Utilization of Sleep Application and Pulse Oximetry in the Short-Term Follow-Up of Mandibular Advancement Device Therapy: A Case Report

Pulse Oximetry (PO) has been a qualified method to determine cardiorespiratory stability of the subjects for home-based sleep studies. However, not any user friendly methods have been presented yet to score the snoring severity of subjects in home conditions. Sleep applications (apps), which is claimed to score snoring severity of the patients, have been came into use with technological opportunities provided by smart phones. Nevertheless, there are not any reports in the literature about the usage of these apps yet. This report describes the utilization of a sleep app in the short-term follow-up of Mandibular Advancement Device (MAD) therapy applied for a moderate Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) patient with habitual snoring. Initially Epworth Sleepiness Scale (EPSS) of the patient was determined and sleep app recordings were performed simultaneously with PO at three different nights. The mean snore score and Oxygen Desaturation Index (ODI) were calculated. A custom MAD was fabricated and all recordings were repeated at the end of the 6 months usage. The initial EPSS value of the patient was decreased from 16 to 3 with MAD therapy. Moreover, the mean ODI of the patient was reduced by 60% as compared with its initial value. Furthermore, snore scores obtained by the sleep app showed highly compatible alterations both with EPSS and PO values. Using a sleep app in the scoring of snore severity seems like a promising innovation for the future home-based sleep studies.