coming from. I can tell you that almost across the board, dentists are going to recommend the hard style. My experience is that they tend to make the problem worse for me and I find that the soft ones are better for me overall, despite arguments against them. The problem that I have with the hard ones is that I actually grind my teeth against them and end up filing them down. It’s a problem. I’ve never had anybody make a double set, and that might be the only actual solution. I actually purchased a new over-the-counter soft one a while, back, but haven’t gotten around to molding it. You are correct that the ones made by dentists are often quite expensive, but they are supposed to be pretty durable, whereas the soft ones that you get over-the-counter generally have to be replaced pretty frequently. I think the argument for the hard ones is generally that it doesn’t alter the position of your jaw at rest much, whereas the soft ones are generally thicker, you can also apply more force, biting against the soft ones, which doesn’t exactly get your jaw to rest. That said, for me at least, the damage I can do to my teeth with the hard ones is just not a great thing. I am massively overdue on a dental cleaning since moving, so I’ll probably discuss it whenever I manage to get myself in to be seen by a dentist. Thanks for the reminder.

I know you asked for budget friendly ones but I just wanted to mention that if you are in the US and have dental insurance they might cover it, mine did.

Most important thing is to figure out whether a soft one or a hard one is better for you. You can get customisable soft ones online, but a hard splint will probably have to be made by a dentist.

I am opposed to them.

In cases where the problem is blockage in the throat (which is most of them) it's very likely a mouth guard won't help at all, while a CPAP will solve the problem.

And we've had a lot of stories here of people who used a mouth device and not only had pain but permanently damaged their teeth.

I used a somnomed for years, 10 I think. It did shift my bite which I’m now correcting. I’ll probably get another one once my teeth are aligned. For me, cpap is just impossible, I’ve tried all the mask types and every adjustment I can think of. I’m very claustrophobic in the mask, swallow air, it just sucks and I can’t sleep with it on. So the mouthpiece was better than nothing and did help. I’m going to give bipap a try, hopefully it is more tolerable than cpap! I’m the outlier though as many have great results with cpap

All I can tell you is I got one of the expensive ones, somnomed, and it didn't help me one bit and screwed up by bite pretty bad (But, just stopping using it got that back). I also found their build quality to be poor as I had to have it replaced after a couple of months because it lost the grip on my teeth. So, others may have better experience, but I can say it was not a good experience for me (AHI 26, mostly hypopneas)

Used a pro one for a while, maybe helped a bit but not worth the effect on the bite imo

I got a Somnomed too and I couldn’t be more happy with it. I’m probably one of the few who is right in the perfect spot for it. I have a natural underbite and I’m only able to sleep on my side so it seems to be perfect for me. I’ve struggled with a CPAP for almost 7 years now and am not ever able to make it through the night with it. I’ve had UPPP and tonsillectomy, two septoplasties, three turbinate reductions, and a balloon sinuplasty. None of that worked. I’ve tried every mask that I could find for my CPAP (thank god for small town medical supply places that will let me return masks) and I couldn’t stand any of them. I doubt anything will work as well as a CPAP, but I love my mouthguard and am thrilled I don’t have to try with that friggin’ CPAP anymore.

Why are you warring your time this way? Why not either switch to the same dentist as your wife or just get a CPAP?

(I also tried some cheap boil mouthguards and it was a disaster.)

Hi u/cja1968 check out thedaybreak.com we make custom MAD's and provide you the entire process entirely from home. I would stray away from the boil and bite versions as they don't provide any lateral(horizontal) movement for your jaw which can lead to serious TMJ symptoms. A custom oral appliance will change your life for the better and they're effective the first night.

Not every dentist is trained on sleep appliances. Go to one that’s trained to do it.

I would kill to be able to sleep through the night. Maybe I’d better rethink my priorities.

I’ve been using the one from Emily’s for the past few weeks. According to my wife, it does keep me from having the interrupted gasping breathing in my sleep that I have otherwise.

My only problem is it separates my jaw from my palate by too much, and I can’t keep my lips closed around it. So after a couple of hours of sleeping with my mouth open, it is uncomfortably dried out.

At that point, I wake up, remove the mouth guard, drink a sip of water, and sleep without the guard in my mouth for the rest of the night. And so far that feels like a big improvement over my previous sleeping routine.

Not in the least. If you have OSA, the chances of a mouthguard fixing your problem is pretty low. I failed with one before going full-CPAP.

It’s what I use because I didn’t qualify for an apnea diagnosis - probably UARS.

Anyway, it is good if your apnea is related to your lower jaw sinking back or having small airways to begin with like me.

I got a softish boil and bite, and stuck out my upper and lower jaw as much as I could before fitting it. Lots of soreness at first I could only stand to wear it an hour the first night, but slowly worked my way up, now I love it, and don’t want to sleep without it.

Thanks (not sure how to reply to both of you). The only other wild card for me, is I also have TMJ, so maybe it would have a dual benefit, or maybe a combination of the two would be useful. I'll see what the doctors think.

I struggled with CPAP for a few months, then got an adjustable mouthguard from my dentist. It helped, much better than CPAP because I actually used it every night.

I was working with my dentists, adjusting it out every few weeks, then one adjustment hurt my jaw so bad that I couldn't continue. I went back to the CPAP, struggled, threw it off every night after a few hours, had major leaks.

I went back to the mouthguard, turned the adjustment back a couple turns, then slowly adjusted it out again. It helped a lot, I felt pretty good, not great, but better than without it.

Then my wisdom teeth started to separate from my other teeth because of the mouthguard, food started to get trapped, causing pain and issues. I had my wisdom teeth removed and went to the CPAP full time. All of this happened over about three years.

I struggled with CPAP again, but committed to using it every night. At that time, I think the mouthguard gave me just as good if not better results.

Recently I had sinus surgery, turbinate reduction, septoplasty and nasal wall grafts. I believe the sinus issues made it difficult to use the CPAP because it does not work well when you have blocked sinuses. Anyway, the CPAP is much easier to use now, and seems to work better than the mouthguard alone. Sometime I use CPAP and mouthguard together, the combination seems to make a small improvement.

One more thing, I still snore terribly when I use the mouthguard alone. The CPAP stops almost all of my snoring.

i looked into this. they said just the football ones that mold to your mouth. may take time to get used to though

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No there isn’t really a mouth guard that can straight up replace a cpap machine. Cpap basically works by pushing air into your airway, while mouth guards (mandibular advancement devices) mostly just reposition your jaw a bit to keep things more open so you can breathe easier. So they can help for mild sleep apnea, not for anything more severe though. but you can still test it out, might give some form of a solution. So if it’s more about teeth grinding/clenching at night (which is super common alongside apnea), your best bet would be moldable dental guards like this one. They’re pretty cheap and not much of a hassle to fit(10 mins). Also imo comfortable enough to wear through the night unless youre super picky. Obviously not a cpap replacement but they will make the situation better.

There's MouthShield which basically seals the mouth to prevent mouth breathing which sometimes helps. But most people still need to use a CPAP.

I got a fitted one from my dentist. I also used a pulse ox Bluetooth to monitor my sleep prior to it and after it (check out Emay on Amazon). From the records, it showed that my sleep apnea improved, but that I still had frequent episodes. I recommend making sure you monitor yourself if at all possible so that you can make sure it is helping enough. My snoring improved with it..

My buddy has one. He says it solves his sleep apnea, however, he just found out that he suffers from arrhythmia so I question whether that is actually the truth. His cost him about $2500.

A mandibular device is a mouth guard that works to help keep your jaw in place and helps to keep your airway open. I think they work for some but not all people ?

As far as I know you have to go through a doctor , sleep clinic and think some dentists do them.

Following. Same question

i used an OTC boil and bite mandibular advancement device from amazon for 2 years. It worked like a charm for my sleep apnea and was easy to cary.

HOWEVER it shifted my teeth significantly and in my opinion was not a stable solution. I switched to cpap and am considering surgeries now. If youre doing a MAD i would work with a professional to ensure you dont end up with shifting teeth.