David Jaramillo – I had originally come in for a teeth cleaning at Dr. Briglia’s office which, under examination, Dr. Briglia had realized that I was being obstructed from breathing properly, so he had recommended to me to go get a sleep study done. When I saw a pulmonologist, the pulmonologist said to me, “What brought you to this conclusion?” I said, “Well, my dentist did,” and he was a little shocked that I actually said that. So he gave me a sleep study. Well, on that sleep study, it turns out my breathing pattern stopped 77 times an hour. I stopped breathing!

Were you usually tired throughout the day? When I first started out in this whole journey, as I call it, the journey, I would wake up in the morning exhausted, even though I knew I went to bed and I got six, seven hours of sleep, I was not getting good REM sleep, nothing - I was exhausted all day long, my alertness was down, I would have to literally pull over and take naps in my truck - totally wrong.

How did Dr. Briglia set you up with the TAP appliance and how is it working for you? When I told Dr. Briglia, who originally diagnosed me with sleep apnea, the problems I felt with the CPAP machine, at which point he said to me, “Well Jake, why don’t we try a TAP appliance?” And I said, “What is that?” And he told me, “Basically, it goes in your mouth, it keeps your jaw from slipping backwards, and it keeps your airway open”. Well, they took the impressions and then in a couple of weeks I had my TAP appliance. I went home, I tried this, I have not been the same since. I sleep seven hours minimum a night; I don’t get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom; my sleep is uninterrupted; all my vitals have gone down. I am in great, great physical shape. It is all due to what I have gone through here at Dr. Briglia’s office.

What positive physical changes have you seen since using the TAP appliance? I have lost a tremendous amount of weight, I don’t feel the urge to overeat anymore, I got plenty of energy now, I feel phenomenal. My blood work has all been done by my primary doctor; everything is getting better, my cholesterol is lower, my blood pressure is down, my blood sugar is down, all because of this TAP appliance.

What would you say to someone that thinks they may have sleep apnea or has been told they snore loudly when they sleep? I would tell anyone, if you wake yourself up frequently in the middle of the night, get a sleep study done, make sure that you do have sleep apnea and then come see Dr. Briglia. Dr. Briglia’s office can definitely set you up for that, and you will not regret it; this is a life-changing apparatus.