Snoring Patients? Laser Therapy Is Fast & Pain-Free
Fotona’s LightWalker Hard and Soft Tissue Dental Laser can be used for NightLase Therapy, a highly effective, pain-free treatment for sleep apnea, as well as a host of common dental treatments
Hint: it’s one of the leading maladies affecting millions worldwide—and its treatment requires 2 of the most uncomfortable devices available. Give up? We’re talking about obstructive sleep apnea, a common and chronic sleep disturbance and one whose treatment usually involves either a CPAP machine or an oral appliance. Both treatments can be inconvenient and uncomfortable for patients, and both have low compliance rates. One solution to this dilemma is a simple, non-invasive, patient-friendly procedure that any dentist can perform—it’s called NightLase laser therapy.
NightLase is a unique treatment that reduces the effects of snoring by using a gentle, laser-induced tightening that’s caused by the contraction of collagen in the oral mucosa tissue. Harvey Shiffman, DDS, of Boynton Laser Dental Center, worked with colleagues to develop the protocols and training program for the therapy. He began teaching NightLase in the U.S. in 2012 and has offered his dental patients the sleep apnea treatment in his Boynton Beach, FL, dental practice for over a decade.
Two Complementary Wavelengths
Dr. Shiffman uses Fotona’s LightWalker Hard and Soft Tissue Dental Laser, a state-of-the-art, high-performance laser. Fotona’s LightWalker is the only laser in the world that offers 2 complementary wavelengths—1,064 nm and 2,940 nm—produced by solid-state crystal sources. The laser also uses a proprietary Variable Square Pulse (VSP) technology, a feature from Fotona that raises the laser’s precision, performance, and safety to the highest level in the laser industry.
“I’ve been using lasers in dentistry for over 20 years,” Dr. Shiffman said, “and I’ve used about all of them at one time or another. With the LightWalker laser, the digital pulse and the 2 wavelengths built into the same machine allow us to do many more procedures than with other lasers. In addition to the NightLase therapy, there’s just so much more opportunity to use this laser on a day-to-day basis and the build quality is very high,” he continued.
“NightLase is therapeutic because it’s very safe and very gentle.”
- Harvey Shiffman, DDS
Improved Upper Airway Volume
Here’s how the NightLase snoring therapy works: Dr. Shiffman uses the LightWalker to build non-ablative heat generation that converts collagen into more elastic and organized forms. As a result, a patient’s soft palate and uvula are elevated and the oropharyngeal tissues are tightened. This combination results in a significant improvement in a patient’s upper airway volume, which then reduces snoring and the ensuing symptoms of sleep apnea.
“Patients who come to my practice to receive NightLase therapy are looking for an alternative to CPAP machines and oral appliances,” Dr. Shiffman explained. “We present this as a non-surgical alternative because there are no injections and there’s no pain other than a little bit of heat discomfort, which we can adjust.”
100% Success Rate
According to Dr. Shiffman, success is strictly measured with sleep apnea and his results demonstrate that following completion of an open-ended treatment process, 100% of his NightLase patients are within a healthy range. Best of all, his NightLase patients don’t need a CPAP machine or oral appliance, neither of which have high efficacy rates.
“CPAP machines reduce the apnea-hypopnea index by 70-75% but only when a tight-fitting mask is worn 7 nights a week for 7 hours,” Dr. Shiffman explained. “But CPAP compliance is closer to 4 nights a week, 4 hours a night, and dental appliances begin to cause jaw problems and bite changes within about 3 years, so neither method is perfect.”
“NightLase is therapeutic because it’s very safe and very gentle,” he continued. “We’re creating new collagen in the tissues. LightWalker improves the neuromuscular control of the tissues, which helps the airway tissues function better,” he concluded.
