FRANKLIN, TN – For decades, a diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea came with a singular “solution”—a bulky CPAP machine and a future of tubing, noise, and discomfort. But for Dr. Allison Wilson, a seasoned dentist turned sleep wellness advocate, knew there had to be a better way.
“As a clinician, I always did what was best interest of my patients,” Dr. Wilson said.
That other way? Oral appliance therapy, a compact, quiet, and non-invasive alternative to CPAP that’s changing lives across the country. And right here in Middle Tennessee, The Snore Store, Dr. Wilson’s Franklin-based clinic, is leading the charge.
After 18 years working alongside her father in a Los Angeles dental practice that had been operating since 1969, the COVID-19 pandemic triggered what she describes as a “personal crisis” and “midlife crisis” that fundamentally changed her outlook on healthcare.
“I was supposed to take over that business and COVID-19 hit,” she explains. “For me it was like this great aha moment of why am I always listening to what I’m told?”
The pandemic restrictions in Los Angeles particularly affected her family life and as a healthcare professional, she felt that things could have been handled better regarding restrictions and protocols. “The moment that happened, I’m talking day one, I told my husband we’re moving.”
This philosophical shift led her to reevaluate the very foundations of medicine as she had practiced it. “I changed philosophically about how I thought about the world and didn’t like what medicine was doing.
That is when they relocated to Franklin in 2022 and made it their mission to not march to anyone else’s drum, especially from those who were not in the healthcare industry themselves.
After relocating to Tennessee, she initially attempted to continue practicing dentistry by working for others rather than starting her own practice from scratch. With young children at the time, she didn’t want to commit to the demanding schedule of running her own dental practice.
However, her experience working for a corporate dental entity quickly soured. “I hated every second of it,” she says bluntly. That is when she knew that is was time for her to make her healthcare passions come true, open her own store.
During this period of professional uncertainty, she began experiencing snoring issues herself. “My husband a couple times left the room because it was bothering him so much,” she explains. This personal challenge led her to research solutions, finding that most over-the-counter remedies were ineffective.
Through her dental connections, she learned about a specialized laser treatment for snoring, specifically targeting what’s known as “palatal flutter,” which causes approximately 85 percent of snoring cases. The treatment uses light therapy to stimulate collagen remodeling in the soft palate, effectively tightening the tissue and opening the airway.
This discovery coincided with her growing disillusionment with traditional healthcare approaches. “I was thinking of leaving medicine altogether.” she says. “It’s just rethinking how we treat people.”
Rather than incorporating snoring treatment into a general dental practice, which would require patients to transfer records, get x-rays, and undergo full dental exams, she envisioned a streamlined approach and The Snore Store was born.
“Someone should just open up an independent store just for snoring,” she explains. “If you just created a shop, where it’s a very simple procedure where you can just come in, you skip all the red tape.” The Solea Laser is a one-of-a-kind device that offers minimally invasive, fast, and pain-free results and aftercare.
This concept became a specialized clinic focused exclusively on treating snoring and sleep-related breathing disorders. The business model eliminates the bureaucratic hurdles typically associated with medical treatments while still leveraging her dental expertise and licensing to perform the laser procedures.
What began as a focused treatment for snoring has evolved to address the broader and more serious issue of sleep apnea. “Sleep apnea is very real and it’s a medical issue of life and death,” she emphasizes, noting that approximately 50 percent of her snoring patients have either diagnosed, undiagnosed, or untreated sleep apnea.
Her practice is now expanding to include oral appliance therapy (OAT), an alternative to the traditional CPAP machines that many patients find uncomfortable or inconvenient.
She’s also implementing at-home sleep testing to make diagnosis more accessible. “When you make it easy, then you don’t give the patients their excuses,” she explains.
The transition from traditional dentistry to specialized sleep treatment aligns with her evolving healthcare philosophy. “Not the pharmaceutical route, not the crazy stuff. Just really simple things of just good sleep, good airway,” she explains.
She’s particularly concerned about the lack of sleep testing in general medical practice. “Most of the doctors aren’t getting their patients sleep tested. Why is that not the first thing you do on your patients that are having medical issues? That should be standard of care.” She believes sleep should not be a specialty but a standard in our healthcare system.
She hopes in the future other medical specialists including gynecologists, neurologists, cardiologists and more will encourage more routine sleep testing for patients.
Currently operating in Franklin, Tennessee, The Snore Store has already attracted patients from as far away as Kentucky and Michigan.
“Eventually I’d like to make it a chain,” she says, noting that The Snore Store is on its’ way to becoming a revolutionary clinic in sleep health.
With a commitment to work-life balance and a clear vision for addressing what she calls “an ocean of need” in sleep health, this former dentist is carving out a unique niche in healthcare that prioritizes simplicity, accessibility, and effectiveness over traditional medical bureaucracy.
For those suffering from snoring or potential sleep apnea, The Snore Store offers a refreshingly straightforward approach to treatment that could quite literally be life-changing. Visit their website or give them a call at (855) 766-7385 for better sleep, for you and your loved ones.
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