Sleep Apnea

Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is a medical condition that impacts quality of life and personal wellbeing. Sleep apnea may lead to serious medical problems including hypertension, stroke, heart failure and diabetes.

Sleep apnea symptoms

The most common symptoms of sleep apnea are snoring and feeling tired. Shallow or irregular breathing disturbs sleep and is often due to an obstruction in the airway.

What causes snoring?

When you breathe normally, air passes through the nose and the flexible structures in the back of the throat such as the soft palate, uvula and tongue. The airway is held open by muscles which relax when you sleep. Snoring indicates that there is an obstruction to the airway.

What is snoring?

Snoring is the sound of obstructed breathing during sleep in which the soft tissues at the back of the throat lose muscle tone, flop back and vibrate. Snoring disrupts the quality of sleep and may cause daytime sleepiness.

Snoring and sleepiness affect over 40% of the adult population, and even though snoring can be harmless, it should be investigated if it is negatively impacting your health and family relationships.

How we can help?

During your consultation, we check your teeth and mouth for signs of sleep apnea and snoring. We can show you how oral appliance therapies can help address these health concerns.

What are oral appliances?

Oral appliances move your lower jaw forward so that your throat opens up, reducing the risk of obstruction that causes the snoring. This therapy is effective for mild to moderate sleep apnea and is less cumbersome than a CPAP machine.

If you want more information about our sleep apnea treatments, please call our friendly reception staff.