Do you suffer from Sleep apnea? Do you snore at night? Sleep apnea, a sleep disorder characterized by pauses in
breathing during sleep, lasts long enough so that one or more breaths
are missed, and such episodes occur repeatedly throughout sleep. Common
signs and symptoms include gasping, choking or silences during
sleep, sudden awakening during sleep, loud snoring and daytime
sleepiness. Not only can sleep apnea affect your energy levels
throughout your day, but chronic sleep apnea carries potentially
dangerous health affects. Thankfully, Dr. James Courey can
help!
Sleep
apnea (a lack of oxygen) carries heightened risk of cardiovascular
disease, stroke,
high
blood pressure, arrhythmias,
diabetes,
and sleep deprived driving accidents. Stroke is associated with
obstructive sleep apnea as well, as sufferers have a 30% higher risk of
heart attack or premature death than those unaffected. Risk factors can
often be managed easily without major medical intervention. Being
overweight or obese, nasal congestion or blockage and relaxed
tongue/throat muscles often contribute to sleep apnea. Avoiding intake
relaxants like alcohol or sedatives can play an important role in
reducing the occurrence of sleep apnea.
There are three basic types of sleep apnea.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is the only type of sleep apnea
that can be treated by your dentist. Central Sleep Apnea is
when a person’s brain “forgets” to signal the chest muscles to breathe
during sleep. This variation of sleep apnea requires medication
prescribed by your physician. Mixed Sleep Apnea is a combination of the
preceding two types, and is the most difficult type of sleep apnea to
diagnose and treat.
What can be done about sleep apnea – and how can your dentist play a
role? The first step is diagnosis. Sleep apnea is diagnosed
with a “sleep study”. An individual with sleep apnea is rarely aware of
having difficulty breathing, even upon awakening, and is recognized as a
problem by others witnessing the individual during episodes or is
suspected because of its effects on the body. Symptoms may be present
for years without identification, during which time the sufferer may
become conditioned to the daytime sleepiness and fatigue associated with
significant levels of sleep disturbance.
Once a breathing problem during sleep has been established, there are
two main routes of therapy for mild or moderate sleep apnea. The first
is Oral Appliance Therapy, to reposition your lower jaw into a forward
and downward position, opening up your throat, typically given by your
dental care professional or physician. There are several designs from a
simple diagnostic one to more sophisticate double jaw design. Your
treating health professional will help to determine which would fit you
better.
For more severe cases, the use of a continuous
positive airway pressure (CPAP) device can help, which ’splints’
the patient’s airway open during sleep by means of forcing pressurized
air into the throat. The CPAP machine assists only inhaling, whereas a
BiPAP
machine assists with both inhaling and exhaling and is used in more
severe cases. Home remedies to treat sleep apnea include loose weight,
treating allergy to decrease the volume of inflamed soft tissue of the
airway, using a humidifier (in conjunction with the CPAP machine),
trying a saline nasal spray before sleep.
