Snoring is not a source of amusement that needs to be hushed up. Snoring affects one-third of the adult population who fail to realize the problems associated with everyday life from snoring. Unfortunately, most people don't realize that snoring indicates a severe health problem called obstructive sleep apnea and leave the condition diagnosed.About four percent of people suffer from sleep apnea when they experience recurrent episodes of their throats closing and preventing them from drawing air into their lungs. Sleep apnea episodes occur because the muscles holding the throat open during waking hours relax when sleeping, allowing it to narrow. Breathing through the narrow airway results in vibrations of the soft tissue, causing snoring. When the muscles relax, trying to inhale air is challenging, and the cessation of breathing lasts for 10 seconds or more, resulting in the problem called sleep apnea.Sleep apneic episodes can last for long as two minutes associating themselves with a reduction in blood oxygen levels. The brain terminates the apneic sleep episodes, causing people to wake up to save their lives. Unfortunately, sleep apneic attacks may repeat themselves hundreds of times during the night without making the patient realize it unless awakened by their bed partner.
Consequences of Sleep Apnea
People who snore and are frequently awakened during the night might begin to search for ways to stop snoring when informed that the consequences of sleep apnea include high blood pressure, stroke, and heart attacks. In addition, OSA is a life-threatening condition because it disturbs the physiological sleep pattern making the patient wake unrefreshed in the morning.The lack of sleep during the night puts people at risk of accidents when operating vehicles or machinery during the day because they become prone to accidents.In such circumstances, if you are affected by the problem of snoring loudly when sleeping, you might seek snoring treatment near you from medical professionals in your vicinity or dentists also providing therapy for this condition.Whether you seek snoring treatment from medical professionals such as your healthcare provider, cardiologist, or dentist in Phoenix, AZ, you will likely receive referrals to a sleep medicine specialist to diagnose whether you suffer from severe or mild to moderate sleep apnea. The sleep medicine specialist, in turn, suggests undergoing a polysomnography test with tubes and wires attached to your body in a sleep clinic where you must spend a night in an unfamiliar environment.The sleep clinic delivers your results to the sleep medicine specialist to determine the severity of your situation. If you are affected by severe sleep apnea, the medical fraternity recommends the CPAP machine, considered the gold standard for snoring treatment. However, if your situation is mild to moderate, you benefit from oral appliance therapy provided by dentists as mandibular repositioning appliances.Many people do not tolerate the CPAP machine because it is intrusive and requires you to wear a mask over the nose when sleeping to deliver air to your lungs. However, oral appliances provided by dentists reposition your mandible forward when you sleep to prevent the throat's soft tissue and the tongue from collapsing into the airway to alleviate snoring and sleep apnea.
How Effective Is the Oral Appliance Therapy?
The oral appliance provided by dentists resembles a mouthguard used in spotting activities or retainers provided after orthodontic treatment. However, these devices are custom created after taking impressions of your teeth and jaw to ensure you receive a proper fit.The oral device is custom fabricated using digital or physical impressions of your oral structures. Therefore it is not a prefabricated device such as mouthguards available in drugstores or sports goods stores.Unlike CPAP machines requiring at least a couple of weeks to deliver results, oral appliances give you a whole night's rest the day you start wearing the device to bring down snoring episodes and waking up during the night choking and gasping. However, you require ongoing monitoring by the Phoenix dentist for the treatment to succeed and look out for potential side effects and manage them when they occur.Sleep medicine is currently proliferated by dental sleep medicine as oral appliances are comfortable to wear and provide results instantly instead of requiring more time to deliver them. Therefore, oral appliance therapy is practical and helpful in alleviating snoring and sleep apnea.All in One Benso Family Dental provides you with oral devices customized to combat snoring and sleep apnea if you are affected by the problem. You acquire an instant remedy against snoring if you schedule an appointment with this practice for the problem affecting you.
