Obstructive sleep apnea is a widespread disorder that leads to serious issues with your overall health, and leaves you feeling exhausted and irritable during the day. We want to help understand the common factors behind sleep apnea, and look at the potential long-term impacts. At our helpful sleep clinic in Poquoson, VA, our team can talk about designing and treating issues like sleep apnea.
The Underlying Factors
With sleep apnea, as you rest the soft tissues in the back of your mouth and in your throat become too relaxed and collapse, which cuts off airflow. You stop breathing for a few seconds until the brain wakes you. Most people don’t remember these episodes of waking up, but this still interrupts your REM sleep cycle multiple times a night, leaving you feeling exhausted and impacting your overall oral health. Underlying factors vary, but could include age, weight, neck circumference, sinus or allergy issues, deviated septum, or concerns with the growth of your jaw and oral structures. As part of your treatment, our team will assess the cause of the disorder.
Signs You Need Treatment
As we mentioned above, you could struggle with daytime drowsiness due to the disease, and may wake up in the night choking or gasping for air. Chronic snoring is common, as is dry mouth, headaches, moodiness, and trouble concentrating on tasks at work or school. The disorder could also mean memory issues too. We urge you to seek treatment because this impacts your quality of life and your ability to work, makes falling asleep behind the wheel more likely, and also strains your immune system, so you’re more vulnerable to illness. For many, the stress on your heart health could increase the risk of heart disease, high blood pressures, and even stroke or heart attack.
Oral Appliance Therapy
Our team will offer a CPAP alternative that is comfortable and effective, and easy to use and clean too! This option can travel with you easily, and doesn’t impact how your significant other sleeps too. Our team will take detailed digital images of your smile from multiple angles, and combine these images to create a 3D model of your oral structures and smile, which we use to design and custom-fit an oral appliance. The device looks and fits like a mouthguard, and moves the jaw and tongue forward to keep airways open and free of obstruction, so you have no issues breathing in the night. If you have any questions about how we approach treating sleep apnea, then contact our team today.
Learn More About Sleep Apnea With Hunt Sleep Solutions!
We want to help you rest easy and enjoy better overall health. To schedule a consultation to receive your CPAP alternative, speak with Hunt Sleep Solutions in Poquoson, VA at (757)868-6651 today!
