While severe obstructive sleep apnea will need to be treated with a CPAP machine, many mild to moderate cases of sleep apnea can be treated with a simple mouthguard that is custom-made for you based on your mouth’s impressions.
The mouthguard will gently push your jaw forward to hold your airway open while you sleep. This prevents blockages in your airway that would stop you from breathing. Many patients prefer mouthguards for treating sleep apnea as opposed to CPAP because it is much more comfortable and less claustrophobic.
OPTISLEEP is an oral appliance that is worn at night during sleep to treat snoring or mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea. The two-piece appliance keeps the jaw in a forward position and allows the upper airway to stay open. This prevents the blocking of the airway.
Many symptoms can indicate sleep apnea, but they may go unnoticed if you’re very busy or find yourself tired all the time. It soon becomes normal to feel fatigued and people often blame it on their hectic schedules.
However, the biggest indicator of sleep apnea is constant and chronic fatigue that doesn’t seem to let up no matter how long you sleep. Other symptoms include:
If you don’t treat sleep apnea as soon as possible, it can cause serious health conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and hypertension. Failing to treat sleep apnea can result in a shorter lifespan due lower oxygen levels, increased stress on the heart and substantially lower quality of life.
Depriving the brain of oxygen can cause damage to the brain and the rest of the body and when this occurs repeatedly throughout the night, every single night, it’s not hard to see why this is so problematic.
At The Art of Dentistry, we can a 3D scan of your airway to look for airway constrictions and assess your symptoms to determine if taking an at home sleep study to get a diagnosis to begin treatment so that you can sleep peacefully at night.
We proudly serve the dental patients of Overland Park, Louisburg, and all other surrounding areas. Please contact us with any questions you have about sleep apnea.
- diabetes
- driving accidents
- heart attack
- high blood pressure
- irregular heartbeat
- severe weight gain
- sexual dysfunctions
- stroke
- work-related accidents
Among the other unique services offered by Dr. Kirkegaard’s team is their partnership with a sleep physician. You may not realize this, but there is a strong connection between a good night’s rest, oral health, and your general wellbeing. Sleep apnea can result in, among other things, severe grinding of our teeth, cardiovascular disease, stroke, heart attack, hypertension, and many other life threatening conditions. By working hand-in-hand with the physician, Dr. Kirkegaard’s team can help treat sleep apnea and even snoring. Even if you have tried and failed a CPAP, inquire about the creation of an oral appliance fitted specifically to you that can drastically change your (and your bed partner’s) life without all the cords!
We can administer a sleep test you take in the comfort of your own home and have a sleep physician interpret and diagnose the results to see how your quality of life can be improved.
The American Sleep Apnea Association calls sleep apnea “a debilitating and life-shortening ailment that’s estimated to affect 22 million Americans”; in its “Global Surveillance, Prevention and Control of Chronic Respiratory Diseases: A Comprehensive Approach,” World Health Organization estimates sleep apnea affects 100 million people worldwide, calling it “the most common organic sleep disorder.”
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