Answer: If you say yes to one or more of these signs, you might be suffering from sleep apnoea.
Answer:
CPAP – first line of care for severe sleep apnoea & patients with serious health issues, and is a very effective treatment. A CPAP machine consists of an electrical unit connected to a face-mask through a hose.
By continuously blowing air through the mask, the CPAP machine ensures your airways remain open. Some people have difficulty adjusting to and managing the CPAP. in these instances, an oral appliance is much better than no treatment at all.
Oral appliances – for people with clenching and grinding, snoring, morning headaches, or mild to tolerate sleep apnoea, an oral appliance is a good first line of treatment.
By positioning your jaw in a forward position, it increases the size of your airway, thereby allowing for improved breathing during sleep. Time and effort is taken to relax the muscles of the head, neck and airway before determining the most balanced position for the appliance.
Laser – the unique comfortable and non-ablative Er;YAG leaser treatment called NightLase® helps to tone and tighten the intra-oral soft tissues to make room for better airflows at the back of the throat.
Clinical examination asn assessments determine which method is best for you. Sometimes combination of different treatment modalities is necessary.
The danger in using the terms ‘mild’ and ‘moderate’ to classify sleep apnoea is that it implies a lesser need for treatment.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Can you imagine the implications if cancer was designated as mild, moderate and severe? Do we want to wait until a ‘mild’ case of cancer becomes severe before we have treated it? Of course not. Cancer is graded as Grade 1, 2, 3 and 4. The higher the number, the worse the prognosis. Having a lower grade of cancer leaves more options for treatment and potential remission.
Similarly, it would be good if sleep-disordered breathing was also graded as Grades 1, 2, 3 and 4.
If you have any form of sleep-disordered breathing, you have a significant problem that needs to be managed to prevent progression to worsening stages of sleep apnoea. The lower the severity, the more likely that treatment will manage the problem and prevent much of the medical, social and functional disability that accompanies it.
Answer:
Because sleep apnoea is commonly a disease of cranio-facial anatomy. Trained dentists are in a position to be the number one group identifying these potential problems.
Dentists will commonly see children through all phase of development, and are therefore able to identify and provide interceptive treatment for children at risk of developing sleep apnoea.
