Learn How a Sleep Apnea Oral Appliance Can Solve Your Snoring!

When you try to sleep at night, do you find yourself waking up multiple times, unable to stay asleep? Do you feel fatigued throughout the day or snore so loud that you wake yourself up? These signs are not normal and shouldn’t be ignored, especially when a sleep apnea oral appliance could be the answer to your condition!

To learn how to get your night’s sleep back, keep reading. Pretty soon, you’ll be making a trip to your dentist.

What is Obstructive Sleep Apnea?

Obstructive sleep apnea, or OSA, is a common sleep disorder that causes patients to experience “breathing cessation” when trying to sleep. This cessation occurs for about 10 seconds, forcing them awake and preventing them from getting a fulfilling night’s sleep. These cessation events can happen hundreds of times a night and can lead to a number of health concerns.

While there are two types of sleep apnea, OSA is the most common. It occurs when the airway is physically blocked during sleep, usually from the tongue, palate, or other oral tissue in the back of the throat. Once the airway is blocked, the brain triggers a panic response from the body to restart breathing. This causes blood pressure levels to rise and force patients to awaken.

What are the Symptoms and Risk Factors?

As a result, patients often report daytime fatigue and waking up often in the middle of the night. Other symptoms include:

• Loud, chronic snoring
• Gasping, choking, or wheezing
• Waking with a sore throat or hoarse voice
• Daytime sleepiness, even after going to bed at a decent hour
• Difficulty concentrating
• Napping at unusual times
• Changes in mood or behavior

Keep in mind that sleep apnea often goes undiagnosed and untreated because it isn’t an obvious condition to catch, especially if patients sleep alone. The best way to confirm if you have sleep apnea is to be monitored for an at-home sleep study. These studies are meant to collect data on the number and duration of sleep apnea events that occur.

You’ll also want to come in if you carry high risk factors for OSA, which include:

• Being over 50 years of age
• Having a BMI over 35 kg/m2
• Having a neck circumference greater than 16 inches
• Being male (men are twice as likely to suffer from sleep apnea)

How Can an Oral Appliance Help?

Some patients aren’t able to use a CPAP machine for sleep apnea, a device that forces air into the mouth to keep the airway open. Instead, they may benefit from a sleep apnea oral appliance. This device is custom-fitted and custom-calibrated to fit patient mouths exactly. It works by keeping the airway clear, reducing the amount of snoring that occurs significantly. This allows the patient to get a full night’s sleep without worry of sleep apnea events occurring.

About the Author

Dr. Deborah A. Romack earned her DDS degree from Baylor College of Dentistry. Since then, she’s attended multiple continuing education courses on airway obstruction, snoring, and sleep apnea therapy. To learn more about her practice or treatments for sleep apnea, contact her at (817) 594-3806 or visit her website.