Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. Snoring, mouth breathing, restless sleep, grinding, bed-wetting past the usual age and daytime behaviour problems can all be airway signs in a child, and the teeth and jaws often show it early. The visit is a conversation and a look, not a procedure, and where an ear-nose-and-throat specialist or a pediatric sleep study is needed we say so and help arrange it. Start with kids who snore.

Not to have the conversation. To be fitted with an oral appliance for sleep apnea, yes: the diagnosis has to come from a physician, and a dentist does not make it. If you have never been evaluated, we will talk through what you are noticing and coordinate with your physician or a sleep physician so that the right study gets ordered. The ring we use is for monitoring across many nights; it supports the physician’s work rather than replacing it.

Longer than one night, on purpose. A typical run starts with about a week of baseline nights, then several nights at each appliance setting, so a full titration usually takes three to five weeks of sleeping in your own bed. You charge the ring in the morning and write one line in a journal. Here is why we measure this way, with four real, de-identified records.

Not necessarily. CPAP is the most effective treatment when it is worn, and we never take anyone off it. Some people use an appliance alongside CPAP so the pressure can come down; some cannot tolerate CPAP at all and use an appliance instead, with their physician’s agreement; some just want to know whether the machine is doing what it should, which the ring can show night by night. Bring the machine’s numbers if you have them.

Yes. Bring whatever you have: a sleep study, an appliance made elsewhere, CPAP data. One of the records on our VTP page is a patient who arrived with an appliance from another office, and the nights showed that adjusting it was not the answer. That is a useful thing to learn before more money is spent.

No. It is a removable device you wear at night, like a retainer that holds your lower jaw slightly forward. You take it out in the morning. The setting can be adjusted, which is what the titration is for, and a well-made appliance lasts years with normal care.

Some morning stiffness in the first weeks is common and usually settles. Because of that, we ask you to rate your jaw each morning, green, amber or red, and that rating sits on the same chart as your breathing numbers. If a setting is red, we change it; a setting you cannot wear is not a setting. Small bite changes can happen with years of use, which is one reason you see us for follow-up rather than simply keeping the device.

No. Airway.Dental is a fee-for-service practice: we do not participate with any insurance plan and we do not submit claims. You pay the office directly, and if you want to seek reimbursement from your own plan we give you everything it will ask for: an itemised statement with the procedure and device codes (a custom oral appliance for sleep apnea has its own medical code, E0486), your physician’s diagnosis, and a letter of medical necessity. Whether and how much your plan pays back depends on its out-of-network benefits, and that is between you and your insurer. Dr. Bishara is not enrolled with Medicare; Medicare does not pay for his services, and Medicare patients are seen on the same private basis as everyone else. We tell you the fee before anything is made.

Yes. We handle the airway and sleep side only. Your own dentist keeps doing your cleanings, fillings and everything else, and we are glad to send them a note about what we are doing so nothing conflicts.

We see patients at our Morristown and Metuchen offices, and many drive in from New York and Pennsylvania. The fitting and follow-up visits are in person; the nights are recorded wherever you sleep. If you are a long way away, call and we will tell you honestly whether it is practical, and if not, what to look for closer to home.