Maxillomandibular advancement and sleep apnea

If the CPAP doesn’t help with your sleep apnea and an oral device doesn’t help then surgery might be your only option. When most people think about sleep apnea and surgery they picture a long recover time and only a 50 percent chance of it doing any good. From what I have read from others that sounds about right. But what if you don’t have any options left, and then surgery might be your only hope.

The surgery that most people with sleep apnea dread is the UPPP Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty which removes the soft tissue. One of the main problems with this is surgery is that it doesn’t always correct the sleep apnea. According to Wikipedia the success rate is around 40 percent. To make matters worse there can be several complications due to the surgery such as:

• Swelling in the throat 
• Sore throat 
• Continued sleep apnea 
• Drainage into the nose

  

One surgery that does look promising is the Maxillomandibular advancement. As I have written in the past one doctor suggested that I consider this type of surgery because of the failure of the cpap to work for me and because of the fullness of my face.

Maxillomandibular Advancement MMA moves the top jaw and the bottom jaw to open up the airway in the throat. This surgery is also used for people with receding chins. The surgery takes 3 or 4 hours with a few night stay in the hospital. Recovery time at home is around a month. I have read that it is a lot more effective than all the other sleep apnea surgeries.

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