When you have sleep apnea, the dentist is not the first medical professional that comes to mind for treatment. You usually think of a general practitioner or a pulmonologist (lung doctor) first. The conventional treatments for sleep apnea can be scary and expensive, such as CPAP machines with additional oxygen tanks. However, a trip to the Dentist in Madison, WI may help both your sleep apnea and your budget.
Cause of Obstructive Sleep Apnea
There are many types of sleep apnea, but they all have the same cause: a blocked airway. The blockages can be caused by many different things like tumors or birth defects. When you are diagnosed with sleep apnea, your doctor, and dentist in Madison, WI may want you to have diagnostic tests to rule out these possibilities. Once they are ruled out, then other reasons for airway obstruction are looked at. If you are overweight, then the extra flesh in your neck presses against your airways when you sleep. Usually, when people sleep, their mouths hang open. This action often narrows or completely blocks airways.
Oral Appliance Therapy
Dentists offer oral appliance therapy (also called a jaw advancement device or JAD) that can effectively stop both sleep apnea and regular snoring. This appliance is a type of mouth guard specially fitted for each patient to keep the jaw from sagging as much during sleep. By keeping the jaw in place, airways are kept wide open. Beware of one-size-fits-all devices sold over-the-counter or on the Internet. They will not fit and will cause discomfort or rubbing, which can keep you awake most of the night or make you take out the device and go right back to snoring or making other noises typical with sleep apnea.
Advantages of Oral Appliance Therapy
Anyone who has ever lived with a CPAP machine knows how irksome they are. They make noise, they take up considerable space, require constant dismantling and cleaning, and still may not help ease sleep apnea symptoms. Oral appliances are much smaller, silent, and convenient to use and, unlike oxygen tanks, non-flammable.
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