Do You Snore?

 

Sleep Apnea – What is it? And What You Need to Know

 

Sleep apnea is a condition where the individual stops breathing while asleep. These episodes can last for 10 seconds or much longer and can occur hundreds of times during the night.

 

This condition means the person can’t achieve the deeper levels of sleep required to maintain health. Sufferers often experience a wide variety of symptoms. Some of these include:

 

  • loud snoring
  • poor concentration during the day
  • falling asleep while driving
  • general drowsiness
  • reduced energy levels
  • gasping for air, or choking sounds followed by silence
  • morning headaches
  • waking up tired
  • decreased performance at work
  • reduced interest in sex
  • depression
  • irritability
  • dry mouth
  • gastro esophageal reflux disease (GERD)

 

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) also contributes to high blood pressure, heart attacks and stroke.

 

OSA currently affects more than 13 million people in the United States. Approximately 2% of women and 4% of men over the age of 35 are affected. This serious sleep disorder does not often get diagnosed as many people don’t even know its happening.

 

Now the Good News

 

Sleep apnea can be treated.

 

Simply losing weight can reduce or eliminate the condition, as extra weight in the neck area can cause the airway to collapse when you lie down to sleep.

 

Other treatments can include a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine. The CPAP device essentially blows air into the nose throughout the night to prevent the cessation of breathing.

 

Oral Airway Orthotics are now the number one recommended treatment for snoring and mild to moderate sleep apnea, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Orthotics such as the Silencer, EMA, SUAD and others can very often help these conditions.

 

Surgery is another possibility, although because it’s not reversible, we recommend this as a last option.

 

If you or your spouse has any of the above symptoms we urge you to contact The Healthy Smile Center at 440-992-2700.

 

More information on snoring and sleep apnea:

 

Snoring – the Cause and Treatments

 

A partially blocked airway is the cause of snoring. Often the tongue can fall back as we approach deeper sleep states. This causes the airway passage to shrink in size and the result is vibrations occurring in the throat - or snoring.

 

                              
Snoring can be an early warning sign of apnea. Most all sleep apnea sufferers snore in between bouts of apnea, or oxygen interruption.

 

Apnea sufferers awake exhausted, as they’ve been fighting for oxygen all night. Sleep should rejuvenate us and replenish our energies but for the apneic it does neither of these things.

 

Sleep apnea can also cause learning or memory disabilities, as well as periods of nodding off while on the phone or at work. Sleep apnea patients are at a much greater risk of having auto accidents.

 

Most often it’s the spouse who is aware of the apnea problem.   They hear the snoring that the apnea sufferer can’t.   In fact, snoring can be a leading cause of divorce.   A recent study by the Rush University Medical Center in Illinois has shown that couples who struggle with sleep apnea (snoring) have a high divorce rate.  

 

In our office, the first step in treating snoring and mild or moderate sleep apnea is screening with Acoustic Reflection Technology (ART).   ART uses sound waves to quickly and painlessly map your airway.   This allows us to compare your normal daytime airway volume and note changes that occur in sleep.   We can also use ART to predict whether an Oral Airway Orthotic will work for you.   After this screening, we refer you to a sleep center, where a sleep study determines the severity of the problem.   If you are diagnosed with primary snoring or mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea, then an Oral Airway Orthotic will have a high probability of effectively treating your condition.

 

For a diagnosis of severe sleep apnea, the standard of care is a CPAP machine.   While this device is very effective in treating this condition, many patients are not able to tolerate wearing it for various reasons.   The good news is that for those not able to tolerate their CPAP, oral orthotics have been shown to be an effective alternative treatment in many cases.


In cases such as this we often recommend one of several oral appliances. These will help keep the airway open while you sleep and in most cases either solves or reduces the problem.

 

There is a 96% success rate with these oral appliances.

 

If you experience any of the symptoms above be sure to ask us about treatment options.