If you’re on the fence, here’s a handy list to remind you of the upside to getting a sleep apnea mouthpiece for travel (as long as your sleep specialist says it's ok):
Oral appliances are small enough to fit in your pocket. They come with their own travel cases. They’re lightweight and they have no tubing, masks, batteries or motors—meaning they won’t trigger TSA inspections at airports. If you travel routinely for business, an oral device presents a lot less hassle than a CPAP.
You can wear your apnea mouthpiece if you sleep on a plane, preventing embarrassing snoring during red-eye flights and naps. Likewise, you can easily slip the oral device on when sleeping on buses, trains, and in shared-ride cars.
Oral OSA appliances are easy to use, requiring no electrical outlets or batteries. They have no replacement parts. You don’t need to clean out any tubing or replace worn or dirty filters or other pieces.
Less conspicuous (and silent). Oral apnea appliances are less intrusive than CPAP machines. If you’re traveling with friends and family (or co-workers) and have to share a hotel room or tent, an oral appliance is less embarrassing to wear in front of others. It’s also a lot quieter than a CPAP because it’s not emitting the low whistle and hum of forced air.
Kinder on your nasal passages. Travel can sometimes take us to places with greater or less moisture in the air than what we’re used to. Sometimes, very sensitive patients complain of dry nasal passages, even when they use the humidifier attachment on their CPAPs. The forced air dries them out, setting them up to develop infections or to get sores in the nose and throat. However, oral appliance therapy has no forced air, so this isn’t an issue. You’re always breathing pure room air (or night sky air), no matter what. And if you have allergies or catch a cold while traveling, you don’t need to worry about the CPAP not functioning well when you’re stuffed-up. Oral devices don’t interfere with your nose one bit.
Less expensive. Even if your insurance doesn’t cover an oral appliance, the cost out-of-pocket is generally much less than a CPAP machine. Adding an OAT device to your repertoire of therapies is affordable. And if you lose or break your device while traveling, it’s easy to replace it later; your sleep medicine dentist will have the specifications on file to make a new one quickly.
High rate of compliance. Many people find CPAP uncomfortable or intrusive. They end up abandoning their therapy or using it inconsistently. You can’t reap the health benefits of a treatment you’re ignoring. Oral therapy has a high rate of compliance, in part because it’s so comfortable and easy to use. People don’t need to “take a break” from it while they travel. OAT essentially removes the built-in excuse of “it’s inconvenient to use my CPAP when I travel,” allowing you to comply with your therapy year-round.
