Snoring, Sleep Apnea & Sleep Disorders
What is a Sleep Disorder?
Sleep disorders are conditions that change the way you sleep. A sleep disorder can significantly affect your health and quality of life. There are a lot of reasons this can happen, and your dentist can help!
The 5 most common sleep disorders are:
- Insomnia (most common)
- Sleep Apnea (second most common) – Sleep Apnea is caused by a partial or complete closure of the upper airways during sleep. This prevents enough air from reaching the lungs and getting into the blood.
- Narcolepsy
- Restless Leg Syndrome
- REM Sleep Behaviour Disorder
- Sleep Walking
- Bruxism (Teeth Grinding)
How do I know if I have Sleep Apnea?
You may have sleep apnea if you:
- Snore
- Wake up choking or gasping
- Find out you are holding your breathe in your sleep
- Feel tired throughout the day
- Have difficulty concentrating
- Wake up with headache, no matter how much sleep you get
- Bruxism (clenching)
Having undiagnosed and untreated sleep apnea can increase your risk of developing other medical conditions, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and stroke.
What to do if I have the symptoms?
If you think you suffer from sleep apnea, you may consider having a sleep study done. A home-based sleep study (type 3) is an affordable and convenient test to diagnose sleep apnea.
It is done by using a device to measure your breathing, blood oxygen and body position while you sleep. You will receive a report from your sleep/respiratory physician.
Treatments
Depending on the cause and the severity of your case treatments could be:
- Surgery: due to anatomical obstruction such as large tonsils, uvula or nasal problems
- CPAP (Gold Standard of Snoring Treatment). This is a device splint that opens up your airways while you sleep.
- Snoring Oral Appliance (Mandibular Advanced Splints). For more information about snoring Appliance visit SomnoMed.
