Product Spotlight: flexTAP® Sleep Appliance
![flexTAP product image](/content/glidewell/en/education/chairside-magazine/volume-18-issue-2/product-spotlight-flextap-sleep-appliance/_jcr_content/root/container/container_467654658/container_1170571169/image.coreimg.jpeg/1700513768273/hero-image.jpeg)
As the newest addition to the Glidewell family of sleep solutions, the flexTAP® mandibular advancement device (MAD) helps provide patients with a restful night’s sleep by treating snoring and mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Since 1996, Glidewell has been offering dentists appliances to help make dental sleep medicine more accessible. The new flexTAP appliance accomplishes this with new features that aim to improve the success and profitability of dental sleep medicine.
Since 1996, Glidewell has been offering dentists appliances to help make dental sleep medicine more accessible.
The appliance works by engaging the patient’s upper and lower arches and moving the mandible forward and down. This allows more room for the tongue to come forward, opening the airway. The appliance’s patented Vertex Technology® results in less strain on the jaw and increases space for the tongue. The flexTAP appliance is a unique option for dental sleep medicine because it has:
- A single-point midline adjustment with a range of 14 mm for mandibular advancement
- Biocompatible, metal-free material
- A workflow that does not require a bite registration
- Medicare reimbursement eligibility under code E0486
- A three-year warranty
Both dentists and patients benefit from the fewer in-person office visits the flexTAP requires, as the appliance can be easily adjusted by the patient at home. The appliance itself has a small, thin profile and gives patients the tongue space needed for optimal comfort. The Mouth Shield provided with the appliance also functions as a nasal breathing trainer, which encourages nasal breathing while reducing the drying effect and excessive saliva that can accompany oral breathing. The flexTAP appliance’s comprehensive airway management system also includes an AM Aligner®, which helps manage potential occlusal changes. Patients can wear the AM Aligner each morning to exercise the jaw back into normal occlusion should movement occur.
To learn more, visit glidewell.com/flextap.
![Dr. Jill Ombrello, DDS image](/content/glidewell/en/education/chairside-magazine/volume-18-issue-2/product-spotlight-flextap-sleep-appliance/_jcr_content/root/container/container_467654658/container_1170571169/container/columns/column-1/image.coreimg.jpeg/1700598739111/ombrello.jpeg)
“It’s my new go-to. Patients love additional tongue space and that it’s metal-free. I love that we can ask patients to adjust at home, without an in-person visit, to alleviate their symptoms.”
– Jill Ombrello, DDS
Private Practitioner and Fourth-Generation Dentist in Dallas, Texas
flexTAP, Vertex Technology and AM Aligner are registered trademarks of Airway Technologies, LLC.