Now Offering Sleep Apnea Services
Warrenton Dental Center • November 30, 2016
We are excited to announce new services at our office! To continue to provide you with the care we are known to provide, we have completed continuing education in order to offer sleep apnea services.
From snoring to pauses in breathing, sleep apnea is not a disorder we should ignore. In fact, proper treatment is needed immediately. As with other diseases and conditions, there are different types of sleep apnea you might be suffering from. To help you understand sleep apnea, let’s look at the different types and stages.
The Types of Sleep Apnea
If you or a loved one suffers from sleep apnea, you might already know the side effects of not breathing while sleeping. So, let’s take a brief look at Obstructive, Central and Complex Sleep Apnea:
- Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) – Obstructive sleep apnea is the most common type of sleep apnea. It occurs when the soft tissue in the back of the throat relaxes during sleep and blocks the airway. This often causes you to snore loudly, which can be very disruptive for your bed partner.
- Central Sleep Apnea (CSA) – Central sleep apnea is not a common type of sleep apnea. It involves the central nervous system, and occurs when the brain fails to signal the muscles that control breathing. If you suffer from central sleep apnea it is likely that you seldom snore.
- Complex Sleep Apnea – Complex sleep apnea is a combination of obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea. It is a form of sleep apnea in which central apneas persist or emerge during attempts to treat obstructive events with a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) or bi-level device.
By understanding the types of sleep apnea, we can tailor appropriate treatment for you.
The Stages of Sleep Apnea
In addition to the types of sleep apnea, there are also three stages that occur as well:
- Mild is the first stage in which patients stop breathing 5-15 times per hour.
- Moderate involves a stoppage of breathing 16-30 times per hour.
- Severe, which means patients’ breathing stops more than 30 times per hour.
To learn more about sleep apnea, please contact our office and we can work with you to find the right treatment option available.
You may think that snoring or sleep apnea should not be at the top of your treatment list. However, it is important to make the treatment of your sleep apnea a top priority. Why? Let’s take a look at 5 negative effects that sleep apnea can have on your oral and overall health when treatment […]
Being at risk for temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD) increases your likelihood of developing this condition. It is possible to develop TMD with or without the risk factors, but if you do have a number of those listed, it is important to ask your dentist what you might be able to do to reduce your risk. […]
From snoring to pauses in breathing, sleep apnea should not be taken lightly—in fact, you should receive proper treatment immediately. As with other diseases and conditions, there are different types of sleep apnea you might be suffering from. For this reason, it is important to understand each type in order to better understand your specific […]
If you are experiencing an extremely painful headache, it might be a migraine. However, while migraines might be annoying and difficult to deal with, they don’t typically cause any serious complications. With a new study, migraines were determined to be an early sign of arthritis in the jaw. What is the Connection? Temporomandibular joint disorder […]
Maybe you’ve been trying to find the root cause for your TMD but are coming up short. For many, stress is the culprit. It affects almost everyone at some point in their lives. In fact, about 77 percent of people in the United States have reported that they experienced physical symptoms due to stress. Let’s […]
In addition to sleep apnea treatments it is also important to make lifestyle changes. Through these changes, you can improve your sleep and eliminate your symptoms of sleep apnea—it’s a win/win for your health and your sleep! Here are three lifestyle changes you should start making immediately. Quit Smoking. We have all been told that […]
It has also been shown that those who suffer from sleep disorders might also be suffering from a problem directly related to temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders (TMD). A disorder in the TMJ can cause pain and discomfort in other parts of the body and symptoms, such as sleep apnea, teeth grinding and tension headaches or […]
Sleep apnea has been observed since ancient times and, while a treatment or cause was not clear, people were still aware of this condition. In the late 19th century, the term “Pickwickian syndrome” was created to describe symptoms of sleep apnea. Unfortunately, the research mainly concentrated on the patient’s obesity rather than the disordered breathing […]
If you chew gum and suffer from headaches or jaw pain, you might want to think twice before you pick up that new pack of gum. A person suffering from temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD) might find it painful to chew gum while others will gladly chew it on a daily basis. In a study of […]
We all know sleep is essential to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. However, sleep conditions, such as sleep apnea, can hinder a person’s ability to sleep and their quality of sleep. When this occurs, other severe health conditions can arise. We’ve discussed a few before, but let’s take a look at some other conditions: High Blood […]
