What is Sleep Apnea: Symptoms, Risks & Treatment

What is Sleep Apnea: Symptoms, Risks & Treatment

Feb 08, 2022

What is Sleep Apnea?

Sleep apnea is a severe sleep disorder that causes your breathing to repeatedly start and stop when you sleep. For example, if you snore loudly or feel tired and exhausted after getting a whole night’s rest, you might likely have sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea can affect you in three variations. They are obstructive sleep apnea, the most common and occurs when your throat muscles relax. Central sleep apnea occurs when your brain doesn’t send signals to the muscles controlling your breathing. The third variety, complex sleep apnea, occurs when you have both obstructive and central sleep apnea.

If you think you or a family member has sleep apnea, you must schedule an appointment with your doctor or the dentist in 91710. Early treatment can ease the symptoms and help prevent complications like heart problems.

Symptoms of Sleep Apnea

Obstructive and central sleep apnea have overlapping symptoms making it challenging to determine which variety affects you. The familiar signs of obstructive and central sleep apnea include loud snoring, episodes causing you to stop bleeding during sleep and reported by a bed partner, gasping for air when sleeping, waking up with a dry mouth, challenges staying asleep, morning headaches, daytime sleepiness, challenges paying attention, and irritability.

Loud snoring is not something you should take lightly because it is a severe problem. However, not everyone who has sleep apnea snores. Therefore you must discuss your symptoms with the dentist and inquire about any sleep-related issues that leave you tired, sleepy, and irritable.

Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when your throat muscles relax to narrow your airway when breathing. Central sleep apnea is a condition where you make no effort to breathe for short periods. Both varieties cause you to wake five or 30 times every hour throughout the night.

Risks of Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea affects anyone, including children. However, certain factors can increase your chances of developing this sleep-related disorder.

Obstructive sleep apnea is common among people with excess weight, thicker neck circumference, narrowed airway, gender, age, family history, alcohol use, nasal congestion, smoking, and medical solutions. Men are more prone to have obstructive sleep apnea than women. However, women can also develop this condition if they are overweight and are past menopause.

In central sleep apnea, the risks include age, gender, heart disorders, drug use, and strokes. Men are affected by central sleep apnea more than women.

Diagnosing Sleep Apnea

If you visit the dentist in Chino, CA, reporting your symptoms, the dentist will likely evaluate your symptoms and sleep history. You might require help from her bed partner or a family member to discuss your symptoms with your dentist.

You will likely receive a referral to a sleep disorder Center where a sleep medicine specialist helps you determine whether you need further evaluation. Sleep apnea evaluations often involve overnight monitoring at a sleep center to evaluate your breathing and body functions when sleeping. For example, the polysomnography test, considered the gold standard for assessing sleep apnea, requires hooking you up to equipment monitoring your heart, lungs, and oxygen levels when sleeping.

If you are affected by sleep apnea, the sleep medicine specialist refers you back to your dentist or doctor for further treatment.

Treatment for Sleep Apnea

If you are affected by a mild case of sleep apnea, you might find relief for making lifestyle changes like losing weight or quitting smoking. However, if your situation is complex, sleep apnea treatment in Chino, CA, might recommend oral appliances designed by dentists to help keep your throat open when sleeping. The gold standard for treating sleep apnea is the CPAP device which many people don’t tolerate. However, there is no reason for you to express disappointment because the oral appliance created by dentists is easier to use, keeps your lower jaw in a forward position, and is practical to relieve snoring and obstructive sleep apnea.

Your dentist can provide different devices as a remedy for your condition. However, you might need to try other devices before finding one suitable for you. After you get the right fit, you must follow up with your dentist immediately for at least a year and after regularly to ensure the device fits well and to reassess your signs and symptoms of sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea when left untreated, can expose you to life-threatening health complications that require different medical professionals. Therefore if you think you are affected by sleep apnea, please do not hesitate to visit Ramona Dentistry of Chino requesting treatment for the problem from the experienced professionals at the facility.

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