Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Your Guide to Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Obstructive sleep apnea is a sleep disorder where your breathing is interrupted while you sleep. Interrupted breathing happens because of a narrowed or blocked airway. When you sleep the muscles in your throat relax. Relaxed muscles are a normal part of sleep. Usually, your throat remains open enough to let air pass through. But for some people, the muscles relax too much and the airway is blocked. When the airway collapses your body wakes up momentarily so you can open it up again. Usually, people will wake up with a gasp. These episodes are brief and most people don’t even notice that they happen. 

Millions of Americans have obstructive sleep apnea. And many of them may not even know they have it. They just know how they feel. They’re tired all the time. When they wake up in the morning they feel just as tired as when they went to bed. Their spouse has mentioned how much they snore. 

Sleep apnea can have a major impact on your life. It can cause a number of other health and mental issues. It is important to understand what sleep apnea is, what causes it, what the symptoms are, and what treatment options are available. If you think you may have sleep apnea, you should talk to your doctor right away.

Symptoms

You may not notice you have sleep apnea right away. Most of the time you won’t notice when you wake up during the night to open your airway. But you will notice some of the other side effects including fatigue, snoring, and morning headaches.

Other symptoms include:

• Waking up with a dry mouth or sore throat
• Mood changes
• High blood pressure

Many of the symptoms are shared with other sleep disorders. It’s important to talk to your doctor so you can get an accurate diagnosis.

Diagnosing Obstructive Sleep Apnea

A thorough diagnosis is crucial for treating sleep apnea effectively. We want to make sure we treat the root cause not just the symptoms. That’s why we work with the rest of your medical team to help you find the solution that works for you. We will work with your primary care physician, ENT, and other specialists.

When you work with PRECiDENT, we will start by learning more about your medical history. We will want to know about other medical conditions, including high blood pressure, that could be causing problems with your airway. It’ll also be helpful to know about any other family members that have sleep disorders as well.

We will also need to do a physical exam to help us understand more about what’s going on in your airway. Our specialists will examine the back of your throat, mouth, and nose, and check your blood pressure.

In most cases, a sleep test will be necessary. The sleep study can be performed either in a sleep lab or at home. A sleep lab requires you to stay overnight. An in-home sleep test, however, can be performed in the comfort of your own house. These tests can help determine whether you have sleep apnea or another sleep disorder.

Treatment

We offer treatment based on the cause and severity of the disorder. The goal is to help you find solutions that help you get a better night’s sleep. Most people find relief from mild therapies, while surgery provides the only lasting solution for others.

For Mild Cases

Even though the CPAP is the most common treatment for mild to moderate sleep apnea, not everyone can tolerate the mask. If you struggle to use your CPAP every night, there are other options. Sleep appliances, or mouthguards, are a great alternative to the CPAP machine. There are two types of sleep appliances. The mandibular advancement device (MAD) forces the jaw forward, increasing the size of the upper airway. The tongue-retaining device keeps the tongue in place so your airway stays open.

Mouthguards are a great option for anyone who has mild sleep apnea. Many patients prefer them over the CPAP machine, especially if they travel a lot. However, it’s important to make sure you get the right mouthguard. You may think you can go buy a mouthguard from a sporting goods store, but it’s not the same thing. Sleep appliances are specially built to keep the airway open in a way that other mouthguards are not. If you want the mouthguard to work you need to make sure the appliance is prescribed by your dentist or sleep specialist.

Surgery

Even though the CPAP machine and oral appliances are the most common treatment options for obstructive sleep apnea they’re not always the right answer for everyone. Some people are satisfied with the results they see from using the CPAP or oral appliance prescribed by their doctor.

For patients who are not seeing results from their oral appliance or just can’t adjust to the CPAP machine, surgery may be the best permanent solution. The goal of all of these surgeries is to open up the airway permanently so you can breathe easier at night.

Types of Surgery

There are several different surgeries that can help treat sleep apnea and it’s important for specialists to get a thorough diagnosis before recommending any of them. Just like with any other condition a thorough understanding of the root cause is the key to knowing which treatment option is right for you. Some surgeries will be handled by an ENT and others will be taken care of by an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, like the specialists at PRECiDENT.

Sleep apnea surgeries handled by an ENT include:

• Tonsillectomy (usually for children)
• UPPP surgery (removes excess tissue from the throat which clears the airway)
• Palate implants

The primary surgery performed by an oral and maxillofacial surgeon is MMA (maxillomandibular advancement) surgery. During this procedure, the surgeon will move the jaw forward, which opens up the airway. MMA surgery is the most successful surgery for obstructive sleep apnea with over 90% of patients finding relief. Many of these patients even go on to sleep successfully without their CPAP machine. MMA surgery can be invasive and will likely alter the appearance of your face, so it is important to discuss all of your options with a specialist before making any decisions.