Your Sleep Apnea Treatment Options

Today our team is going to give you an inside look at four common treatment options for patients who struggle with sleep apnea, a condition that affects a person’s breathing while they sleep. Home Treatments

Surprisingly enough there are treatments for mild cases of sleep apnea you can treat quickly on your own. Losing weight, avoiding sleeping pills or alcohol, changing the way you sleep and quitting smoking are beneficial behavior changes you can make to treat sleep apnea.

CPAP

Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is a common sleep apnea treatment where a mask covering the nose and/or mouth delivers a continuous flow of air into the nose allowing the airway to remain open.

Dental Devices or Oral Appliance

Your dentist can help treat sleep apnea with an oral appliance, which is a mouth guard-like device that when worn at night can help keep your airway opens while you sleep. When you wear it, your body will receive the proper amount of oxygen and you will no longer wake up throughout the night or feel extremely tired in the morning.

Surgery

There are times when surgery is required to treat sleep apnea. The more common surgeries performed include: nasal surgery, uvulopalatopharyngoplasty or UPPP, and mandibular maxillar advancement surgery. These surgeries will only be used to treat sleep apnea if you have a deviated nasal septum, enlarged tonsils or a smaller jaw that is causing the throat to become too narrow.

If you have questions about sleep apnea or would like to schedule an appointment for a dental device, please call our office today at [phone].

Connecting TMJ & Sleep: Mouth Breathing

Mouth Breathing Can Change Facial and Oral Development

Wondering how TMJ & Sleep breathing disorders are related? Here is one example: Mouth Breathing. During human development, when nasal breathing is blocked, and mouth breathing occurs, the result can be abnormal or insufficient facial and dental development. Studies have found that untreated mouth breathing can lead to the development of long, narrow faces, crooked teeth, narrow arches, receded jaw, and future TMJ problems. See the images below of the same patient from age 10 to 17. The changes are remarkable! When the jaw and airway don’t develop fully, TMJ disorders and obstructive sleep apnea can occur.

With the use of the DNA Appliance system, we can redevelop these areas in adults in order to provide patients with TMJ & Sleep breathing problems resolution to their problem safely, painlessly, and non-surgically.