Owensboro resident Cathryn Bonar recently helped spearhead the development of an innovative oral appliance to treat sleep apnea.
Bonar serves as the Senior Vice President for Compliance at Vivos, a Colorado-based specification development company. She and her team created the device, which is a Modified Mandibular Repositioning Nighttime Appliance (mmRNA).
The device resembles a retainer and similarly fits in a user’s mouth. Bonar and her crew joined forces with Todd Huntsman and the innovation team at Vivos to create the device, which recently gained FDA approval.
“Our clients are independent dentists from all over the country,” Bonar said. “We rely on them to work in conjunction with medical doctors. The doctors provide the diagnosis through a sleep test, and the dentists provide the appliance. I called (Huntsman) a couple of years ago and told him we had to get a device so that patients could begin billing Medicare.”
Bonar led the effort to get the device recognized by the FDA, which would ease the intensive process of obtaining Medicare compliance. From design to FDA approval, the entire process took 2 years.
“It’s a big feat when dealing with the FDA — that (approval) process took nearly 5 months to complete,” she said. “It’s exciting because now not only can we treat adults, but also seniors that are 65 and older and use Medicare.”
Bonar said that the implementation is non-evasive, non-surgical, non-pharmaceutical, and practically pain-free. Vivos claims that in most cases, people are only in treatment for 18-24 months.
“We need more dentists and doctors in the Owensboro area to get involved,” Bonar said. “We are seeing in most cases that patients are doing much better — the results are pretty astounding.”
Bonar is originally from Louisana and met her husband Jonathan while attending Liberty University in Virginia. Jonathan is the senior pastor at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, and the couple has three children.
Johnathan is a Stage 4 cancer survivor and it was his battle that Bonar said brought the family closer than ever. She enjoys spending her weekdays in the corporate world and her weekends leading worship with her family.
“My husband is a cancer survivor, and that process really brought us close — he was only given an 8% survival chance,” Bonar said. “The corporate world has always been a passion of mine. So many people helped us that I decided I wanted to dedicate my life in the corporate world to help people. I love that I get to make a difference with my team.”
Bonar added that the move to Owensboro offered a more pleasant pace and would be an ideal place for her to spend her retirement. She and Jonathan moved here just over a year ago from West Palm Beach, Fla.
“We love Owensboro — south Florida was so fast-paced,” she said. “I’ve always loved smaller towns, and I love (Owensboro’s) downtown. Downtown is my favorite place. I love to come home from a long business trip and going down there to relax. We love the people too.”
Bonar said sleep apnea is a severe condition that affects one billion people. Vivos became a publicly-traded company in December of last year. For more information on Vivos, access their website here.
