Our Sleep Solutions and Process

Go to bluesleep.com. Log in or register and then select an appointment time. You’ll need a credit card to finalize the appointment. Once you select a time, be sure to fill out the sleep questionnaire before your first appointment.

In most cases, your provider will schedule your follow-up visit. Depending on your diagnosis and treatment plan after the first visit, your provider may recommend a home sleep test and schedule your follow-up visit in 10-14 days to share the results with you. Your provider will also set up a visit for your oral scan. Once your oral device arrives by mail, please call 212 683-0174 to set up an appointment to properly fit your device.

Yes. All new patients must complete the sleep questionnaire before their first visit. Existing patients who have not been seen for three years must also complete the questionnaire.

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To cancel your visit, call us at 212 683-0174 at least 24 hours prior to the appointment to avoid a no show fee.

You will always see a specialty sleep provider trained and overseen by our Medical Director. Depending on the day’s schedule, you’ll be seen by a medical doctor (MD), physician assistant (PA) or a nurse practitioner (NP).

BlueSleep performs sleep apnea and snoring evaluations online. We’ve treated over 20,000 sleep patients. Simply go to BlueSleep.com to make a convenient appointment with one of our providers. We accept most insurances (Aetna, Cigna, Oxford, United, Blue Cross, GHI, Medicare, and others).

You’ll likely need a home sleep test if you haven’t had one within the last few years. We are currently using personal disposable home sleep tests that will be shipped to your home after an online consultation with our sleep specialist. Home sleep tests are covered by insurance only when prescribed by a health care provider and only when necessary due to a high suspicion of sleep apnea.

A second telemedicine visit is scheduled to review the results of your sleep test and discuss treatment options. If you choose treatment with an oral appliance, you can either go to one of our facilities for a digital scan of your teeth or we’ll ship a home impression (mold) kit. Our staff will assist you with the dental impressions during a scheduled virtual visit.

If you choose treatment with CPAP, we’ll arrange for a CPAP company to deliver the equipment to your home. Insurance usually covers this treatment, and the CPAP provider will verify coverage for you. Once you’ve received the CPAP, you’ll make an appointment with our sleep specialist to review the use and efficacy of the treatment.

Insurance coverage for oral appliance treatment requires a diagnosis of sleep apnea and symptoms other than just snoring. Our staff and billing team performs pre-authorization for in-network coverage of the treatment and communicates with you regarding any financial responsibility, which may include copays, coinsurance, and deductibles, prior to ordering the appliance.

We’ll then ship or email the impressions to the dental lab or manufacturer to make your appliance. You should know that Blue Cross and Medicare limit the types of appliances they will pay for - this is beyond our control. If you want a different type of appliance, not covered by Blue Cross or Medicare, this becomes a self-pay service. We’ve made thousands of oral appliances for our patients, and we work with many manufacturers and dental labs including: Panthera, Prosomnus, Glidewell, Whole You, Somnomed, Dynaflex, Oventus, and others.

We’ll ship the appliance to your home and schedule a virtual fitting session with our staff to instruct you on its use and care. If you require in person adjustments, we’ll schedule a visit in one of our facilities.

The time it takes for you to receive your oral appliance depends on how quickly your insurance provides a pre-authorization, and how quickly the lab manufactures the appliance. The process can take as little as 2 weeks, and as long as 3 months or more for some payers.

We’ll ship a home sleep test usually 4 to 8 weeks after you’ve started using the appliance and have adjusted it according to the quality of your sleep. We suggest using the "Snore Lab" app on your smartphone, in addition to observations from your bed partner, and your overall daytime function and energy levels; to help you titrate (adjust) your appliance.

Virtual or in person visits are scheduled every 6-12 months thereafter to assure proper efficacy of the treatment, and proper fit of the appliance. If you have any questions, please contact [email protected].

BlueSleep only treats adults patients beginning at 18 years old.

Aside from an in-person visit to scan your teeth for the sleep apnea oral appliance, all visits are by telemedicine. If a scan is not possible, we’ll send you a home dental impression kit, so we can use it to make your custom-made oral appliance for treatment for sleep apnea.

Log on instructions will be emailed or texted from BlueSleep. Be sure to check your junk folder.

In many cases your telemedicine visit can be scheduled the same day depending on availability.

The dental scan is high speed photography taken with a small wand placed in your mouth by our dental technicians and dentists. The scans are performed in our physical locations.

The dental scans are done by our dentists and dental technicians. There are no x-rays or radiation. These are high resolution photographs that are reconstructed by computer technology to give us a very detailed reproduction of all your upper and lower teeth. This allows us to send your dental impressions to the dental lab for the production of the sleep apnea appliance.

If you need to replace your oral appliance and have had major dental work, then we recommend you have a new dental scan so the device will fit properly.

If you can’t come to one of our physical locations we’ll send you a mold kit and set up a telemedicine visit to walk you through the process of taking your own dental impressions.

If your teeth are healthy the molds won’t damage your teeth. If you have loose teeth let our staff know as you are not a candidate for either a mold or an oral appliance. We’ll recommend CPAP until your teeth are repaired.

The first time using your oral device, insert it one hour before bedtime. After an hour, if you’re not having sensitivity or pain, attempt sleeping with the device in place. If it’s too sensitive, remove and try again the next night. Repeat this process until you’re able to comfortably wear the device for one hour before falling asleep. Then reduce the amount of time to 15 minutes before bedtime.

After using the device for one week while sleeping, evaluate your sleep. Use an app called SnoreLab or ask your bed partner. If you’re still snoring, waking at night, etc. then titrate the device.

Not one size or type of device fits all. BlueSleep recommends the best, FDA-approved devices and helps you adjust or “titrate” them, so you get the right fit for comfort, affordability, and effectiveness. Please follow this link to learn how to titrate your oral appliance.

EMA, Herbst, Silent Nite

When you wake up, remove the device and clean it with a toothbrush and a mild cleanser such as antibacterial hand soap. Rinse thoroughly with cold water only, dry, and place in the case.

Panthera

Using a soft bristle toothbrush, gently brush under running cold water. Soak all day in Novadent original appliance cleanser. Before inserting, rinse thoroughly under running cold water. Change the cleaning solution weekly.

For Panthera, once a week you may also use Arm & Hammer whitening toothpaste mixed with a little water to form a paste, brush with a soft bristle toothbrush and let it sit for 30 minutes. Rinse thoroughly.

When you first start wearing your device, you may experience some pain in your teeth and your jaw. This is normal. The discomfort usually wears off after several hours of removing the device. If the discomfort lasts much longer, and does not improve after a week or two of night-time use, it may need adjustment by our staff in person.

If you’re having any pain, rest your jaw and eat soft foods. Warm, wet compresses and massage can alleviate the dull, aching sensation while getting accustomed to the device.

Fifteen minutes after removing your device, insert the bite plate (AM aligner) and gently close together lining up your teeth. Hold until your bite feels normal, roughly 10 minutes.

If your appliance broke please email us [email protected] and explain what happened and attach pictures of your appliance. Appliances have different warranties against damage that occurs with normal use. The warranties don’t cover loss or damage from dogs or other accidental breakage. If your appliance is under warranty the dental lab will want you to send the broken appliance back to them. If we took the measurement with a digital scan, then most likely, all we need to do is order a new appliance and send it to you. Remember, you must send us pictures of your broken appliance. We’ll need to send the broken appliance back to the lab to get the new one covered by the warranty.

There are many factors that determine the time for you to get your device. The first is that if you are using your medical insurance, we must obtain a pre-approval from your medical insurance to cover the cost of the treatment. This can take from one to four weeks, and sometimes longer. This is the longest step in the process, and depends on the insurance company's response. Once we have the approval from your insurance, we transmit the digital file of your impressions to the lab. The production time takes from one to three weeks. Once the device has been produced, it’s shipped to your home. You’ll receive your device 4 weeks or more after you’ve had your dental scan. Longer delays are due to delays with insurance company pre-authorizations. If you’re not using medical insurance, then you can get your appliance within one to two weeks.

Some patients prefer to have a spare device in case they lose one or break one. You can get two appliances at the time of the initial order of your device, for an additional fee that is NOT covered by your insurance . This fee depends on the type of appliance you’re ordering.

Your CPAP was prescribed by our doctors, but the machine and supplies are provided by a CPAP "Durable Medical Equipment" company. They’re contracted by your health insurance plan to provide the CPAP, supplies, maintenance, and service. If your CPAP machine is not functioning properly, call the CPAP company. Most BlueSleep patients receive their CPAP from one of the companies below.

Nationwide Medical: 877-307-2727

Adapt health: [email protected]

Classic Sleep Care: [email protected]

Other: Call the DME company that sends you CPAP supplies, or the online store or other store from which you purchased your CPAP.

If there’s nothing wrong with the CPAP machine but you’re having difficulty adapting to the CPAP treatment, or believe it’s not effective, make an appointment at www.bluesleep.com. Make sure to tell our Help Team that you need an appointment to discuss your CPAP issues, as we have specialized team members for this service.

In order to get CPAP supplies paid by your health plan and delivered by your CPAP company, you need (1) a telemedicine or in-person evaluation at least once a year with BlueSleep and (2) you have to be compliant with CPAP. Compliance is used by health plans to decide whether or not to pay for your CPAP and supplies. To be “compliant” you must be using CPAP at least 5 out of 7 days a week, for at least 4 hours each night. This is the minimum required to get the most out of your treatment and keep enough oxygen going to your heart, brain, and all other organs -use it all the time if you can! If you cannot use your CPAP, contact us and we can discuss a non-CPAP treatment such as a medical sleep apnea mouth guard or make a referral for sleep apnea surgery.

Many Philips Respironics CPAPs have been recalled. Go to the Philips website and sign up for a replacement CPAP. The replacement process can take up to a year according to Philips. Make sure to schedule an appointment with the BlueSleep medical team to discuss alternative treatments while you’re waiting for your replacement CPAP.

Once the order is sent, the CPAP company will contact you to arrange the delivery time. It usually takes between 3 to 4 weeks to receive the machine.

If your last visit was within the year, please contact [email protected]. The prescription will be emailed to you. If your last visit was more than a year ago, please email [email protected] to book a CPAP follow up visit.

Please contact [email protected] to schedule an appointment. A BlueSleep provider will discuss your issues with the CPAP and recommend an alternative treatment. The office will inform the CPAP company accordingly.