Oral appliance therapy. Specific dentists can make a custom oral appliance that fits over your teeth. This device opens the airway by placing the jaw in a more favorable position. Oral appliances work best in mild or moderate cases of sleep apnea.
of shallow breaths or complete lapses in breathing while asleep. Abnormal nighttime breathing can result in snoring, daytime tiredness, nighttime awakenings, and a variety of other
Provide timely, appropriate and ongoing follow-up care to manage dental-related side effects of oral appliance therapy
CPAP therapy is considered most effective and reliable in those who are able to adhere to treatment. If a sleeper has trouble tolerating CPAP therapy, their sleep specialist may next prescribe BiPAP, ASV, EPAP, or an oral device as an alternative treatment. Surgery is often only considered after non-invasive treatments have been tried.
The dentist will also do a physical examination of the patient in order to check for any other medical conditions that could be causing sleep apnea such as obesity or an enlarged tongue.
Although Sleep Foundation maintains affiliate partnerships with brands and e-commerce portals, these relationships never have any bearing on our product reviews or recommendations. Read our full Advertising Disclosure for more information.
Dentists are also trained on the lasers used in this form of procedure. With all this in mind, receiving SmoothLase treatments from a dentist simply makes sense.
The NHLBI is the nation's leader in the prevention and treatment of heart, lung, blood and sleep disorders.
A continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine is the most commonly prescribed device for treating sleep apnea disorders.
, surgeons remove tissue blocking the airway with a high-frequency current. This type of surgery can be used to stiffen and reduce the size of the soft palate. It can also be used to remove tissue from the nose, tonsils, or tongue base.
Some sleep apnea sufferers are helped by special pillows or devices that prevent them from sleeping on their backs. There are also oral appliances to keep the airway open during sleep. If these conservative methods are inadequate, your physician may recommend continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), a facemask you wear at night that blows pressurized air into your airway to keep it open.
An airflow probe is then placed under the nose. Patients should experience pelo pain or discomfort during or after the tests. While the patient sleeps, the technician gathers data from the tests for analysis.
Sleep apnea surgery is an intervention option available to people with obstructive sleep apnea. There are multiple sleep surgery procedures. A surgeon click here specializing in sleep surgery will work with you to determine which one best suits your diagnosis and preference.
Although a CPAP machine can help prevent breathing interruptions when you sleep, there are also drawbacks with this device. Some people stop using CPAP machines due to the side effects.