Dentist - South Jordan
10430 South 2700 West
South Jordan, UT 84095
(801) 254-7777
Snoring and Sleep Apnea
Sleep
We spent roughly one third of our lives sleeping. However, science is still struggling to understand what physiologic changes and relevant processes are occuring during this time. We do know that there are very severe negative consequenses to poor sleep quality and lack of sleep. During the sleep hours, our bodies refresh physically, sort out memories and organize our minds, growth hormone is released, and healing and repairing is accomplished at the cellular level.
Sleep cycles
Each night as you sleep, your body goes through multiple sleep cycles. Many people have heard of Rapid Eye Movement or REM sleep. REM sleep is the concluding phase of each sleep cycle and is the portion of our sleep where dreams occur. The period between REM cycles is referred to as one sleep cycle. Each cycle also consists of four different sleep stages. Stage 1 only accounts for about 5% of total sleep time. It is the stage that transitions from wakefulness to sleep. Stage 2 makes up approximately 50% of total sleep. It is when your body is resting, but the brain is still fairly active. Stage 3 and 4 are sometimes grouped together as slow wave or deep sleep. Together they comprise about 20% of total sleep. It is during slow wave sleep that growth hormone is released, and the immune system is reinforced. This is also the stage where your body is able to rejuvinate itself. Although most sleep cycles are about 90 minutes in length, they vary greatly throughout the night with very little REM at the beginning and large percentages of REM towards the end of the night.
Snoring
Snoring occurs when negative pressure in the airway causes the breathing tubes to get very close together. This closness and increased air pressure cause the breathing tubes to vibrate thus creating the snoring sound. Many people are under the misconception that snoring is equated with deep restful sleep. In fact, it is just the opposite. Each time someone snores, it causes a slight arousal in their sleep pattern. This arousal prevents the body from maintaining the slow wave, or rejuvinating sleep.
Apnea
Apnea is defined as cessation of breath. This means that instead of just snoring, the air passages get pulled completely together by the air pressure being used to breathe. When this occurs, the body jolts itself back to consciousness, relaxes the airway, and gasps for breath. This continual blocking of the airway and subsequent gasping prevents the body from entering into the slow wave, rejuvinating sleep patterns. The obvious effects of this are waking unrefreshed and tired. However, the true consequences are far more dangerous. There is a marked increase in heart failure, loss of short term memory, increased daytime sleepiness and fatigue, inability to concentrate, morning headaches, and many other negative consequences.
Inadequate Sleep Symptoms
The average adult should be getting between 7 and 8 hours of sleep per night. If this sleep is not being obtained, or the sleep is poor quality. The following symptoms may be noted
-Snoring
-Excessive daytime sleepiness
-Awakenings
-Gasping or choking during the night
-Poor memory
-Irritable personality changes
-Decreased sex drive
-Morning headaches
Poor sleep quality worsens with age and obesity. 32% of the American adult population have some form of a sleep disorder.
Treatment options
The gold standard of medicine for sleep apena treatment is the CPAP (continuous positive air pressure) machine. This is a device that is placed bedside, a mask is placed over the nose, and/or mouth, through which a small air compressor forces air into your lungs throughout the night. This machine has clinical success of 99%. Yet, it has a very low patient compliance. Many people find the mask cumbersome or claustrophobic. They also don’t like traveling with the machine. Some bed partners find the sounds of the CPAP machine soothing, while others complain it interferes with their own sleep. (Though it must be far more tolerable than listening to snoring or apnea.) If it can be tolerated, the best treatment option for sleep apnea is the CPAP machine.
If the CPAP machine is not an option that patients feel is compatible with them, there are surgical options. These often require cutting out large portions of the soft tissue in the back of your mouth. Though painful, the initial success of these procedures is good. However, a majority of patients have a relapse to the initial state within a few years.
Our treatment option
The success of the CPAP machine is because it maitains an open airway. We accomplish without the use of CPAP by bringing the lower jaw forward with a retainer-like appliance that you wear each night as you sleep. This repositioning of the jaw lifts the base of tongue off of the airway and away from the posterior nasal passages that are so frequently the problem in snoring and the constriction associated with apnea. There are hundreds of sleep devices on the market today. Some are available at the drugstore, most are made by a dental lab. The MD Sleep Appliance used in our office was designed and patented by Dr. Lund after years of research, trial and error, and most importantly patient input. The biggest challenge faced by Dr. Lund during this process was designing an appliance that was comfortable. Most of the available appliances are very bulky, filling most of the mouth with hard acrylic and covering the roof of the mouth. Though effective, it can interfer with sleep if the appliance is too cumbersome. The MD Sleep Appliance can even be adjusted forward or back by the patient for optimal comfort.