Sleep Apnea
What Your Breathing Could Reveal
STILL FEELING TIRED?
Have you ever gone to bed at a reasonable hour, slept all night, and still felt worn out the next morning?
Sleep apnea can interrupt your breathing many times during the night, and you may have no idea it is happening. Sometimes a spouse or partner notices first. They may hear loud snoring, gasping, or stretches of silence between breaths.
You might notice different clues, like waking with a dry mouth or headache, struggling to concentrate, or feeling unusually sleepy during the day.
When Snoring Deserves More Attention
Snoring is common, so hearing that you snore does not automatically mean something is wrong. The bigger question is what else is going on with it. If you are waking repeatedly, catching your breath during the night, or spending your days feeling like you barely slept, it may be time to take a closer look.
With obstructive sleep apnea, the airway becomes narrowed or blocked during sleep. That can keep pulling your body out of the deeper, more restful stages of sleep, even when you do not fully wake up.
What Can a Dentist Do for Sleep?
At Burton Dentistry, we use the Seattle Protocol to help you manage your sleep apnea.
We will arrange an at-home sleep study, so you can sleep in your own bed while the study records information about your breathing overnight. Those results give us more to work with when deciding what may help.
Burton Dentistry can fabricate different types of these appliances, depending on what works best for you. You wear the device at night, and it gently brings the lower jaw forward to create more room for airflow and help ease sleep apnea symptoms.
If you keep hearing complaints about your snoring, wake up tired more often than you think you should, or simply feel like your sleep is not doing its job, mention it at your next appointment.
One treatment option is a custom mandibular repositioning device (MRD), also known as a mandibular advancement appliance.
Do These Sleep Apnea Symptoms Sound Familiar?
If so, we can talk through what you have been noticing and decide whether an at-home sleep study is a good place to start.
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