Sleep apnea is a fairly common medical condition that affects millions of Americans every day and, in some cases, can have life-threatening side effects. To get the right kind of help for your apnea, it first helps to understand the causes of this sleep condition, what the different causes mean for treatment, and how you may be able to find treatment as easily as going to your local dentist and having them prescribe you the right kind of dental appliance.
Before we talk about the causes, we first would like to describe what the condition is and how it affects people as they try to sleep.
As the name suggests, this condition is a sleep disorder. Unlike other disorders that cause people to behave in certain ways, such as night terrors, sleepwalking, or sleep talking, this condition affects how a person respirates while sleeping. Without enough oxygen, a person can suffer severe side effects and consequences. Depending on the specific type of apnea, the reason for the disruption in breathing changes, and that also changes how the condition is treated.
There are currently three types of apnea disorders that a person can suffer from. To understand the proper treatment, it is necessary to know what type you have and how it affects the body.
Obstructive is the most common type of apnea and the one that most people with the condition suffer from. In the case of obstructive apnea, the airway becomes closed off due to the position of the jaw and throat while a person attempts to sleep. The body is sometimes unable to remove this obstruction and get normal airflow, which leads to apnea symptoms like sleep deprivation, migraines, brain fog, and other symptoms.
This type of condition can be treated by several means, including forcing air into the patient and realigning the airway for improved airflow.
Central apnea is a brain disorder in which a signal from the brain that tells the body to breathe intermittently interrupts. When this happens, a person quite literally forgets to stop breathing. Because of the nature of this apnea, the only treatment is using a sleep machine that forces air into the patient’s body, keeping their body oxygenated.
Complex apnea is a combination of both obstructive and central apnea. The patient may stop breathing due to airway obstruction and may also have trouble with brain signals, causing them to stop breathing intermittently. In most cases, a breathing machine is also used to treat this form of apnea.
If you have obstructive apnea, which, as we said, is the most common form of the condition, there is a good chance that you can avoid the sleep clinics and the bulky breathing machines and instead head straight to the dentist.
If you have already been diagnosed with obstructive apnea, the dentist can prescribe you a custom-made mouthguard to wear while you sleep. The purpose of this mouthguard is to move the jaw forward, thereby repositioning the throat to relieve the obstruction and provide better airflow. While it will not completely cure the apnea, it can vastly reduce episodes and symptoms.
While getting treatment at a sleep clinic or from a sleep specialist is possible, those options lead to a sleep machine worn while a person sleeps. Many patients find this option too invasive and restrictive, with not enough benefits to warrant the inconvenience. For this reason, most patients prefer the mouth guard option provided by their dentist.
As you can see, this type of sleep disorder is a serious condition that can affect a person’s quality of life and may even cause serious side effects and symptoms. If you have an obstructive form of apnea, it is possible to get some relief from your local dentist thanks to a specially-made mouthguard. The other option is to use a sleep machine that attaches to the face, and forces air into the body. The benefits for each option are about the same as patients will experience a reduction in symptoms and improved quality of sleep from both a mouthguard and a sleep machine.
Because of how easy it is to sleep with a mouthguard compared to a sleep machine, most patients prefer the mouthguard option. If this sounds like the right option for you, visit your dentist today and ask about a mouthguard for sleep disorders.
Request an appointment here: https://www.drelloway.com or call Randal S. Elloway DDS, Inc at (530) 527-6777 for an appointment in our Red Bluff office.
Check out what others are saying about our dental services on Yelp: Do I Have Sleep Apnea in Red Bluff, CA.
Snoring is not the only sign of sleep apnea. It is a significant sleep condition that may have a negative impact on your health and quality of life in a short amount of time. Aside from feeling tired and drowsy throughout the day, untreated sleep apnea makes you vulnerable to different major health problems, including…
Sleep apnea is a disorder in which your breathing stops and starts periodically throughout sleep. When this occurs, your body awakens you and tells you to start breathing again. Repeated sleep disturbances make it harder to sleep properly, and you will be especially fatigued throughout the day.Sleep apnea affects you beyond daytime fatigue. Without treatment,…
If you have sleep apnea, it might at first seem like more of a nuisance for your partner than for you, especially if your primary symptom is snoring. Is it a good idea to find a solution that merely minimizes the effects on your sleeping partner — such as noise-canceling earbuds to mask the sound…
A dental bone graft is a surgical dental procedure that is often performed to bolster a patient's jaw bone density. This makes it possible for them to get dental prosthetics such as implants.An implant is an artificial root that is inserted into a patient's jaw. It can serve as an artificial root to hold a…
Wisdom teeth extraction involves removing one or more of the teeth of the third set of molars. This can be performed before the tooth erupts, after the tooth has grown in, or if the tooth becomes impacted, i.e., it has only partially erupted from the gums. Extraction may be recommended for a variety of reasons.If…
Dental crowns are often costly and require that a dentist remove a significant amount of the tooth's structure to place them. Read on to learn about dental crown alternatives. Other treatment alternatives are sometimes available that are either less expensive or significantly less invasive. Dental crowns are frequently used to restore severely damaged teeth.The following…