A dental orthotic covering a plurality of teeth is provided for improving various obstructive syndromes of the human upper airway. The orthotic may be relatively thickened on the lingual side of the orthotic, compared to the facial or occlusal side and in particular may relatively thickened in the more posterior aspects of the lingual side of the orthotic as compared to the more anterior aspects of the lingual side of the orthotic. The orthotic may be formed of one piece or two, and may be purely mandibular, or may be coupled to a maxillary orthotic. A method of progressive fitting of the orthotic for optimization of a patients blood oxygen level is described.