Do you often feel tired during the day, or experience moodiness or headaches? These are a few common warning signs of sleep apnea, and indicate the need for treatment. In today’s blog, your Livonia, MI, dentist talks about the common symptoms of sleep apnea and how we offer a solution with an oral appliance.
The Signs You Need Treatment
With sleep apnea, as you rest you stop breathing multiple times a night as your airway is cut off by the collapse of soft tissues in the back of your mouth and in your throat. The brain will wake you to resume breathing once it registers the drop in oxygen, but you may not remember this happening. Warning signs could include chronic snoring, waking in the night choking or gasping for air, or waking up with dry mouth. Headaches during the day are common, as is moodiness and daytime drowsiness. Others report high blood pressure, and even an irregular heartbeat! You could also have issues connecting on tasks or with your short term memory. When these warning signs begin to occur, please let us know right away. Otherwise, the disorder could impact your quality of life, and eventually even strain your immune system and cardiovascular health!
Starting Your Sleep Assessment
Our team will start with a simple sleep assessment, in which we ask questions about your sleep habits and experiences to better gauge the presence of sleep apnea. We will also carefully examine your mouth and oral structures to look for signs of possible factors. We conduct a diagnosis with precision and accuracy to identify the presence of sleep apnea and assess the overall severity, so we can choose the right treatment option. While the CPAP machine is effective, we know this can be difficult for some to use, and loud and cumbersome too. But our team can offer an alternative with an oral appliance.
Oral Appliance Therapy
The oral appliance is a device that is worn like mouthguard when you rest, and helps shift the jaw and tongue forward to keep airways open and free of obstruction, so you sleep without interruption. You will feel more rested and alert the next day, and the device is easy to use, clean, and store. We will custom-make those for you to ensure a proper fit and treatment with precision. If you have any questions about how we diagnose and treat issues like sleep apnea, then contact our team today to learn more. We want to help you feel more rested and alert the next day!
SCHEDULE YOUR SLEEP ASSESSMENT WITH DR. STEWART
Our team offers treatment to address the factors behind your untreated sleep issues. To start your treatment and enjoy better oral health, then schedule an appointment with Dr. Stewart in Livonia, MI today at 734-425-4400.
