Jaw and ear pain

I could not use the CPAP machine, so instead am trying the Herbst oral appliance. I like the concept of the device, unlike that of the CPAP machine with the tubing, etc. However, after a while, and after taking the device out of my mouth in the morning, my jaw, ear and throat were hurting. So, my dentist tried several tweakings of the device, but to no avail, as I'm still having ear and jaw pain. I've stopped using the device temporarily hoping that the ear pain will go away, but so far it's still there. Has anyone had a problem similar to that of mine, and if so, what did you finally do? I am so disappointed as I had hoped this would help with my moderate sleep apnea....

I am currently using the TAP 3 oral device. It does cause jaw pain initially, but now only causes pain when I adjust it too far forward at one time. After an incremental adjustment forward, I wait until my jaw gets used to the change before adjusting it again. It may be that the Herbst oral appliance is too big for you. It does take some getting used to. When the jaw pain got uncomfortable for me, I would switch to my CPAP until it went away.

Just joined the forums. About 3 years ago, I gave up my CPAP for an oral appliance, not sure what kind,but think some type of Tap,as it could be adjusted with a tiny tool. After inital l fitting, I did few minor adjustments,with only minor discomfort. Then had what I thought was really good results, although no way to monitor. Then went back for a follow up Sleep study to confirm it was helping the Apnea. The technician kept tightening the appliance(apparently only to stop my snoring, as the Apnea events were minimal). At completion of that study the appliance had fallen apart. My insurance had changed and balked at letting me return to the prescribing dentist, but finally allowed it. He repaired and reset the appliance but after 2 months of severe discomfort, continual headaches and jaws locking, I had to quit using the appliance. However the jaw, ear pain and headaches continued,,although diminished for another 3 or 4 months. Hope you have better luck, would suggest asking your prescriber Dr for assistance sooner than later.

I am a dentist working in dental sleep medicine. I think that tip off as to what may be happening is that the pain started in the morning AFTER you removed the appliance. The following could be happening: Oral appliances work by moving the mandible(lower jaw) forward. This forward movement moves the condyle(ball) of the mandible out of the socket over night. There are delicate tissues(the retrodiskal tissues) behind the condyle that get engorged with fluid over night. This tends to move your bite temporarily forward in the morning. When you take the appliance out in the morning and vigorously attempt to close into your normal bite right away, the condyle presses on the engorged tissues and causes pain. The answer here is to be GENTLE after your remove the appliance in the morning. Just accept that your bite may be off for about thirty minutes and don't try to fight it. Then SLOWLY and GENTLY try to close into your normal bite in stages. This will probably solve the problem. Actually, I give my patients an A.M. aligner to help them deal with the problem. I tell them to just ignore the bite problem for 30 minutes and then GENTLY and SLOWLY use the aligner to resolve it. A.B.Luisi, D.M.D.