Sleep Apnea
Snoring Can Be Harmful to Houston’s Health
Dentistry to help you get some sleep.
Snoringis annoying, both to the snorerand the person sleeping next to him or her! Chronic, loud snoringdisturbs the snorer’s sleepand leads to fatigue and daytime drowsiness. This can be dangerous: your responses can slow, memory difficulties can begin, performance and concentration at work and during driving can suffer.
But snoringcan also indicate a more serious condition. Excessive snoringmay indicate obstructive sleep apnea( OSA), a condition caused by obstruction near the base of the tongue.
If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, you may have OSA:
• daytime sleepiness
• chronic fatigue
• morning headache
• irritability
• impaired memory and judgment
• mood disturbance
We’d love to help. Dr. Mitchmore has advanced training in various sleep problemsassociated with oral misalignment of nose and mouth structure.
We can prescribe and fit a special custom-made oral applianceto gently and safely hold the mouth and throat open during relaxed sleep and prevent snoring. You’ll find yourself waking refreshed without surgery or the need for an uncomfortable CPAP machineor other forced air device. It is a healthy, comfortable way to find yourself sleeping well again!
The real indication of sleep apnea isn’t snoring.
Sleep apnea’sreal trouble starts when snoring stops – along with your breathing. Sleep apneacan cause a person to stop breathing for periods of time, sometimes hundreds of times during the night and often for a minute or longer.
When you stop breathing, your brain wakes you up and that is when the loud gasping and the resumption of snoring are heard. This constant cessation of breath and consequent waking can have a devastating effect on health. The oxygen in your blood can become depleted. There is even evidence that sleep apneacan worsen fibromyalgia, trigger hypertension, cardiovascular disease and stroke. And if you are diagnosed with sleep apnea,you certainly aren’t alone: Obstructive sleep apneaaffects more than 20 million Americans.
