Snoring and Sleep Apnea

When you sleep, the muscles in your body relax so they can begin to repair themselves to keep you healthy and active every day. However, muscles in your mouth and throat also relax during sleep, and for some people, these muscles, along with soft fatty tissues, relax to the point where they fall back into the upper airway and block the flow of oxygen from coming in. Your brain responds by partially waking to send signals to the respiratory system to work harder to get past the obstruction. This is called Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Left untreated, sleep apnea can cause tiredness during the day or more serious health problems such as heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and high blood pressure.

CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure therapy) is the most widely used device to treat sleep apnea.  Patients wear a mask during the night over their nose and/mouth and an air blower forces air to help prevent airway tissues from collapsing.  These masks can cause irritation, accidentally be removed while sleeping at night, cause dry nasal passages, or claustrophobia.

Depending on the level of severity of their sleep apnea, patients may benefit from an oral dental appliance instead.