Youtube: Solution for Snoring Problem
Solution for Snoring Problems
Hi, this is Dr. Antolak from TheGentleDentist.com in Shelby Township, Michigan. One thing that is really bothersome to couples is when one partner snores. Snoring is extremely prevalent, especially in our society. Because of the fact that people are overweight,. Not all the time, but your body mass index is an indicator of your snoring and what takes place during snoring.
What I want to do is just to take a moment to explain what snoring is all about and how snoring takes place, and then some dental applications that we can do to help with that problem.
So snoring is basically an issue of sleeping on your back. Your lower jaw is going to go back because of gravity. And then when you start falling asleep, your body, your tone in your muscles start getting much more relaxed. As your muscles and your tone of your throat relax and your lower jaw is too small in comparison to your upper jaw, which brings all that tissue back over the space where you normally would breathe from. It is called a pharynx. Or if you are overweight that can be something that will restrict the amount of space that you can breathe through. So what happens is when someone snores, the vibration between the oral cavity you’re breathing in through the epiglottis and that area, the tissue starts to flap, and that’s the snoring sensation.
Snoring is a problem, especially for couples. You know one may have to sleep in another room if they can’t sleep. So what do we do? There’s a dental application that can help with snoring. If you know CPR one of the things that’s taught is if a person can’t breathe, their mouth they should lean forward to open the airway. What we can do is use an oral appliance like this. This is a basic type of model for your upper teeth on top of this.
Let’s say someone is sitting back like this and they’re sleeping normally, the jaw would be positioned back further. So, for example, the jaw would be positioned like this. Now what these straps do is it actually pushes the lower jaw forward. And then it keeps the lower jaw pushed forward, to keep that airway space open. When the airway opens up, the snoring doesn’t really persist as badly. So it keeps that lower jaw pushed up more. By doing that it keeps the airway space open. This device can still make you bite down. You can move your jaw around like this. But you can’t move that lower jaw back. And so with sleeping, people start getting relaxed during the different phases of sleep. It can’t go back.
Because during sleep we go through different sleep cycles, and each cycle is a deeper state and a deeper level. The problem was snoring and something more serious called sleep apnea. Any time you start sleeping you might hear somebody start to not breathe at all, so the body does start to gasp. That is a significant problem. Your body is not getting any oxygen that it really requires to sustain life and to sustain the activity of the brain. What their body does is create adrenaline when they stop breathing, and that adrenaline stops them from getting to the deeper levels of sleep that are necessary. So snoring and sleep apnea are significant problems socially and physically.
And it accounts for sometimes deaths. If you can’t get a good night’s sleep, there’s so many other issues that take place with it, as far as heart disease, potential high blood pressure, and diabetes are all affected by lack of sleep and sleep apnea.
The first line of treatment by your physician is, called a CPAP. Which is a continuous positive air pressure. It’s basically a Darth Vader mask that goes sometimes over your nose and over your mouth. And it puts pressure into it, so it forces that air down into your lungs to keep you ventilated. That’s this gold standard. The problem is, is that there are many people who cannot tolerate the CPAP device. This is because it’s something to wear on the outside of their face. It’s kind of like it has got a certain roll to it, and it just kind of gets to be a little cumbersome and in the way. So these devices like this are a perfect situation for those of you or those you love, who cannot tolerate a sleep CPAP device or snores.
If this is something that you know is going on and you want to talk to the physician first, request a sleep study. Being diagnosed by a physician are necessary for us as dentists to treat sleep apnea because it’s a medical condition.
Solution for Snoring Problems
So, if you have questions about a solution for snoring problems or need some guidance, I’ll be happy to help you out. Our number is (586) 247-3855. Thank you.