Dr. Blevins, Sandra Talley, and Dr. Halstrom demonstrate the delivery of an adjustable oral appliance for sleep apnea.
Dr. C. H. McClure of Lufkin says the Halstrom Hinge has literally changed his life.
McClure is a sleep apnea patient who was fitted with the Halstrom Hinge two or three months ago. The device is an oral appliance invented by Canadian dentist Dr. Wayne Halstrom to help keep the airway open during sleep. Halstrom was in Lufkin this past week to help educate health care providers about his device, and he plans to return to Lufkin within the next two months.
McClure says he had snored for at least 29 years, and, for much of that time, it was a source of amusement. (Snoring can be a symptom of sleep apnea.) But then he was involved in a major automobile accident that nearly killed him. He recovered from the wreck and returned to his Lufkin medical practice. But his wife had become very diligent about monitoring his health after the accident, he says, and she was the one who first noticed his apnea, or periods of not breathing.
"After the wreck, she was more attuned to changes", McClure says. "She insisted that I have a sleep study. She kept saying, 'You stop breathing.'"
Mrs. McClure was right. A sleep study revealed sleep apnea that could have eventually been life-threatening, McClure says: "I was having a bunch of apneic episodes, a tremendous number."
The oral appliance has made a huge difference, he says. " It has been a real blessing," he says. "I sleep all night now. It used to be that I never slept all night. I sleep well and I wake up rested. Before, I had tremendous fatigue during the day. I would yawn all day. I don't yawn anymore."
"It really has been a tremendous asset to me," he says. "I wouldn't do without it. My wife wouldn't let me be without it".
Dr. Bryan O. Blevins |