A Patient's Guide
Tips for Better Sleep
SNORING
Snoring and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are like thunder and lightning: they often occur together but not always. Snoring might just be a nuisance, while sleep apnea can pose significant health risks. If the structures in your throat are enlarged or if the jaw and tongue relax too much during sleep, it can partially or completely block the airway. As air flows past this blockage, it causes these structures to vibrate, producing the familiar sound of snoring. Snoring tends to get louder with age, weight gain, and if more of the airway is obstructed. It can be loud enough to wake you or others multiple times during the night, and it might indicate OSA. With this serious disorder, the person stops breathing periodically, which deprives the brain, heart, and blood of oxygen during sleep.
OBSTRUCTIVE SLEEP APNEA (OSA)
In obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), the muscles of the soft palate, the base of the tongue, and the uvula (the small, conical piece of tissue hanging at the back of your throat) relax and sag. This causes the airway to become obstructed, making breathing difficult and noisy. Sometimes, the airway walls collapse completely, blocking breathing altogether.
When this happens, pauses in breathing interrupt a person's snoring. As the body struggles to breathe, the diaphragm muscles work harder. This briefly disrupts sleep, often for just seconds, stimulating the throat muscles and opening the airway again. When breathing resumes, it's often with a deep gasp. These gasps cause the sleeper to wake up, but those moments are so brief and incomplete that the person usually does not remember them in the morning. Someone with obstructive sleep apnea may experience these pauses in breathing potentially dozens or even hundreds of times each night.
The following is a sleep quiz to help you rate the quality of your sleep patterns.
If you noted three or more checked items, you should ask your doctor or dentist about sleep apnea.
TREATMENT OPTIONS
We’ll work with you to determine the best option to treat your obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Treatments can include:
Nasal CPAP, or continuous positive airway pressure, uses an air compressor to gently force air through the nasal passages and into the airway. This steady pressure keeps the airway open, enabling the person to sleep and breathe normally.
Surgery can address the physical abnormalities causing sleep apnea, but there's no simple surgical fix. Given the invasive nature of these procedures, a failed surgery can be deeply distressing for the patient. While initial success rates range from 50% to 70%, the effectiveness often diminishes over time. Unfortunately, these outcomes are irreversible.
Oral appliance therapy is a highly effective treatment for many patients dealing with snoring and obstructive sleep apnea.