Sleep Apnea Treatment
Sleep Apnea and Snoring Treatment in Newport News, Virginia
Patients who snore can be an annoyance to themselves, as well as those trying to sleep nearby. However, many people don’t realize that snoring can be a sign of a more serious problem called Sleep Apnea. In this condition, a person actually stops breathing during sleep, which greatly reduces the amount of rest they get, and predisposes them to other medical problems.
In order to determine whether or not a person has sleep apnea, a sleep study is done. This involve a person being hooked up to a sleep monitor while they sleep. In this way, a person’s breathing habits can be determined. If the sleep study reveals that sleep apnea is present, treatment can consist of one of three forms: surgery, C-pap machines, or oral appliance therapy.
Sometimes the cause of the sleep apnea is anatomic – in other words, the space available for the patient to breathe is limited due to excess soft tissue in the laryngeal area. This is often the case with patients who are overweight. If the surgery successfully reduces the source of the soft tissue blockage, then the problem may be alleviated.
A second way to treat sleep apnea is through the use of a C-Pap machine. This approach consists of a mask that provides positive pressure oxygen to the patient during sleep. In this way, the airway is kept open, and a person sleeps more soundly. Although C-Pap treatment is 100% successful when the machine us utilized, many patients find it uncomfortable and choose not to use it.
The third way to treat sleep apnea is with a removable dental device. The device is made from impressions of the mouth, and its goal is to hold the mandible forward, so that it doesn’t drop back and impede the airway. Of the three treatment methods described, this third option is certainly the most comfortable. The goal of treatment is to develop a device that keeps the mandible in a position that is as close as possible to the natural position of the jaw. In other words, although the jaw must be kept a bit more forward than might be considered natural, this anteriorization should be minimized to make the appliance as comfortable as possible.
