Part 1 :

Advocated workflow for dental management in Sleep medicine

Management of sleep disorders is an expanding area in medical care, and in recent decades, dentists may play an important role in diagnosing and treating sleep disorders. In the previous article, we addressed the advocated guidelines provided by the American Academy of sleep medicine (AASM) and the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine (AADSM) for the treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) and Snoring with Oral Appliance Therapy (OAT) (1), type of interventions for OSA treatment and comparable benefits using Oral Appliances (OAs) versus Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP). In this review, we will discuss the actual guidelines for short and long-term dental management, potential factors contributing to the success of OAT, and possible side effects in treating OSA.

Management in dental care for patients with suspected Sleep Related Disordered Breathing

Standards of Practice Committee of the AADSM suggested a management flowchart for dentists in 2018 (2). Two major pathways may lead to a dental patient’s evaluation of suspected sleep-related disordered breathing (SRDB). A patient may start a visit to a qualified dentist and be screened, or a physician may refer the diagnosed patient to a qualified dentist. The first visit to a qualified dentist should implement a screening process including nocturnal and daytime symptoms (e.g., snoring, witnessed apnea, gasping, sleepiness), STOP-BANG questionnaires, chief complaints, medical and family histories, current medications, dental history and findings. It is also important to record baselines such as BMI, blood pressure and neck circumference for OAT monitoring. Then in consultation with the patient, the qualified dentist should then refer the suspected case to a physician for evaluation and assessment of SRDB. Another pathway may be a physician who has diagnosed a patient with SRBD, referring the patient to a qualified dentist for dental assessment and initiation of OAT. Patients undergoing OAT should be educated on their SRBD severity, including AHI, RDI and REI from sleep test results. They should also be informed that OAT success may be affected by fragmented sleep, oxygen desaturation and other co-existing sleep problems. (2)

Clinical characteristics contributing to the success and failure of OAT

Evidence showed that OAT works better on anatomic traits by opening the airway, preventing closure and probably acting as a mandibular and tongue retainer. OA may help to reduce sleep arousals, effective in patients with low loop gain of ventilatory control reflex. Additional characteristics contributing to treatment efficiency are summarized in Figure 2 (3).  

In the long term, patients who have higher respiratory arousal showed better improvement in sleepiness. Patients preferred OA as a first-time treatment or have complete symptom resolution may have higher adherence in the long run. From the perspective of OA fabrication and titration, the use of Bi-Bloc OA enabling relatively free mandibular movement or custom-made OA with regular dental follow-up showed better adherence. Regular follow-ups also help to minimize early side effects and treatment discontinuation. Support from bed partners by improving bed partners’ sleep quality is another important factor in OAT success (4).

Side effects and Contraindications of OAT

Side effects, such as dental pain, muscular pain, excessive salivation or dryness, may result in non-adherence (4). While bite change, dental and occlusal changes, mesial tipping of mandibular molars and distal tipping of maxillary molars, increased mandibular arch length, and downward rotation of mandible were reported. These changes are usually irreversible (5–11). Although side effects may seem substantial, patients should not discontinue the OAT unless there is a better treatment option provided since the preventive benefits of life-threatening outcomes of OSA outweigh the side effects of OAT.

It is also worth noting that edentulous patients with inadequate teeth, patients with severe periodontitis or a history of temporomandibular joint may not be suitable for OAT (12).

Calibration of OA and long-term management

In the previous decades for OAT, evidence on treatment effect and adherence with OA had been limited. In particular, adherence to OAT has recently been limited to self-reported data, with the inherent risks of overreporting (4). While extensive publications have been reported on the efficacy of short-term and long-term treatment of CPAP, the effectiveness and long-term adherence of OAT remain to be investigated. According to guidelines in 2015 (1), home sleep tests should be implemented for follow-up visits for treatment efficacy or even annual follow-ups to evaluate the long-term effects of OAT. Patients are expected to return to a qualified dentist within the first 30 days to assess the comfort and efficacy of the OAT. In addition, the qualified dentist will need to determine an appropriate endpoint for the OA advancement process. Consideration of evidence supporting 50% improvement in baseline AHI may be considered as partial treatment success (11). The AASM and American Medical Association (AMA) have published policies that a physician must order a home sleep apnea test to determine the appliance’s efficacy (13,14). Therefore the interpretation of sleep results should be in consultation with the qualified dentist, patient and physician. Additionally, final calibration of the OA, the qualified dentist should refer the patient back to the physician for assessment of OAT outcomes(2).

For long-term follow-up and management, patients are expected to follow up every 6 months for the first year and at least annually thereafter. The annual examination should include verification of OA efficacy and occlusal stability, check of the structural integrity of OA, symptoms evaluation, patient comfort and adherence rate,and possible short and long-term side effects (2). In case of damage, bacterial or fungal growth, replacement should be made, and additional calibration should be conducted (2).

How Belun can help

According to AASM and AMA published policies, a physician must order a home sleep apnea test to determine the efficacy of OAT. For long-term management, patients are expected to assess their sleep architecture at baseline, 1 month, 6 months, and yearly follow-ups to ensure good adherence and long-term prevention of life-threatening complications associated with OSA. For example, Belun Sleep Platform (BSP), using an FDA-cleared wearable Ring, offers an automated Home sleep test for patients with OSA.

Belun Sleep System (BSP) has the capability of monitoring and analyzing SpO2, heart rate variability (HRV), photoplethysmography (PPG) waveform, and accelerometer-derived actigraphy data. It can calculate an estimated apnea-hyponea index (bAHI). It can also differentiate wakefulness from sleep, perform sleep stage analysis and give REM and NREM sleep duration using its artificial intelligence platform. Furthermore, autonomic nervous system (ANS) activities, including sympathetic and parasympathetic activities, throughout the monitoring period. From the assessment provided by Belun Sleep System, objective sleep impairments data. Although polysomnography is currently the gold standard for measuring sleep quality, the test is costly, not easily available, and requires skilled sleep technicians for assessment. Going forward, Belun Sleep System herein serves to provide a cost-effective, readily available, automated, no-skilled technician-needed solution to dentists, sleep physicians, and patients with sleep-related disordered breathing population-wide.

Partnering with Belun :

Up to now, over a hundred organizations, including HK hospital authority hospitals, medical groups, clinic groups, dentists, and elderly centers selected to use the Belun Sleep System, Belun® Ring and Sleep App, and Belun® remoVital monitoring system. Many doctors read our medical journal papers, including: 

1) “Belun® Ring Platform: a novel home sleep apnea testing system for assessment of obstructive sleep apnea” (https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/10.5664/jcsm.8592),

2) “Detection of obstructive sleep apnea using Belun Sleep Platform wearable with neural network based algorithm and its combined use with STOP-Bang questionnaire” (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0258040),

3)Belun® Ring (Belun Sleep System BLS-100): Deep Learning-Facilitated Wearable Enables OSA Detection, Apnea Severity Categorization, and Sleep Stage Classification in Patients Suspected of OSA  (https://journals.lww.com/jhypertension/Abstract/2023/06000/The_Belun_sleep_platform_to_diagnose_obstructive.16.aspx), 

4) Correlation of Pulse Rate Variability(PRV) and Heart Rate Variability(HRV) Metrics During Sleep in Subjects Suspected of OSA (Accepted in SLEEP conference 2023, Abstract ID: 954).

If you would like to know more about how to adopt Belun’s solution in your organization or home use, please feel free to contact us to schedule a meeting by filling out the form below:

References:

1.         Clinical Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Snoring with Oral Appliance Therapy: An Update for 2015 [Internet]. [cited 2022 Sep 5]. Available from: https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/epdf/10.5664/jcsm.4858

2.         Levine M, Bennett K, Cantwell M, Postol K, Schwartz D. Dental Sleep Medicine Standards for Screening, Treating, and Managing Adults with Sleep-Related Breathing Disorders. J Dent Sleep Med. 2018 Jul 10;5(3):61–8.

3.         Lavigne GJ, Herrero Babiloni A, Beetz G, Dal Fabbro C, Sutherland K, Huynh N, et al. Critical Issues in Dental and Medical Management of Obstructive Sleep Apnea. J Dent Res. 2020 Jan 1;99(1):26–35.

4.         Tallamraju H, Newton JT, Fleming PS, Johal A. Factors influencing adherence to oral appliance therapy in adults with obstructive sleep apnea: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. 17(7):1485–98.

5.         Aarab G, Lobbezoo F, Heymans MW, Hamburger HL, Naeije M. Long-Term Follow-Up of a Randomized Controlled Trial of Oral Appliance Therapy in Obstructive Sleep Apnea. RES. 2011;82(2):162–8.

6.         Doff MHJ, Hoekema A, Pruim GJ, Huddleston Slater JJR, Stegenga B. Long-term oral-appliance therapy in obstructive sleep apnea: a cephalometric study of craniofacial changes. J Dent. 2010 Dec;38(12):1010–8.

7.         Fransson AMC, Kowalczyk A, Isacsson G. A prospective 10-year follow-up dental cast study of patients with obstructive sleep apnoea/snoring who use a mandibular protruding device. Eur J Orthod. 2017 Oct 1;39(5):502–8.

8.         Chen H, Lowe AA, de Almeida FR, Fleetham JA, Wang B. Three-dimensional computer-assisted study model analysis of long-term oral-appliance wear. Part 2. Side effects of oral appliances in obstructive sleep apnea patients. Am J Orthod Dentofacial Orthop. 2008 Sep;134(3):408–17.

9.         Rose EC, Staats R, Virchow C, Jonas IE. Occlusal and skeletal effects of an oral appliance in the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea. Chest. 2002 Sep;122(3):871–7.

10.       Pliska BT, Nam H, Chen H, Lowe AA, Almeida FR. Obstructive sleep apnea and mandibular advancement splints: occlusal effects and progression of changes associated with a decade of treatment. J Clin Sleep Med. 2014 Dec 15;10(12):1285–91.

11.       Hamoda MM, Kohzuka Y, Almeida FR. Oral Appliances for the Management of OSA: An Updated Review of the Literature. Chest. 2018 Feb 1;153(2):544–53.

12.       Ng JH, Yow M. Oral Appliances in the Management of Obstructive Sleep Apnea – Sleep Medicine Clinics [Internet]. [cited 2022 Sep 5]. Available from: https://www.sleep.theclinics.com/article/S1556-407X(18)30092-4/fulltext

13.       Rosen IM, Kirsch DB, Chervin RD, Carden KA, Ramar K, Aurora RN, et al. Clinical Use of a Home Sleep Apnea Test: An American Academy of Sleep Medicine Position Statement. J Clin Sleep Med. 2017 Oct 15;13(10):1205–7.

14.       H-35.963 Appropriate Use of Objective Tests for Obstructive Sle | AMA [Internet]. [cited 2022 Sep 10]. Available from: https://policysearch.ama-assn.org/policyfinder/detail/sleep%20apnea?uri=%2FAMADoc%2FHOD.xml-H-35.963.xml

The post The Emerging Importance of Dental Sleep Medicine (Part 2) first appeared on Belun Technology.

In 2015, the US cost of diagnosing and treating Obstructive Sleep apnea (OSA)  was approximately US$12.4 billion (1,2). The Obstructive Sleep Apnoea Health Economics report by the British Lung Foundation suggests an estimated 1.5 million adults in the UK have sleep apnea, although only around 330,000 are currently diagnosed and treated (3). 

In the past decades, although 5.2% of dental patients were identified as high risk of OSA, none received a referral for further OSA evaluation (4). Furthermore, 54% of dentists never consulted a physician about a suspected OSA patient (5). In light of the growing prevalence and serious health outcomes associated with OSA, the American Academy of sleep medicine (AASM) and the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine (AADSM) published guidelines in 2015 for the treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Snoring with Oral Appliance Therapy (6), dentists are advocated as the frontiers in medical examinations for patients with potential sleep problems. Qualified dentists should have a minimum of 25 hours of recognized continuing education in dental sleep medicine (e.g., American Dental Association Continuing Education Recognition Program [ADA CERP] or Academy of General Dentistry Program Approval for Continuing Education [AGD PACE] ) provided by a dental sleep medicine focused non-profit organization or accredited dental school in the last two years. The major recommendations are as follows:

• Sleep physicians prescribe oral appliances, rather than no therapy, for adult patients who request treatment for primary snoring (without OSA)
• When oral appliance therapy (OAT) is prescribed by a sleep physician for an adult patient with OSA, a qualified dentist should use a custom, titratable appliance over non-custom oral devices
• Sleep physicians should consider prescriptions of an oral appliance (OA), rather than no treatment, for adults with OSA who are reluctant to use CPAP or prefer alternative therapy.
• Qualified dentists should provide oversight rather than no follow-up of OAT in adults with OSA to survey for dental-related side effects or occlusal changes and reduce their incidence.
• Sleep physicians should conduct follow-up sleep tests to improve or confirm treatment efficacy rather than follow-ups without sleep tests for patients fitted with OAs.
• Sleep physicians and qualified dentists should instruct adult patients with OAT for scheduled visits as opposed to no follow-up.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, OAT is even advocated as the first-line therapy for OSA (7) as it does not generate aerosols, is easily disinfected, and does not need replaceable parts, unlike Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), which experienced a shortage of supplies during the COVID lockdown. Patients who prefer OAT may be more likely to adhere to the treatment since it does not increase the significant risk of COVID-19 exposure (7).

Types of interventions to treat OSA

While not all patients may be suitable for OA use, several available treatment options are available for patients with OSA. For example, it could be pharmacological to use domperidone and pseudoephedrine to reduce snoring; however, the effectiveness of therapy was not substantially validated with limited evidence (8). Surgery has been advocated to address structural issues, but NICE guidelines state that there is a lack of evidence of the clinical effectiveness of surgery for OSA; thus, it is not routinely used (9). Given the non-invasive, cost-effective, reversible nature of OAs, they are recommended as useful devices to treat mild to moderate OSA. OAs were mainly categorized into the following types: custom titratable; custom, non-titratable; non-custom, titratable; and non-custom, non-titratable. The guidelines in 2015 recommended the use of custom, titratable appliances as the best type of OA for OSA treatment.

Comparable Benefits using OAs vs CPAP

CPAP and OAs can reduce upper airway collapse during sleep, with CPAP having great efficacy in moderate to severe OSA. CPAP reduces the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), respiratory disturbance index (RDI), or respiratory event index (REI) more than OAs in adult patients with moderate OSA (6). However, there are no significant differences in quality of life and cognitive and functional outcomes (10). Interestingly, it is worth noting that adherence to CPAP is generally lower than OA. Moreover, greater efficacy of CPAP may not necessarily translate into better treatment outcomes. In various randomized control trials comparing CPAP to OA across various severity of OSA patients, the use of CPAP and OA showed comparable results in improving symptoms of sleepiness (11,12), quality of life (13), and drive performance (14), cardiovascular outcomes and short-term effects on blood pressure (15) and even mortality rate in patients with severe OSA (16,17). The possible reason for the similar treatment effect between CPAP and OA was due to the longer adherence to OA compared to CPAP by patients. The adverse side effects, such as pressure sores, mask dislodgement, claustrophobia, air leakage, and nasal congestion had made CPAP intolerable to many patients (18). About 20-50% of OSA patients are reluctant to comply with CPAP (19), and adherence with CPAP is reportedly over 1h/night lower than OA (14). Moreover, OAT was also reported to be effective in two-thirds of patients after 3 years of treatment (20). Combination therapy of CPAP and OA was thus advocated to reduce the upper airway resistance and allow a more comfortable and lower pressure to sustain patency of the airway (21). The benefits of OAT are summarized in the figure below.

How Belun can facilitate OAT

According to AASM and American Medical Association published policies, a physician must order a home sleep apnea test to determine the efficacy of OAT. For long-term management, patients are expected to assess their sleep architecture at baseline, 1 month, 6 months, and yearly follow-ups to ensure good adherence and long-term prevention of life-threatening complications associated with OSA. For example, Belun Sleep System (BSP), using an FDA-cleared wearable Ring, offers an automated Home sleep test for patients with OSA.

Belun Sleep System (BSP) has the capability of monitoring and analyzing SpO2, heart rate variability (HRV), photoplethysmography (PPG) waveform, and accelerometer-derived actigraphy data. It can calculate an estimated apnea-hyponea index (bAHI). It can also differentiate wakefulness from sleep, perform sleep stage analysis and give REM and NREM sleep duration using its artificial intelligence platform. Furthermore, autonomic nervous system (ANS) activities, including sympathetic and parasympathetic activities, throughout the monitoring period. From the assessment provided by Belun Sleep System, objective sleep impairments data. Although polysomnography is currently the gold standard for measuring sleep quality, the test is costly, not easily available, and requires skilled sleep technicians for assessment. Going forward, Belun Sleep System herein serves to provide a cost-effective, readily available, automated, no-skilled technician-needed solution to dentists, sleep physicians, and patients with sleep-related disordered breathing population-wide.

Continued Reading :

Partnering with Belun :

Up to now, over a hundred organizations, including HK hospital authority hospitals, medical groups, clinic groups, dentists, and elderly centers selected to use the Belun Sleep System, Belun® Ring and Sleep App, and Belun® remoVital monitoring system. Many doctors read our medical journal papers, including: 

1) “Belun® Ring Platform: a novel home sleep apnea testing system for assessment of obstructive sleep apnea” (https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/10.5664/jcsm.8592),

2) “Detection of obstructive sleep apnea using Belun Sleep Platform wearable with neural network based algorithm and its combined use with STOP-Bang questionnaire” (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0258040),

3)Belun® Ring (Belun Sleep System BLS-100): Deep Learning-Facilitated Wearable Enables OSA Detection, Apnea Severity Categorization, and Sleep Stage Classification in Patients Suspected of OSA  (https://journals.lww.com/jhypertension/Abstract/2023/06000/The_Belun_sleep_platform_to_diagnose_obstructive.16.aspx), 

4) Correlation of Pulse Rate Variability(PRV) and Heart Rate Variability(HRV) Metrics During Sleep in Subjects Suspected of OSA (Accepted in SLEEP conference 2023, Abstract ID: 954).

If you would like to know more about how to adopt Belun’s solution in your organization or home use, please feel free to contact us to schedule a meeting by filling out the form below:

References:

1.          Benjafield AV, Ayas NT, Eastwood PR, Heinzer R, Ip MSM, Morrell MJ, et al. Estimation of the global prevalence and burden of obstructive sleep apnoea: a literature-based analysis. The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. 2019 Aug 1;7(8):687–98.

2.         Watson NF. Health Care Savings: The Economic Value of Diagnostic and Therapeutic Care for Obstructive Sleep Apnea. J Clin Sleep Med. 2016 Aug 15;12(8):1075–7.

3.         Steier J, Martin A, Harris J, Jarrold I, Pugh D, Williams A. Predicted relative prevalence estimates for obstructive sleep apnoea and the associated healthcare provision across the UK. Thorax. 2014 Apr 1;69(4):390–2.

4.         Guess NW, Fischbach H, Ni AA, Firestone AR. Referral rate for obstructive sleep apnea in a pre-doctoral dental clinic using the STOP-Bang Questionnaire. Journal of Dental Education. 2022;86(4):456–62.

5.         Knowledge, opinions, and clinical experience of general practice dentists toward obstructive sleep apnea and oral appliances – PubMed [Internet]. [cited 2022 Sep 7]. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15211392/

6.         Clinical Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Snoring with Oral Appliance Therapy: An Update for 2015 [Internet]. [cited 2022 Sep 5]. Available from: https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/epdf/10.5664/jcsm.4858

7.         Schwartz D, Addy N, Levine M, Smith H. Oral appliance therapy should be prescribed as a first-line therapy for OSA during the COVID-19 pandemic. J Dent Sleep Med [Internet]. 2020 Jul 10 [cited 2022 Sep 5];7(3). Available from: https://www.aadsm.org/docs/jdsm.7.10.2020.sa1.pdf

8.         Larrain A, Kapur VK, Gooley TA, Pope CE. Pharmacological treatment of obstructive sleep apnea with a combination of pseudoephedrine and domperidone. J Clin Sleep Med. 2010 Apr 15;6(2):117–23.

9.         Tanna N, Smith BD, Zapanta PE, Karanetz I, Andrews BT, Urata MM, et al. Surgical Management of Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2016 Apr;137(4):1263–72.

10.       Schwartz M, Acosta L, Hung YL, Padilla M, Enciso R. Effects of CPAP and mandibular advancement device treatment in obstructive sleep apnea patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sleep Breath. 2018 Sep;22(3):555–68.

11.       Sharples LD, Clutterbuck-James AL, Glover MJ, Bennett MS, Chadwick R, Pittman MA, et al. Meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials of oral mandibular advancement devices and continuous positive airway pressure for obstructive sleep apnoea-hypopnoea. Sleep Med Rev. 2016 Jun;27:108–24.

12.       Iftikhar IH, Bittencourt L, Youngstedt SD, Ayas N, Cistulli P, Schwab R, et al. Comparative efficacy of CPAP, MADs, exercise-training, and dietary weight loss for sleep apnea: a network meta-analysis. Sleep Med. 2017 Feb;30:7–14.

13.       Gupta MA, Simpson FC, Lyons DCA. The effect of treating obstructive sleep apnea with positive airway pressure on depression and other subjective symptoms: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sleep Med Rev. 2016 Aug;28:55–68.

14.       Health outcomes of continuous positive airway pressure versus oral appliance treatment for obstructive sleep apnea: a randomized controlled trial – PubMed [Internet]. [cited 2022 Sep 9]. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23413266/

15.       CPAP vs Mandibular Advancement Devices and Blood Pressure in Patients With Obstructive Sleep Apnea: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis | Cardiology | JAMA | JAMA Network [Internet]. [cited 2022 Sep 9]. Available from: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2473494

16.       Anandam A, Patil M, Akinnusi M, Jaoude P, El-Solh AA. Cardiovascular mortality in obstructive sleep apnoea treated with continuous positive airway pressure or oral appliance: an observational study. Respirology. 2013 Nov;18(8):1184–90.

17.       Hamoda MM, Kohzuka Y, Almeida FR. Oral Appliances for the Management of OSA: An Updated Review of the Literature. Chest. 2018 Feb 1;153(2):544–53.

18.       Tallamraju H, Newton JT, Fleming PS, Johal A. Factors influencing adherence to oral appliance therapy in adults with obstructive sleep apnea: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. 17(7):1485–98.

19.       Sawyer AM, Gooneratne NS, Marcus CL, Ofer D, Richards KC, Weaver TE. A systematic review of CPAP adherence across age groups: clinical and empiric insights for developing CPAP adherence interventions. Sleep Med Rev. 2011 Dec;15(6):343–56.

20.       Attali V, Chaumereuil C, Arnulf I, Golmard JL, Tordjman F, Morin L, et al. Predictors of long-term effectiveness to mandibular repositioning device treatment in obstructive sleep apnea patients after 1000 days. Sleep Med. 2016 Dec;27–28:107–14.

21.       Levine M, Bennett K, Cantwell M, Postol K, Schwartz D. Dental Sleep Medicine Standards for Screening, Treating, and Managing Adults with Sleep-Related Breathing Disorders. J Dent Sleep Med. 2018 Jul 10;5(3):61–8.

The post The Emerging Importance of Dental Sleep Medicine (Part 1) first appeared on Belun Technology.

Convenience is what we need nowadays. Technology can bring treatment accessibility to the mass, which we see as a way out for our worldwide ageing population and long-term chronic disease management. OSA is highly related to many of them. It also significantly saves government healthcare expenditures if we adopt preventive healthcare now. Belun embarks on this new company direction in “Preventive Healthcare Solutions” based on the health fingerprints collected in our six-year journey, which become a solid foundation of our AI algorithms.

The AI would predict risk to warn the individuals when detecting abnormalities before the situation worsens, thus minimizing health risk. In addition, Belun creates medical-grade wearables & solutions for screening sleep health, evaluating treatment effectiveness for chronic disease patients & predict health risks.

Do Wearables and AI shed light on OSA and sleep architecture?

Wearables have become more and more popular in sleep monitoring. Consumer utilization of sleep devices and apps is soaring. Combining the physiological data acquired by medical-grade wearables during sleep and AI, screening OSA at home has become feasible. Compared with manually scored polysomnography, the gold standard for diagnosing OSA, the award-winning Belun® Ring‘s accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of the apnea-hyponea index (AHI) and sleep stages from clinically validated technologies is as high as 85%.

Award-winning Belun® Ring is an FDA 510(k) cleared Class II device that uncovers sleep architecture. For the individual consumer, we provide health trends shown in the mobile apps that offer knowledge about personalized sleep stages, empowering the individual to self-manage health by improving habits that make their rest more productive, which means better recovery. See our products and services.

Growing interest among the dental community in OSA screening 

Since the American Dental Association issued a policy statement that addressed the dentist’s role in assessing patients’ risk for sleep-related breathing disorders in 2017, we see growing interest from the dental community in exploring OSA screening in their practices with Belun® Ring. In addition, we have programmes to cater to the dental practice; contact us for more information. (email to Jay) Recent youtube program with dentist in Hong Kong sharing how Belun® Ring help expand their practice to sleep health, thus retaining clients with more personalized services  (photo of Dentist / Doctor assessing patient) 

FDA-cleared Belun Ring &  clinically-validated AI sleep platform

Belun provides Sleep Test services through an evidence-based Sleep Health Platform. Our machine learning analysis has generated over 15,000+ sleep reports from 160M+ data segments worldwide. Moreover, it is a comfortable measurement with an FDA approved, small, lightweight, cableless, and ergonomically designed ring. It is a cost-effective test  conducted at home for multiple nights and without the hassles of staying in the hospital sleep lab overnight (usually only one night). With the proprietary AI algorithm for sleep analysis, it is fast and accurate with high sensitivity (0.85) and specificity (0.87) of Belun Ring-AHI (bAHI)≥ 15 in predicting PSG-AHI≥ 15 as well as significant correlations with PSG in both total sleep time (TST) and AHI. 

Global research collaborations contributing to big data of chronic disease management

Belun is currently in collaborations with different universities studying the relationship of OSA with multiple chronic diseases such as stroke, hypertension, dementia, cardiovascular disease… If you are in a similar research area, please get in touch with us to co-create the history of chronic disease management.

Partnering with Belun :

Up to now, over a hundred organizations, including HK hospital authority hospitals, medical groups, clinic groups, dentists, and elderly centers selected to use the Belun Sleep System, Belun® Ring and Sleep App, and Belun® remoVital monitoring system. Many doctors read our medical journal papers, including: 

1) “Belun® Ring Platform: a novel home sleep apnea testing system for assessment of obstructive sleep apnea” (https://jcsm.aasm.org/doi/10.5664/jcsm.8592),

2) “Detection of obstructive sleep apnea using Belun Sleep Platform wearable with neural network based algorithm and its combined use with STOP-Bang questionnaire” (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0258040),

3)Belun® Ring (Belun Sleep System BLS-100): Deep Learning-Facilitated Wearable Enables OSA Detection, Apnea Severity Categorization, and Sleep Stage Classification in Patients Suspected of OSA  (https://journals.lww.com/jhypertension/Abstract/2023/06000/The_Belun_sleep_platform_to_diagnose_obstructive.16.aspx), 

4) Correlation of Pulse Rate Variability(PRV) and Heart Rate Variability(HRV) Metrics During Sleep in Subjects Suspected of OSA (Accepted in SLEEP conference 2023, Abstract ID: 954).

If you would like to know more about how to adopt Belun’s solution in your organization or home use, please feel free to contact us to schedule a meeting by filling out the form below:

References

1. Kwon S, Kim H, Yeo WH. Recent advances in wearable sensors and portable electronics for sleep monitoring. iScience. 2021 Apr 21;24(5):102461. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102461.
2. de Zambotti M, Cellini N, Menghini L, Sarlo M, Baker FC. Sensors Capabilities, Performance, and Use of Consumer Sleep Technology. Sleep Med Clin. 2020 Mar;15(1):1-30. doi: 10.1016/j.jsmc.2019.11.003. Epub 2020 Jan 3.
3. Perez-Pozuelo I, Zhai B, Palotti J, Mall R, Aupetit M, Garcia-Gomez JM, Taheri S, Guan Y, Fernandez-Luque L. The future of sleep health: a data-driven revolution in sleep science and medicine. NPJ Digit Med. 2020 Mar 23;3:42. doi: 10.1038/s41746-020-0244-4.
4. Yetisen AK, Martinez-Hurtado JL, Ünal B, Khademhosseini A, Butt H. Wearables in Medicine. Adv Mater. 2018 Jun 11;30(33):e1706910. doi: 10.1002/adma.201706910.
5. Gu W, Leung L, Kwok KC, Wu IC, Folz RJ, Chiang AA. Belun Ring Platform: a novel home sleep apnea testing system for assessment of obstructive sleep apnea. J Clin Sleep Med. 2020 Sep 15;16(9):1611-1617. doi: 10.5664/jcsm.8592.
6. Jeremy R. Tietjens, David Claman, Eric J. Kezirian, Teresa De Marco, Armen Mirzayan, Bijan Sadroonri, Andrew N. Goldberg, Carlin Long, Edward P. Gerstenfeld and Yerem Yeghiazarians, Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Cardiovascular Disease: A Review of the Literature and Proposed Multidisciplinary Clinical Management Strategy. J American Heart Asso. 2019 Jan 8. 8(1). org/10.1161/JAHA.118.010440.
7. Night-to-night variability in obstructive sleep apnea using peripheral arterial tonometry: a case for multiple night testing. J ClinSleep Med. 2021 Sep 1; 17(9): 1751-1758. org/10.5664/jcsm.9300
8. The Healthy Sleep Project addresses the sleep health focus area of Healthy People 2020, which provides science-based, 10-year national objectives for improving the health of all Americans. The sleep health objectives are to increase the medical evaluation of people with symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea, reduce vehicular crashes due to drowsy driving and ensure more Americans get sufficient sleep. For more information, visit projecthealthysleep.org. 
9. https://aasm.org/rising-prevalence-of-sleep-apnea-in-u-s-threatens-public-health/
10. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanres/article/PIIS2213-2600(19)30198-5/fulltext

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