Sleep Apnea
Snoring Can Be Harmful to Your Health
Dentistry to help you get some sleep.
Snoring is annoying, both to the snorer and the person sleeping next to him or her! Chronic, loud snoring disturbs the snorer's sleep and 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 snoring can also indicate a more serious condition. Excessive snoring may 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
The real indication of sleep apnea isn't snoring.
Sleep apnea's real trouble starts when snoring stops - along with your breathing. Sleep apnea can 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 apnea can worsen fibromyalgia,
trigger hypertension, cardiovascular disease and stroke. And if you are diagnosed
with sleep apnea, you certainly aren't alone: Obstructive sleep apnea affects more than 20 million
Americans.
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We'd love to help. Dr. Mitchmore has advanced training in various sleep problems associated with oral misalignment of nose and mouth structure.
We can prescribe and fit a special custom-made oral appliance to 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 machine or other forced air device. It is a healthy, comfortable way to find yourself sleeping well again!