Your Snoring May Not Be So Innocent
- Posted on: Apr 30 2019
If that person snoring night after night next to you is making you contemplate divorce or homicide at 3:12 a.m. every night, it may be time to have your snorer visit the team at Cosmetic Dentistry Center. In addition to our wide assortment of dental procedures, Drs. Walk, Bamel, and Kim help our patients overcome their snoring and sleep apnea issues.
Sawing wood or just occasional snoring?
Everyone snores sometimes, regardless of what people think. “Oh, I never snore.†Yeah, and Marchand never takes a penalty in a Bruins game. Whether you’re somewhat congested due to allergies or a cold or whatever, that congestion can block the airway causing snoring. But those are just occasional bouts of wood sawing. If it is habitual, your snoring can be a signal of more serious issues, namely sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea increases your risks for a variety of serious health problems. If a person suffers from sleep apnea, he or she may stop breathing and awaken hundreds of times per night. It causes sleep deprivation, daytime drowsiness, irritability, inability to focus, and decreased libido. Often it is accompanied by bruxism, commonly known as nighttime tooth grinding, so we may be the first to see signs of your sleep apnea during a routine dental exam.
Causes of snoring
Snoring occurs when the flow of air through the mouth and nose is obstructed. This can be caused by different factors: obstructed nasal passage; poor muscle tone in the throat and tongue; bulky throat tissue; and a long, soft palate and/or uvula. Vibration of the soft tissue produces the snoring sound.
Fixing the snoring
Patients in professional sleep studies are often placed on Continuous Positive Air Pressure machines, but many people find those difficult to use because you have to wear a face mask, limiting sleep positions.
At Cosmetic Dentistry Center, we prefer to fit sleep apnea patients with a customized mouthguard. There are over 100 base models that we can then customize for your bite. These mouthguards properly align the jaws, keeping the airway open. They only need to be worn during sleep.
If your partner snores louder than your old basset hound, give us a call at Cosmetic Dentistry Center, (617) 965-7673, and let’s see if that snoring is sleep apnea.
Posted in: Snoring and Sleep Apnea