PEEP Guard™ by iHeart Sleep
Four levels, from a straightforward custom mandibular advancement device up to a measured, medically monitored course of treatment. Each one is custom made and supervised by a dentist, and each has its own published evidence set out below.
The consultant call is free and nothing is booked in for treatment. Assessment is booked separately from the appliance: a $99 consultation with a dentist works out which level suits your case, and is credited in full toward treatment.
This product is delivered under the supervision of medical and dental practitioners and is not available for purchase direct to the public.
Devices and prices
All four are custom-made from a digital scan or impression of your own teeth, fitted and adjusted by a dentist. What changes between them is the technology inside the appliance and how closely the result is measured.
iHeart Sleep Basic
$1,199custom mandibular advancement device
about $3.30 a day over 12 months, interest-free
Indicated for Snoring and mild to moderate sleep apnoea, where jaw position is the main driver.
Holds your lower jaw forward during sleep to keep the airway open. The same class of appliance most sleep dentists supply, made to the same standard.
PEEP Guard
$1,799… plus the integrated air channel
about $4.95 a day over 12 months, interest-free
Indicated for Where jaw advancement alone has not been enough — and for people who breathe through the mouth at night, or cannot breathe freely through the nose.
Adds iACT™ — an air channel built through the body of the appliance, stabilising the tongue as well as allowing air to continue to flow in the presence of nasal obstruction and soft palate collapse.
+20% reduction
in the breathing events still remaining after mandibular advancement, measured in people a standard device had not helped.2
Similar results with a blocked nose
In a study of an appliance with a built-in airway, the fall in breathing events was much the same in the 17 of 29 participants who reported nasal obstruction as in those who did not.6
PEEP Guard Essential
$2,199… plus the PEEP Shield valve
about $6.05 a day over 12 months, interest-free
Indicated for Moderate to severe sleep apnoea, where pressure is needed as well as jaw position.
Adds PEEP Shield™ — a one-way valve that uses your own breathing out to generate pressure inside the airway, which is the principle CPAP uses mechanically.
+53% reduction
in the events still remaining — 12.6 down to 5.9 an hour — when the valve was added to an appliance that already had the air channel.3
PEEP Guard Complete
$2,499… plus monitored optimisation
about $6.85 a day over 12 months, interest-free
Indicated for Where the result has to be measured — severe disease, occupational requirements, or a previous treatment failure.
The same appliance as Essential, with the treatment measured rather than assumed: how much you wear it, and what your oxygen levels do, recorded before and after the appliance is optimised.
Assessment is a separate service from the appliance. The $99 consultation is with a dentist and is credited in full toward treatment; the consultant call is free. If you hold dental extras, the appliance is usually claimable under item 984 — typically a $400 to $1,200 benefit, limited by what your policy allows each year, or up to 70% back with top-level cover such as HBF’s Top 70. Some corporate and union funds are higher again. We check your actual cover with you at no charge before you commit.
The figures above are from separate studies in different groups of people. They do not add together, and none is a prediction about your own result — which is why treatment starts with an assessment. Full references at the foot of this page.
How to start
Which appliance suits your mouth is a clinical decision, so it is made first and charged on its own — none of the prices above include it. The $99 is credited in full toward your treatment if you go ahead, so going through the assessment costs you nothing extra.
A call to go through your situation, what a sleep study would involve if you have not had one, and which levels are worth considering. Nothing is booked in for treatment.
A clinical consultation to examine your teeth and jaw and decide which of the four levels suits your case. Credited in full toward treatment if you go ahead. Most appliances need two visits; this is the first.
From the clinician who developed it — and wears it
Conventional oral appliances work by moving the lower jaw forward. They help many people — but for some, jaw advancement alone doesn't control the problem.
I'm Dr Chris Hart. I'm a dental sleep clinician and researcher — and I'm one of the people this affects. I've spent years asking whether oral appliance therapy could do more than reposition the jaw — whether it could also manage airflow and pressure through the airway. That question is what led to the integrated air channel and to oral EPAP.
I designed it, I ran the clinical trials, I wear it, and I fit it for patients.
PEEP Guard is the result.
video/why-i-built-it.mp4Dr Chris Hart on why he developed the technology — 38 seconds. Plays without sound; tap for audio.
A quick self-check
Sleep apnoea is easy to miss, because most of it happens while you are asleep and the daytime signs get blamed on age, stress or a busy life. Tick anything you have noticed in the last few months.
Please act on this one now.
Falling asleep at the wheel is a medical emergency, not an inconvenience, and avoiding driving while you are this sleepy matters more than anything else on this page. Call us on 0458 914 390 — we can arrange a sleep study for you, usually done at home. If you would rather start with your own GP or a sleep physician, do that promptly instead. Either way the assessment comes first, and it is not something to put off.
A short call with our clinical team. No cost, and nothing is booked in for treatment.
This self-check is an awareness tool only. It does not provide a diagnosis and no result from it should be relied on as one. Sleep apnoea is diagnosed from a sleep study, not from a questionnaire.
How it works
The appliance holds your lower jaw forward, which carries the tongue base with it and widens the airway behind it. This is the mechanism every custom sleep appliance uses, and it is what iHeart Sleep Basic does.
A channel moulded through the appliance itself, giving air a route past a closed mouth and a retruded tongue. Added at PEEP Guard.
A one-way valve lets you breathe in freely and resists breathing out, so your own exhalation holds pressure in the airway. Expiratory positive airway pressure, generated without a machine. Added at PEEP Guard Essential.
Already tried a mouthguard?
A conventional appliance works on one thing: jaw position. Sleep apnoea usually has more than one driver, so a partial result is common and is not a verdict on the whole approach.
The randomised airway-open/airway-closed study was run in exactly this group. In people who had not responded to a mandibular advancement device, opening the integrated air channel reduced the events still remaining by about 20%.2 That is one study in one group of people, and it is not a prediction about your case — but it is the reason a previous appliance failing is worth a conversation rather than a conclusion.
| iHeart Sleep Basic | PEEP Guard Essential | CPAP | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mandibular advancement | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Integrated air channel | — | ✓ iACT™ | — |
| Positive airway pressure | — | ✓ oral EPAP | ✓ continuous |
| Mask, hose, bedside machine | — | — | Required |
| Worn in the mouth | ✓ | ✓ | — |
CPAP is an effective treatment when it is used consistently, and we are not going to tell you otherwise. The question is which treatment you will still be using in a year.
Questions
Obstructive sleep apnoea has several different drivers, and response to any oral appliance varies between individuals. What we can do is assess your sleep study, your severity, your anatomy and your treatment history, and give you an honest view on whether this approach is worth trying. That is exactly what the free consultation is for.
CPAP uses a bedside pump to deliver continuous positive pressure through a hose and mask, across the whole breathing cycle. PEEP Guard is worn in the mouth and uses your own exhaled breath to generate expiratory positive airway pressure, alongside mandibular advancement and an integrated air channel. They are different treatments that share the principle of positive airway pressure.
Yes — a diagnosis matters, and so does a reasonably recent one. If you have a sleep study, have it handy for your consultation. If you don't, or yours is quite old, we'll talk you through your options for getting one.
Four levels, listed in full further up this page. iHeart Sleep Basic is $1,199, PEEP Guard $1,799, PEEP Guard Essential $2,199 and PEEP Guard Complete $2,499. Each includes a number of follow-up consultations, from one on Basic to unlimited on Complete.
Compliance monitoring and overnight oximetry are included with PEEP Guard Complete, as monitored optimisation.
If you hold dental extras, the appliance is usually claimable under item 984 as major dental or, on some policies, orthodontics. What your fund pays depends on the policy and on how much of your annual limit is left, so we check your actual cover rather than estimate it.
Assessment is separate. A consultation with one of our clinical consultants is free. A $99 consultation with a dentist, to work out which of the four suits your case, is credited in full toward treatment if you go ahead.
If you hold dental extras, the appliance is usually claimable under item 984 as major dental or, on some policies, orthodontics. What your fund pays varies a great deal: some funds pay a substantial benefit, some pay a small fixed amount, and some pay nothing at all. We would rather check your actual policy than guess. We give you the item numbers so you can check your own entitlement, and our clinical team will do that check with you at no charge before you commit.
Payment plans are provided by SmileRight with no interest and a deposit payable with your first payment. The figures on this page are quoted over 12 months; longer terms are available at participating practices, and we are one, so a smaller payment over a longer term can be arranged if that suits you better. Interest does apply if repayments are not made on time, and SmileRight may charge fees.
On our fees that is roughly $3.30 a day for iHeart Sleep Basic, $4.95 for PEEP Guard, $6.05 for Essential and $6.85 for Complete over 12 months. Your deposit, and any benefit your fund pays on the day, both reduce the amount financed and so reduce the payment.
If you hold dental extras, there is a second option. Rather than financing the whole fee, book the free insurance check — we work out what your fund pays and what you are actually left out of pocket, and that gap can be spread interest-free over up to 12 months. We do not quote a daily figure for it here, because the gap depends on your policy and your remaining limit, and we would rather tell you the real number than a likely one.
We also accept Afterpay, humm, PayPal and Square.
Applications are subject to SmileRight’s credit approval. Their terms, fees and eligibility criteria are set by them, not by us, and are set out in the offer you receive when you apply.
Next step
A short call with our clinical team. They will go through your diagnosis, your sleep study and what you have already tried, tell you honestly whether this is worth trying for you, and check what your fund would pay. Nothing is booked in for treatment.
Australia-wide · No cost and no obligation