ReviewCanadian respiratory journal2018
Tongue Function: An Underrecognized Component in the Treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea with Mandibular Repositioning Appliance.
Review in Canadian respiratory journal, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mandibular Oral Tori Predict the Presence but Not the Severity of Obstructive Sleep Apnoea. A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Literature.Journal of oral rehabilitation · 2025Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of Oral Modifications Caused by the Prolonged Application of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) and Intraoral Appliances in Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA).BioMed research international · 2024Pooled it
- Trial
- A Novel Approach to the Study of Pathophysiology in Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea Using the Iowa Oral Performance Instrument (IOPI).Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Different Oral Appliance Designs Demonstrate Different Rates of Efficacy for the Treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea: A Review Article.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Analysis of cervical tracheal characteristics of obstructive sleep apnoea-hypopnoea syndrome patients using ultrasound.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- A Missing Voice: The Lingual Complex and Osteopathic Manual Medicine in the Context of Five Osteopathic Models.Cureus · 2021Review
- Custom-Made Dual-Functional Oral Appliance for Management of Obstructive Sleep Apneic Completely Edentulous Patient.Cureus · 2021Article
- A consideration of factors affecting palliative oral appliance effectiveness for obstructive sleep apnea: a scoping review.Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common but still underrecognized disorder. A mandibular repositioning appliance (MRA) is used to treat OSA by advancing the mandible and thereby reducing the collapsibility of the upper airway. It has been found that an MRA increases the volume of the upper airway, especially the velopharyngeal area, in OSA patients. We hypothesize that this increase in the velopharyngeal volume is associated with an anterior displacement of the tongue, but likely not with a stretching of the soft tissue connecting the soft palate, lateral pharynx, palatopharyngeal arch, and mandible. Since the function and structure of the genioglossus and hypoglossal nerve are always abnormal in patients with OSA, the tongue does not always move simultaneously with the mandible when an MRA is being used. Oropharyngeal exercises, especially tongue exercises, can improve the quality of life of OSA patients, including reduction of daytime sleepiness and snoring, better quality of sleep, and partial decrease in the AHI. Further, in animal models, tongue exercise is also found to be effective in tongue function recovery and in the remodeling of the hypoglossal nucleus. We suggest that a combination of tongue exercises along with MRA is a promising approach for patients who do not respond to an MRA alone.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.