I had a similar situation and my trusted dentist took an impression and returned with a solid plastic device that was instantly useless. It was too thick, made noise when I ground my teeth and was totally unacceptable as a bruxism treatment. It made me brux more because it was upsetting to use and subconsciously I focussed on grinding it to death.
Then I went to him and got a set of soft plastic custom bleaching trays which is just a long way as of saying a custom soft mouth guard.
Got it 20 years ago and still use it every night. Because it’s soft there’s no anger or noise if I grind my teeth., it doesn’t feed back the vibration of a solid mouth guard so grinding is useless. I still grind during the day if I’m stressed but at night my brain just doesn’t bother to brux at all at night. I don’t know why dentists recommend a hard guard for bruxism but a soft one has been life changing for me. I tried making one from a sports mouth guard but they are too thick to be comfortable, gets a Professional one made that’s 1.0 mm thick and youll even forget you’re wearing it. Hope this helps.
Hi Sierra, I agree about the vents to allow emergency air in , I’ve seen a few appliances that have that. Regardless of what the machine says or does , there needs to be safety incorporated for emergency situations. I absolutely hate using the straps due to claustrophobia so I bought this sticky silicone flaps that sticks to my cheeks and holds the mask in place. Not perfect but it eases my fear that I’ll run out of air and not be able to find my hands, wrestle through the sheets and doona and figure out how to get the straps off my head in time to breath. I can see why 50% of CPAP starters give up within a year.
I’m new to this CPAP caper but there are lots of regulations that cover selling therapeutic goods, however you are entitled to survive using a product. There’s a volume of exhaled breath called ‘dead space’ between the mouth and the great outdoors with some mouth, mask and nose appliances having perforated ports so the exhaled air is immediately dispelled. When there is zero positive pressure these perforations allow for a minimal amount of air to be drawn in while you struggle to the surface. Is the problem the machine, the side tubes or something else ? If it’s just the tubes then it is something the ‘design guys’ should be made aware of. It sounds like you’re having a terrible experience.
