Can Your Dentist Help You Sleep Better?
While we fight it as kids and crave it as adults, sleep is undeniably important. In fact, according to the Sleep Foundation, “sleep is an essential function that allows your body and mind to recharge, leaving you refreshed and alert when you wake up. Healthy sleep also helps the body remain healthy and stave off diseases. Without enough sleep, the brain cannot function properly.” Unfortunately, there are many factors and conditions that can jeopardize a good night’s sleep, including obstructive sleep apnea.
What is Sleep Apnea?
Sleep apnea is a serious condition that involves several brief pauses in breathing throughout the night. This can cause one to snore loudly or wake up gasping for air. While sleep apnea symptoms can certainly keep your partner awake, they are detrimental to your own quality of sleep as well as your overall health.
The Disruptions and Dangers of Untreated Sleep Apnea?
Patients who suffer from sleep apnea commonly snore throughout the night and disrupt their partner’s sleep. More importantly, however, sleep apnea can often cause you to wake up tired and suffer from daytime fatigue and poor concentration. It can also jeopardize your overall health, as untreated sleep apnea has been linked to high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, weight gain and other serious health issues.
Treating Sleep Apnea with Your Dentist
We understand that not all patients can tolerate or afford surgical procedures or CPAP machines to treat their sleep apnea condition. Therefore, Laguna West Dental is proud to give Elk Grove residents a valued alternative to comfortably and effectively treat snoring and sleep apnea through customized oral appliance therapy.
An oral appliance is proven to treat snoring caused by sleep apnea or obstructed sleep apnea (OSA). The cessation in breathing that occurs in sleep apnea patients occurs when the throat muscles relax and the walls of surrounding tissues collapse inwards. By using oral appliance therapy, the jaw is shifted to a position that allows your airways to remain open and clear of obstruction. In result, snoring is also greatly reduced or eliminated altogether.
Are you a candidate for sleep apnea treatment? Call Laguna West Dental. We can offer an effective and non-invasive solution for a better night’s sleep.