People with sleep apnea intermittently stop breathing while they sleep. This serious sleep disorder is common and may affect people of all ages, including children, teens, and adults. The team of dentists at ToothDocs, with locations in Roslyn, New York, and two offices in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, offers oral appliance therapy for people with sleep apnea. To learn more, call the office closest to you, or book online today.
Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder that affects a person's breathing while they sleep. With sleep apnea, you may stop and start breathing hundreds of times throughout the night.
When you stop breathing, your brain senses a decrease in oxygen levels and rouses you awake to restart your breathing. You may not remember waking up, but the frequent rousing prevents you from getting a restful night of sleep, which may affect your day-to-day activities.
There are three primary types of sleep apnea. The types include:
Obstructive sleep apnea is the most common type. With this type of sleep apnea, the muscles in the back of your throat relax while you sleep and obstruct the airway.
With central sleep apnea, your brain fails to send the right signals to the muscles that control your breathing.
With complex sleep apnea syndrome, you have both obstructive and central sleep apnea.
If your primary care provider suspects you have a sleep disorder, then you may be referred to a sleep lab for a sleep study.
To diagnose sleep apnea, you spend the night at the sleep lab while the sleep technicians monitor your brain activity, heart rate, blood oxygen levels, and breathing. The information gathered during your sleep study helps diagnose sleep apnea.
Treatment for sleep apnea depends on the severity of your symptoms. Traditional treatment includes continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy. Though CPAP therapy is effective, many people find the treatment uncomfortable.
If you have sleep apnea and you’re searching for an alternative option for treatment, the dental experts at ToothDocs can help. During your sleep apnea visit, your dentist reviews your medical history and the treatments you’ve tried to improve your sleep apnea.
Then, they perform a dental exam and take X-rays. If you have mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea, then they may recommend an oral appliance to improve your breathing while you sleep.
The oral appliance provided by your dentist at ToothDocs helps keep your throat open while you sleep. Your dentist takes an impression of your mouth to create your customized oral appliance.
ToothDocs offers many types of oral appliances for people with sleep apnea and it may take some trial and error to find the one that works for you.
To learn more about oral appliances for your sleep apnea, call ToothDocs, or make an appointment using the online booking button.