Sleep Dentistry
Many people are affected by snoring and/or sleep apnea. They may experience fatigue, anxiety from snoring, interrupted sleep, or CPAP intolerance. Not to mention the strain on a relationship when one partner snores throughout the night. Our office offers solutions for grinding and/or clenching, limit snoring during the night and this potentially serious condition of sleep apnea, changing lives and offering better health.
Sleep disturbances can be caused from grinding and/or clenching your teeth, snoring and even the serious condition of obstructive sleep apnea. It’s first of all important to truly understand the medical risks associated with untreated sleep disordered breathing, particularly obstructive sleep apnea. Of those who snore, one in 7 experience significant obstructive sleep apnea. Obstructive sleep apnea means you stop breathing, sometimes for more than 2 minutes, and in severe cases over 100 times per hour! The level of oxygen carried in the bloodstream falls to dangerously low levels with a correspondingly dangerous increase in carbon dioxide. Your sleep is disrupted, and, in order to compensate, harmful changes take place in your blood vessels, organs and brain.
Untreated Obstructed Sleep Apnea (OSA) can contribute to risks associated with:
- High Blood Pressure
- Heart Attack
- Stroke
- Diabetes
- Vascular Damage
- Gastro-esophageal reflux
- Brain Injury
- Dementia
- Impotence
- Death
Added to this is another serious risk of untreated OSA – excessive daytime sleepiness. A fatal trolley accident in Washington D.C. was caused by the sleep deprived operator. She suffered from untreated OSA, and self medicated with over the counter sleeping pills. Studies indicate that 1 in 20 drivers over the age of 30 suffer from excessive daytime sleepiness.
The facts and numbers are astounding. However, there is good news, because with treatment, disease risk returns to normal. It is for this reason that we at Back 2 Basics Dentistry have begun to screen for sleep disordered breathing.
Our patients receive a short questionnaire via e-mail, and/or when they arrive for their appointments. At risk people will receive counseling and kind encouragement to get a formal diagnosis. Dr. Cornell and Dr. Jones will work closely with your physician to provide the most effective treatments available today.
The other good news is that Dental Advancement Appliances have been proven very effective in treating OSA. They are more comfortable and usually easier to tolerate than CPAP.
Dental Sleep Appliances
“…sleep oral appliances as the number one treatment avenue for mild and moderate sleep apnea and snoring.”
Studies have shown oral appliances reduce the number of sleep apnea episodes by 60%. With this solution sufficient oxygen is able to reach the lungs by keeping the air passage open through the night.
Many are excited to see a non-surgical treatment solution that can replace the CPAP, a breathing solution that many cannot tolerate. These dental appliances are ideal because they are small, comfortable and effective.
We offer a take home sleep test right in our office!
We then upload the data and have the test read and interpreted by a sleep physician. Based on the results the dentists will then determine if you are a good candidate for a sleep appliance and recommend one that will suit your needs. Once the appliance has been fabricated and fitted you may then need to perform the home sleep test again to make sure the appliance does not need further adjustment to give you the optimum sleep you deserve. Many of these services can be filed with your medical insurance and we work with a medical billing company to do just that.
Call today! We will be happy to ask you a few questions over the phone to see if you are at risk for sleep apnea and schedule a free consultation with one our dentists.