(831)685-3300
Snoring and Sleep Apnea Destroy Marriages and Lives.
Stop Sleeping With a Subwoofer.
CPAP Alternatives Should be Considered When Treating Sleep Apnea
Sleep apnea is a serious condition affecting millions of Americans. The disorder disrupts sleep cycles by obstructing your airway while you sleep. As a result, your brain rouses you from sleep in order to restart the breathing process. This may happen dozens of times a night without the patient even realizing it is happening. A common symptom of sleep apnea is chronic snoring.
CPAP Treatment
If you suffer from sleep apnea, you can receive treatment from a sleep apnea dentist. Your dentist will be able to suggest a variety of treatment methods that will alleviate your symptoms so that you can sleep soundly through the night.
The most commonly prescribed treatment for sleep apnea is Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP). CPAP uses a mask, hose, compressor, and humidifier to open up your airway while you sleep.
While CPAP is frequently the treatment of choice for sleep apnea, it is not necessarily the most effective. This is due to the fact that many patients have compliance issues with the treatment, resulting in a 60% failure rate for CPAP users. Many patients struggle to use the device due to its design. CPAP is very cumbersome and uncomfortable. As a result, many patients do not use it at all, and many who do use it only do so for 4-5 hours a night instead of the recommended 7 1/2-8 hours.
Since CPAP is such a widely used treatment method with proven results, many patients who cannot tolerate the treatment feel like failures. As a result, they are hesitant to pursue alternative sleep apnea treatment options.
Alternative Sleep Apnea Treatment Options
There are a variety of other treatment methods that frequently yield more successful results than CPAP. It is important to talk with your sleep apnea dentist about these options before settling on CPAP.
One of the most effective alternative treatment options is oral appliance therapy. Your sleep apnea dentist can fit you for a variety of custom mouthpieces that will help keep your airway open while you sleep. Some of the most common oral appliances include:
- Thornton Adjustable Positioner (TAP)
- SomnoMed MAS
- Herbst Telescopic Appliance
- SNOR-X
- Tongue Retaining Device (TRD)
- Nose Breathe Appliance
- Clasp Retained Mandibular Positioner
For some patients, simple lifestyle changes may help alleviate sleep apnea symptoms. Reducing alcohol intake, losing weight, and changing sleep positions may help prevent airway obstruction.
In severe cases, surgery may be necessary. However, upper airway surgery has not proven very effective in treating sleep apnea. Therefore, it is best to explore several other options before considering surgery.
If you live in the Aptos, California area and suffer from sleep apnea, please contact Advanced Smile Designs today to schedule a consultation with Dr. Terry Forsberg. Dr. Forsberg can work with you to find the best treatment method to suit your needs.
News – Sleep Apnea Information for Monterey Bay
It is estimated that 15 million Americans suffer from the disorder known as "sleep apnea," a condition characterized by short periods of breathing cessation while you sleep. Some sleep apneaics stop breathing hundreds of times a night, and many are not even aware that they suffer from this from very dangerous condition. Though cumbersome and inconvenient for the patient, CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) is the most common prescribed treatment for sleep apnea. Though CPAP is common, it is not tolerated well at all in patients using it. It’s estimated that there is a failure rate of 60% with CPAP compliance.
According to several medical studies, only 23-45% of patients can even tolerate CPAP. Among the patients who use CPAP, the mask is worn for only four to five hours a night. Many patients are not even informed of the alternative treatments to sleep apnea.
Dr. Terry W. Forsberg in Monterey Bay, California practices neuromuscular dentistry and sleep dentistry at his practice and treats Temporomandibular Joint Disorder (TMD), migraines, and chronic tension headaches. Dr. Forsberg has joined Dr. Ira Shapira of Gurnee, Illinois in the IHATECPAP! Movement. While Dr. Shapira contends he does not "hate" CPAP, he knows that the treatment is not tolerated in patients, and there are alternatives that are more comfortable. One absolutely astonishing fact that led Dr. Shapira to focus his treatment on options more effective and tolerable than CPAP is that patients with untreated sleep apnea have a 600% increase in motor vehicle accidents.
The use of oral appliances is one sleep apnea treatment that is producing dramatic results. These mouth pieces are more effective than surgery and have much greater compliance than CPAP. When patients are given the choice between an oral appliance and CPAP, the former is chosen almost every time.
The website www.ihatecpap.com informs patients about the dangers of sleep apnea and how important it is to have an accurate diagnosis and effective treatment immediately following diagnosis.
If you or your partner feels sleep apnea may be an issue, you should seek diagnosis and treatment immediately as this condition can result in serious, life-threatening health problems.
If you live in the Monterey Bay area of California, please visit the website of Dr. Terry W. Forsberg, LVI-trained dentist, focusing his practice on oral appliances for sleep apnea and preventative treatment for children. He also screens his patients for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).
Website Designed and Developed by Page 1 Solutions.