Symptoms
Sleep apnea can often go undiagnosed for a long period of time because it occurs while you’re sleeping. However, there are some symptoms you will likely notice that indicate you might be suffering from the disorder, such as:
- Daytime drowsiness
- Waking unrested
- Morning headaches
- Unexplained or chronic fatigue
- Loss of focus
- Loss of interest or drive
- Poor performance at work or school
- Frequent nighttime urination
- Difficulty staying asleep
In addition, if you sleep with someone, they may report that you stop breathing, experience snoring, or gasp or choke at night.
Dangers of Sleep Apnea
Sleep apnea means the absence of breath. In some patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), there may be more than 100 breathing lapses during a single night. Some periods may last nearly a minute or more. This puts a strain on your heart and lungs and prevents you from getting the deep, satisfying rest you need. When left untreated, sleep apnea is closely linked to several life-threatening medical conditions, such as:
- High blood pressure
- Heart disease
- Heart attack
- Stroke
- Weight gain
- Diabetes
- Impotence and other sexual dysfunction
- Headaches
- Car accidents
- Depression and other mood disorders
- Memory problems
Sleep apnea can lead to so many dangers because it is very disruptive to your sleep cycle. When breathing stops because of it, your brain is forced to partially awaken to resume breath. This is disruptive to the rest your body and brain need. It interferes with your ability to focus, your emotions, and your body’s basic regulatory systems, leading to metabolic disorders.
When your brain senses the lack of air, it also stimulates your heart to pump harder to increase oxygen supply. This leads to elevated blood pressure and other cardiovascular conditions. Your Columbus sleep dentist can help.
Sleep apnea can lead to so many dangers because it is very disruptive to your sleep cycle. When breathing stops because of it, your brain is forced to partially awaken to resume breath. This is disruptive to the rest your body and brain need. It interferes with your ability to focus, your emotions, and your body’s basic regulatory systems, leading to metabolic disorders.
When your brain senses the lack of air, it also stimulates your heart to pump harder to increase oxygen supply. This leads to elevated blood pressure and other cardiovascular conditions.
What Causes Sleep Apnea?
The primary culprit in OSA is the soft tissue in the back of your throat. As you age, this tissue becomes looser until it actually obstructs your airway at night. The air passing through your pharynx around this tissue causes vibrations, which result in the loud snoring associated with OSA. Other causes may include obesity, anatomic anomalies, or injury to that part of your body.
Sleep Apnea Diagnosis: How Long Does a Sleep Test Take?
Dr. Firouzian of Columbus, OH, will make his preliminary recommendation after an initial new patient experience. He may recommend an initial screening test or suggest a Polysomnography test at a sleep center. Family history is an important factor in diagnosing OSA. While Dr. Firouzian is fully qualified to recognize the symptoms of sleep apnea and the screening tools he utilizes are a strong suggestion of the conditions, a complete diagnosis can only be made after a sleep study. Fortunately, patients can take it from the comfort of their homes. If you suspect you have sleep apnea, we can order a sleep test for you. A sleep test that we can order for patients is typically conducted over 2 nights to gain full accuracy and it is administered either by a local sleep physician we refer our patients to or a national company that serves the function of submitting charges through the patient’s insurance and mailing the test through the post office. Once we receive your results, we can determine the best treatment for you.
Different Types of Sleep Apnea
It’s important to understand that there are several types of sleep apnea. What sleep apnea treatment is right for you depends on the type of you have.
Sleep Disordered Breathing: Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is a condition that most typically affects children when they don’t have a clear airway due to crooked teeth, thumb sucking, or a number of other conditions. The Healthy Start system aims to correct many of these issues as early as possible to not only correct sleep issues, but also to ensure a healthy smile.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea: This is the most common type. In OSA, your tissues cause your airway to close, cutting off your air supply. This usually occurs because of a combination of a narrow airway, excess tissue around the airway, and poor muscle tone exacerbated when the muscles relax during sleep.
Central Sleep Apnea: In central sleep apnea, your brain simply stops telling your body to breathe. This can be caused by a congenital brain problem, heart failure, or even a common sleep apnea treatment—CPAP. CPAP, by forcing air into your lungs, might weaken the impulse to breathe. Ironically, CPAP is the main treatment for the central type.
Complex Sleep Apnea: With complex, you have a mixture of both types.
Sleep Apnea Treatment Options in Columbus
There are various treatments that are effective in reducing the symptoms of sleep apnea. Dr. Firouzian will typically try conservative treatments before suggesting invasive procedures. Some of the more conservative treatment options may include:
- Changes in your diet
- Exercise
- Sleeping on your side
- Quit smoking
Many patients with sleep apnea benefit from custom mouthpieces or oral appliances that maintain your jaw forward slightly to ensure your pharynx remains open all night long.
Continuous positive airway pressure or CPAP machines can be used to assist you with your breathing at night. The air pressure the machine supplies is adjusted to ensure that your airway remains open.
What is the Success Rate of Oral Appliance Therapy?
The physiologic method that we utilize for customized Mandibular Advancing Device are the most effective method of fabricating the alternative to CPAP therapy. In treating patients with sleep disorders, the greatest complication is bite changes or TMJ conditions. If TMJ conditions have not been the underlying issue then our method in fabricating the dental device has the highest success rate due to the physiologic approach in deriving the ideal bite that will not compromise the occlusion(how the teeth fit together) for the sake of the airway.
The Gold Standard for patients regardless of CPAP or dental devices is to wear durable medical equipment 7 hours a night, 7 days a week. Short of the full sleep time, patients diagnosed with sleep disorders are harming their health if they do not comply with a device during sleep. Ultimately we have seen that patients that understand this necessity of treatment and have undergone the full protocol in our office are benefiting from successful treatment with an oral appliance in Columbus.
What Percentage of Patients Prefer an Oral Appliance Over CPAP?
Our patients say they 100% prefer their oral appliance over CPAP. Many patients who can tolerate CPAP desire oral appliance therapy. Sadly when the numbers are severe and the patient can comply with the CPAP apparatus we are unable to offer them a dental device. It is possible that in time if their compliance with CPAP therapy improves and their overall weight reduces, their numbers can reduce to a moderate or even mild number in time and that would place them in the category that their treatment can benefit from an oral device instead of CPAP therapy.
To learn more call us today at (614) 848-5001 to schedule an appointment with our Columbus, Ohio dentist. You can also email us.
