If, after undergoing a sleep study, you have been diagnosed with sleep apnea, rest assured that effective sleep apnea and snoring treatment is possible and can help you get the sleep you need. Sana Dental is pleased to offer treatment options, including sleep devices, for your sleep apnea.
Your Alberta Choice for Sleep Apnea Treatment
What Is Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA)?
Sleep apnea is a serious and potentially dangerous chronic sleep disorder. When you suffer from sleep apnea, the muscles in the back of your throat relax too much to allow normal breathing. Your airway narrows, or even closes as you breathe in. The result is that your breathing stops momentarily while you sleep. During OSA events, or episodes of interrupted breathing, your breathing may be inadequate for 10 to 20 seconds, which can lower your oxygen blood levels. To restart your breathing, your brain briefly wakes you from sleep so that you can reopen your airway and start breathing again. Most people do not even realize they have woken up, as it is so brief.
Although you most likely are not conscious of these episodes, and may not remember them in the morning, they can disrupt your sleep. Sleep apnea is often classified by its severity, which is based on how often your apneas occur and how low your blood oxygen level goes. Being awakened continually throughout the night can make it very difficult for you to reach and remain in the deeper stages of sleep that are important to physical and mental rejuvenation.
CPAP Keeps Your Airways Open
Physicians most commonly recommend continuous positive airway pressure therapy (CPAP) as treatment for sleep apnea. Using a hose connected to a mask or nosepiece, it delivers a continuous stream of air into your lungs to keep your throat open while you sleep. While it is a safe treatment, with a high success rate, compliance levels have been shown to be quite low. Many patients abandon the CPAP machine after a while, or do not use it for the whole time they are sleeping, because they find the pump and mask assembly too difficult to tolerate. It can also be uncomfortable to wear, bulky, noisy, and cumbersome to travel with.
Sleep Devices Correct Your Jaw Position
Sana Dental is committed to treating patients troubled by sleep apnea with an alternative treatment option to the CPAP machine, in the form of a custom sleep device. A sleep device is an appliance similar to those used for TMJ disorders. These custom-made removable oral appliances work by positioning your jaw and/or tongue to help keep your airway open during sleep.
MAD Appliances: A mandibular advancement device (MAD), Micro2 appliance is an alternative to the CPAP machine for mild to moderate cases of obstructive sleep apnea. It is a plastic oral device that is worn over your upper and lower teeth, with a hinge in the middle. It works by advancing the lower jaw forward during sleep, which in turn, advances the tongue as well. The forward advancement expands the airway, reduces throat constriction, and prevents the tongue from collapsing over the airway (causing obstruction), helping you breathe better.
Epigenetic Orthodontic Sleep Devices: Epigenetic orthodontics provides an alternative to the CPAP machine if the cause of an individual’s sleep apnea is a bad bite. It allows us to grow the lower and upper jaws to their genetic ideals. Jaws, teeth, and facial bones do not have a predetermined growth pattern. Instead, they are driven by the influence and stimulation of functional patterns occurring in your mouth like breathing, chewing, and swallowing. If corruption occurs to these functional patterns, the jaw and facial growth can lead to problems like crowded teeth, underdeveloped jaws, and malocclusions. As a result, patients may experience breathing problems and sleep apnea. The DNA (day and night time appliance)/ VIVOS oral appliance is worn for 12-16 hours a day to reproduce the ideal 3 dimensional growth patterns that were disturbed during development. By correcting your jaw development, this can open up your airway which can eliminate sleep breathing problems like sleep apnea.
Oral Appliances: Oral appliances work by correcting your jaw positioning, making it easier to breathe. Oral devices can be a treatment option for those who suffer from mild to moderate sleep apnea, though not for those with more severe cases. These appliances are worn at night to help prevent the tongue and soft tissues in the back of the throat from collapsing, so that the airway stays open during sleep.
ARA/Controlled Arch: Method of treatment suitable for more severe consideration of TMJD and sleep-disordered breathing. Which repairs more of the bite, tooth and jaw corrections. The Fixed Orthotic is the first phase of treatment of oro-facial dysfunction meant to balance the musculoskeletal system in the area.
CPAP or Sleep Apnea Devices - Which Is Best For You?
Sleep apnea can be a dangerous medical condition, with a variety of causes, so it is critical that you get the best treatment for your individual case. The first step is a sleep disorder diagnosis, which can be done in our office, with the take home Sleep Image Ring. Once a diagnosis of sleep apnea has been made, we will work together to find the most effective treatment for you.
