Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is a serious sleep disorder characterized by repeated interruptions in breathing during sleep. These interruptions occur when throat muscles relax and block your airway, preventing oxygen from reaching your lungs. The brain briefly wakes you to reopen the airway, disrupting your sleep quality and reducing oxygen levels in your body.

While sleep apnea itself rarely causes sudden death, untreated sleep apnea significantly increases your risk of life-threatening conditions like heart attacks and strokes. The chronic oxygen deprivation stresses your cardiovascular system, contributing to high blood pressure and heart arrhythmias. Proper treatment substantially reduces these risks, highlighting the importance of seeking help for sleep apnea symptoms.

Sleep apnea is most commonly caused by excess weight, creating fat deposits around the upper airway, narrowing breathing passages. Anatomical features like a naturally narrow throat, enlarged tonsils, recessed chin, or small jaw can also predispose you to sleep apnea. Other risk factors include family history, being male, being over 40, smoking, alcohol consumption, and certain medical conditions like hypothyroidism.

Common signs include loud snoring, witnessed breathing pauses during sleep, gasping upon awakening, and waking with a dry mouth or sore throat. Daytime symptoms include excessive sleepiness, morning headaches, difficulty concentrating, irritability, and decreased libido. A definitive diagnosis requires a sleep study, either at home or in a sleep lab recommended by Dr. MacPhail, DDS.

Sleep apnea can be effectively managed and sometimes resolved completely depending on its underlying cause. For weight-related sleep apnea, significant weight loss can sometimes eliminate the condition, while surgical procedures can provide permanent solutions for certain anatomical issues. However, many patients require ongoing management through oral appliance therapy or CPAP machines to control symptoms and prevent health complications.

Research suggests that sleep apnea does have a genetic component, with family history being a recognized risk factor. You may inherit physical traits that predispose you to sleep apnea, such as facial structure, jaw size, or body fat distribution patterns. However, lifestyle choices, weight management, and other environmental factors significantly influence whether someone with a genetic predisposition actually develops sleep apnea.

Absolutely! One of the new oral airway dilator devices are very user-friendly and can solve your snoring problems.

Depending upon its severity, sleep disordered breathing (OSD) has been linked to hypertension, heart disease and stroke, depression, sexual dysfunction, family discord, accidents, and increased mortality rates.

Encourage your spouse to read about the seriousness of sleep apnea. Assure him/her that the condition is completely treatable with excellent success rates; urge them to contact Dr. MacPhail and schedule an appointment for a home sleep study and a screening at 517-347-6733.

We provide take home sleep tests to evaluate your sleep pattern to help diagnose if patients are a candidate for an oral sleep appliance. You take the sleep tests at your convenience in your bed and they are easy to use.

An oral airway dilator is one of several generic terms used to describe an FDA approved oral appliance. The intraoral appliances are custom-made by dentists to treat snoring and obstructive sleep apnea.

The simplest remedies for treating sleep apnea include weight loss and behavioral modifications, such as changing sleeping positions and avoiding alcohol or heavy meals after 8 p.m. Other interventional therapies being used are CPAP/BiPAP, surgery, somnoplasty, oral appliances, and herbal remedies. Recently, developments of oral maxillary complex with controlled arch orthodontics offers a more permanent solution.

When indicated, a dental appliance is an effective therapy for mild to moderate sleep apnea. Advancements in appliance designs have greatly improved their dependability from earlier versions. In many cases, for people who cannot tolerate wearing the CPAP, an oral airway dilator has been just as effective as CPAP without its inconvenience or discomfort. Oral appliances are endorsed and accepted by patients and medical professionals.

If you are unable to adjust to wearing your CPAP mask, the first step is to tell your physician and request that they refer you to Dr. MacPhail. Dr. MacPhail will perform a comprehensive exam of the head, neck, gums, and airway. She will take measurements as well as determine jaw positioning and other physical attributes in order to create a custom appliance based on your individual needs.

If you snore, wake up often during the night, suffer from headaches in the morning, experience sleepiness frequently during the day, or you’re if intolerant of CPAP, you could benefit substantially with an oral appliance. Contact us to schedule a clinical evaluation and Dr. MacPhail will provide testing to determine whether you’re a candidate. We provide take home sleep tests to evaluate your sleep pattern to help diagnose if patients are a candidate for an oral sleep appliance. You take the sleep tests at your convenience in your bed and they are easy to use.

Once they’re properly fitted and adjusted, custom made appliances (using high-quality materials) are durable, portable, and easy to use and maintain. Following brushing your teeth, you should brush your oral appliance and return it to its protective case out of reach of small children and pets. Then, once per week, soak it in denture cleanser during the day to remove any micro bacteria build-up that could cause odor or stains.

All oral appliances attempt to dilate or open the airway to relieve snoring or OSA. They are really great for patients who cannot tolerate the CPAP mask or just snore. The oral appliance proves to be more comfortable and allows your body to help breath on its own, strengthening the muscles associated with proper physiologic breathing. There is excellent patient acceptance. It is non-surgical, conservative, and moderate in cost, and it is user-friendly.

Creating a custom dental sleep apnea appliance usually requires two appointments. The first appointment is to take impressions, and the second will be to fit the appliance.