Sleep apnea is a potentially serious sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts. You may have sleep apnea if you snore loudly and you feel tired even after a full night’s sleep. Obstructive sleep apnea, the more common form that occurs when throat muscles relax. These muscles support the soft palate, the triangular piece of tissue hanging from the soft palate (uvula), the tonsils, the side walls of the throat and the tongue. When the muscles relax, your airway narrows or closes as you breathe in, and you can’t get an adequate breath in. This may lower the level of oxygen in your blood. Your brain senses this inability to breathe and briefly rouses you from sleep so you can reopen your airway. This awakening is usually so brief that you don’t remember it.
The signs and symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea could include any of the following:
- Excessive daytime sleepiness (hypersomnia)
- Loud snoring, which is usually more prominent in obstructive sleep apnea
- Episodes of breathing cessation during sleep witnessed by another person
- Awakening with a dry mouth or sore throat
- Morning headache
- Difficulty staying asleep (insomnia)
- Attention problem
Many patients with Sleep Apnea wear a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) mask and this is the most common way to treat Sleep Apnea, however here at Pinney Family Dentistry we have another option available to you. We can fit you with an Oral Appliance Device.
- Oral appliances are comfortable and easy to wear.
- Most people find that it only takes a couple of weeks to become acclimated to wearing the appliance.
- Oral appliances are small and convenient making them easy to carry when traveling.
- Treatment with oral appliances is reversible and non-invasive.
Call us today to find out if you think you may have Sleep Apnea or to free yourself from your current CPAP! Additional information available at www.dentalsleepsolution.com.