Do you get tired and feel fatigue during the day though it felt like you slept normally? Do you snore loudly, or sometimes stop breathing throughout the night? These could be sign of a deeper problem: Sleep Apnea. Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder where during your sleep, your breathing can become shallow, or stops and starts again, due to obstruction of the airway. Many people are unaware they may have sleep apnea, because most symptoms are present only when asleep. If not directly dealt with, you can be at exposure of health risks, and even death. Schedule a free consultation to put yourself at ease, or get treatment.

What is Sleep Apnea?

During sleep, the muscles in the mouth, jaw, and throat naturally relax. However, for those who have obstructive sleep apnea, these muscles become so relaxed that they collapse and obstruct the airway, making it difficult to breath and commonly stopping breathing for 10 or more seconds. Because of the decrease in airflow, the person then wakes up through-out the night, causing lack of sleep.

What are the symptoms?

• Loud snoring
• Gasping or choking for air during sleep
• Severe daytime drowsiness or fatigue
• Frequent urination during the night (the body’s attempt to control elevated blood pressure)
• Morning headaches (from blood pressure or jaw clenching)
• Chronic heartburn
• Nightmares or insomnia

Traditional CPAP treatment

Traditional treatment involved a large CPAP machine. CPAP stands for: Continuous Positive Airway Pressure.  This device is typically considered the “gold standard” for obstructive sleep apnea, but many patients are not compliant with it because CPAP machines can be uncomfortable and inconvenient. It distributes a stream of compressed air through a plastic tube connected to a nasal pillow, nose mask, or full-face mask. The compressed air allows for your airway to stay open correctly so your airway does not collapse during sleep.  Patients who are prescribed a CPAP machine, generally do not use it, due to:

• Mask Discomfort & Difficulty Sleeping
• Constrictive & Bulky
• Loud
• Difficult to Travel With

Custom Oral Appliance Therapy

However, with technological advances, we are able to provide oral appliance therapy to help treat sleep apnea. If your sleep apnea is not severe enough to absolutely require CPAP or surgery, we would like to help you get the rest you deserve by creating a custom sleep apnea mouth appliance that will open your airway during sleep and allow you to breath normally. We offer multiple mouth appliance options because we understand that one option might not work best for all patients. Together with you and a sleep physician, we will discuss your options and decide which is likely to be your ticket to a full night’s rest. For the treatment of mild to moderate sleep apnea, this conservative approach is an appealing alternative to surgery or intrusive CPAP machines.