Are you falling asleep during the day even though you thought you got a full night sleep? You may have a common disorder known as sleep apnea. With sleep apnea, as you are sleeping you may have one or more pauses in breathing or shallow breaths. Breathing pauses can last from a few seconds to minutes. They often occur 5 to 30 times or more an hour. Typically, normal breathing then starts again, sometimes with a loud snort or choking sound.
Sleep apnea usually is a chronic (ongoing) condition that disrupts your sleep 3 or more nights each week. You often move out of deep sleep and into light sleep when your breathing pauses or becomes shallow. This results in poor sleep quality that makes you tired during the day. Sleep apnea is one of the leading causes of excessive daytime sleepiness. Because of the increased daytime sleepiness you are at a greater risk for occupational and automobile accidents. Untreated sleep apnea also leaves you at greater risk for developing heart, blood pressure, stroke, diabetes or other serious health problems.
In the past the recommended treatment for sleep apnea was the CPAP machine, but many patients found it cumbersome and uncomfortable to use and abandoned it.
Dental technology now allows us to offer patients suffering from sleep apnea a comfortable, but highly effective treatment. Rather then a noisy, claustrophobic machine we are able to treat sleep apnea and snoring with a comfortable, custom fitted oral appliance. The SomnoMed Oral Appliance holds the lower jaw slightly forward, which tightens the soft tissue and muscles of the upper airway. This allows the airway to stay open and unobstructed so it does not impair your breathing.
If you are a loved ones suffer from sleep apnea, don't lose another nights sleep!
Call today and find out how Dr. Magid can help you get the restful sleep your body needs.
