When you sleep, do you feel well rested in the morning? No matter how much sleep you get, you don’t feel like you’ve had enough. Sometimes, you even wake up with a horribly dry mouth.
Unfortunately, these are all signs of sleep apnea in New Braunfels. Thankfully though, your local dentist not only can help you discover if this is the true cause of your sleeping problems, but your local dental practice can also help you find the best treatment options for you. Learn more about sleep apnea and how to remedy this disorder in this week’s blog post.
What is Obstructive Sleep Apnea?
Obstructive sleep apnea is a sleeping disorder that causes stops in your breathing when your body should otherwise by resting and rejuvenating itself. These interruptions occur when your upper airway is blocked. The blockage can be caused by the lower jaw or tongue relaxing too much.
To make sure that your body is receiving enough oxygen, your brain sends quick jolts to the rest of the body to briefly wake up just enough to clear the airway. Most times, you don’t feel these brief moments, but they interrupt your REM sleep cycle, causing you to experience extreme fatigue in the long run.
Because of these interruptions, obstructive sleep apnea may be linked to these other concerns:
- Sleep deprivation from lack of critical REM sleep
- Depression
- Frequent mood swings
- Increased chance of car accidents from sleep deprivation
- Risks of developing other systematic health conditions like heart disease or having a stroke
What Is the Best Way to Treat Sleep Apnea?
There are many practices that choose to help patients with sleep apnea by prescribing a CPAP machine, or a breathing machine. This device constantly forces the airway open through a facemask.
Although it seems relatively simple, there are many patients who are CPAP intolerant. It can be uncomfortable to wear a mask while trying to rest, not to mention being attached to a machine can make it difficult to move around in your sleep.
So instead, our office provides a different alternative known as a custom oral appliance. The custom mouthpiece keeps the airway open through the night by shifting the jaw comfortably forward. These benefit many patients because they are personally crafted for your mouth and easy to use.
To discover your best form of treatment, you must reach out to your dentist in New Braunfels for a consultation. Discovering your cause for interrupted sleep is just a quick phone call away!
About Our Office
Here at Comal Dental, we work to help patients get what they need—a full night of rest! It’s hard to get a full night of sleep when you have your overall health to stress about. The good thing is that treatment is just a phone call away when you choose to visit our practice. Feel free to contact us today to schedule your consultation!