Wake Up to a Restful Night
Has your significant other told you that you snore heavily? Have they ever noticed that you stop breathing suddenly throughout the night? Are you often sleepy during the day and never feel truly rested, despite getting a full night’s sleep? These could be signs of sleep apnea, a disorder during which your breathing pauses or becomes very shallow multiple times throughout the night due to obstruction in your airway.
Signs & Symptoms
Because symptoms are largely present during sleep and often go unnoticed, only a minority of sleep apnea sufferers have been diagnosed.
Some signs of sleep apnea to watch out for include:
- Loud snoring
- Gasping or choking for air during sleep
- Severe daytime drowsiness or fatigue
- Frequent urination during the night (the body’s attempt to control elevated blood pressure)
- Morning headaches (from blood pressure or jaw clenching)
- Chronic heartburn
- Nightmares or insomnia
- Difficulty concentrating and irritability
What are the risks?
Excess weight around the neck can compress the airway, disrupting normal breathing and sleep cycles. But that’s not all, here are more risk factors for sleep apnea:
- Obesity
- Advanced age
- Family history
- Smoking
- Alcohol consumption
- Nasal congestion
- Chronic sinus problems
Treatment
It’s crucial to address sleep apnea promptly, as untreated sleep apnea can lead to serious health complications. Beyond the immediate impact on your quality of life, untreated sleep apnea increases the risk of:
- High blood pressure
- Heart disease
- Stroke
- Type 2 diabetes
- Depression
- Worsening ADHD symptoms
At Dassani Dentistry, we understand the toll sleep apnea takes on your life, and we’re here to help you reclaim restful nights and vibrant days. We offer a range of advanced appliances designed to effectively manage sleep apnea. From custom-fit oral appliances to innovative CPAP alternatives, our comprehensive solutions cater to your unique needs, ensuring a comfortable and effective treatment experience.
Traditional CPAP
Once diagnosed, we can offer you a CPAP machine (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure). It delivers a stream of compressed air through a plastic tube connected to a nasal pillow, nose mask, or full-face mask. The air pressure helps maintain the airway open, making normal breathing possible.
CPAP is widely considered the “gold standard” for treating sleep apnea, and offers numerous benefits including:
- Effective treatment by maintaining an open airway
- Improved sleep quality
- Enhanced comfort (modern CPAP devices are designed with advanced features to improve comfort)
- Quiet operation
- Portable options
Custom Oral Appliance Therapy
If your sleep apnea is not severe enough to require CPAP or surgery, Dr. Dassani and her team will create a custom sleep apnea mouth appliance. This oral appliance therapy (OAT) helps shift the jaw forward, opening up the airway during sleep, and allowing you to breathe normally. We offer multiple mouth appliance options that include:
NARVAL™ CC
- Discreet and non-invasive.
- It can be customized for a comfortable fit.
- Allows you to talk, drink, and close your mouth while sleeping.
MICRO₂® SLEEP AND SNORE DEVICE
- Allows more tongue space with its lingual-free design.
- One-piece construction.
- Minimizes risk of TMJ and other craniofacial complications.
- They are made with improved biocompatible materials.
SOMNODENT MAS
- One of the most comfortable appliances that can be custom-made to fit your mouth.
- It does not impose on your tongue.
- Allows you to open and close your jaw
THORNTON ADJUSTABLE POSITIONER (TAP®)
Composed of two separate arches containing a mechanism that permits the advancement of your lower jaw.
THE SUAD
- Allows more lateral movement than most appliances.
- Specially made for patients who grind their teeth at night.
- The thermoflex material usually requires heating in warm/hot water to soften it enough to place it every night.
- Comes with a Morning Repositioner, used for isometric exercises for 15 minutes in the morning to help the bite return to normal.
THE OASY ORAL/NASAL AIRWAY SYSTEM
- Suitable treatment solution for both snoring and sleep apnea.
- Works through mandibular repositioning and also as a nasal dilator for reduction of nasal resistance and improved nasal breathing.
ELASTIC MANDIBULAR ADVANCEMENT (EMA) APPLIANCE
- Helpful with patients who have a larger-than-normal tongue.
- Uses bands with different lengths and stiffness that are changed to create a more forward movement of the mandible
SILENT NITE
A small device with tiny connectors attached to transparent flexible upper and lower forms.
Take Control of Sleep Apnea
If you are still wondering whether you may have sleep apnea, Dr. Dassani would love to speak with you. If diagnosed, your Houston dentist can help you take control of your nights, your days, your health, and your life with a simple, non-invasive treatment with oral appliance therapy.
Call us at Dassani Dentistry today or schedule your consultation online to take the first step. We’ve provided the New Patient Forms you will need to fill out below for your convenience.