What is Sleep Apnea?
Sleep apnea is a chronic condition that occurs when your muscles relax during sleep, allowing soft tissue to collapse and block the airway. As a result, repeated breathing pauses occur, which often reduce your oxygen levels. These breathing pauses are followed by brief awakenings that disturb your sleep.
Is Sleep Apnea Dangerous?
Yes, if left untreated, sleep apnea may cause excessive daytime sleepiness or fatigue, as well as morning headaches and memory loss. Sleep apnea may also increase your risk of drowsy driving and workplace accidents. Untreated sleep apnea raises your risk for serious health problems such as high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke.
Signs and Symptoms:
- Loud snoring
- Feeling tired, fatigued or sleepy during the day
- Restless sleep
- Headaches in the morning
- Waking up with a dry mouth
Diagnosing Sleep Apnea
Our Dentists at Country Hills Dental have taken special training in diagnosing and treating Sleep Apnea. If you have been diagnosed with sleep apnea, MATRx plus is the only test that can predict if your sleep apnea will be effectively treated with an oral appliance and the position to set your mandible. This means you will be able to start effective therapy, faster.
Sleep Apnea Treatment
Oral Appliance Therapy
If you have mild to moderate sleep apnea you might be a candidate for a mandibular repositioning oral appliance. It is a custom-fit dental device (like a sports mouthguard) that positions the lower jaw forward, which opens your airway and minimizes obstruction and treats sleep apnea. Oral appliances are easy to use and preferred by a lot of patients, but they don’t effectively treat everyone.
CPAP
If you have severe sleep apnea, a CPAP machine might be the better option for you. CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) is a small device that provides a gentle flow of positive air pressure through a mask that fits over your nose and keeps the airway open during sleep. When used as prescribed, it works 100% of the time, but most patients have difficulty wearing it long-term.
Ready for Better Sleep?
The first thing to do is to book a consultation! Your Dentist will talk with you and determine whether an oral appliance is the right solution for you. If the answer is yes, the next step will be to do an at-home sleep evaluation, so that your appliance can be custom-made for you. The MATRx plus is the only test that can predict if your sleep apnea will be effectively treated with an oral appliance and the position to set your mandible. This means you will be able to start effective therapy, faster.
Our dentists and lab technicians will collaborate on your appliance to make sure that it’s the best fit and the best solution possible for you, and when your appliance is ready – usually in about 2 weeks – we’ll fit the appliance for you. If everything looks good, you’ll be ready to take it home and test it out. We’ll book a follow-up appointment to make sure the appliance is effectively treating your sleep apnea.
We’d love to help. Call, email, text, or use our online booking form to get set-up with a consultation appointment.
