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BMI of 19 with severe sleep apnea checking in. Never woke up gasping, never struggled staying awake, but I did feel like I enjoyed the occasional afternoon nap, and my partner reported snoring.

It’s worth getting checked out. I ended up going the dental appliance route because CPAP machines feel like a torture device to me. Anecdotally it’s made a noticeable difference. Haven’t had a nap in ages.

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Same. When I was 28, I presented with terrible TMJ pain. Turns out my sleep apnea led to grinding my teeth at night, putting horrible strain on my TMJ all night. Got a mandibular advancement device (MAD) and fixed both issues in like day. Changed my life, slept great, felt great. But, these devices only work for 8-10 years before your jaw permanently changes and your bit starts misaligning your teeth. So I slowly transitioned over to CPAP when I felt my teeth no longer snapped back into place in the morning. After 3 years of CPAP and no MAD, my jaw is 95% back to normal. So keep that in mind. I'd also recommend getting a back-up dental appliance in case yours breaks, or learning how to use CPAP now while you don't need it. Some of the worst stress of my life was when my MAD broke and it took months to get a new one...ugh, I still have latent traumatic responses thinking about that point in my life. I had moved jobs and insurance so finding someone who would do it required significant searching. Medical insurance hates paying for MADs, you gotta make sure you have a solid TMJ disorder diagnosis from an MD and then find a dentist that will do it.

What does the dental appliance do?

Pulls your lower jaw forward to make room at the back of your throat. I had the Somnodent Air [0] for several years, but switched to a CPAP when my lower molars started to cant forward.

[0]: https://somnomed.com/en/dentists/somnodent/somnodent-air/

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