Sleep Apnea

Do You Want To Stop Snoring or Find an Alternative to CPAP for Your Sleep Apnea? 

When airflow to your lungs is consistently obstructed during sleep, you are more likely to suffer from a range of health effects that include strokes and heart attacks.  Snoring itself obstructs airflow and can lead to serious health issues.  More importantly, snoring is often a symptom of a serious condition called obstructive sleep apnea.  Obstructive sleep apnea is caused by the lower jaw sliding back while you sleep, blocking the free flow of air and causing snoring.

About 90% of people who suffer with sleep apnea are unaware of their problem. If you snore or wake suddenly in the night choking or gasping for air, or if you feel tired, irritable, and forgetful during the day, or if you have high blood pressure, you may have obstructive sleep apnea.  It is one of several conditions that disrupt breathing and the flow of oxygen to your body while you sleep. Snoring, previously considered a mere nuisance, is now known to limit and disrupt airflow and carry with it some of the same ill health effects as sleep apnea. Treating the snoring alone is dangerous. Snoring is easy to eliminate, but the underlying sleep apnea may continue and threaten your health.

Snoring and sleep apnea cause health problems four ways:

• Reduce oxygen and raises carbon dioxide in the blood
• Increase breathing effort
• Arousals – disturbances of sleep that may be unknown to the sleeper
• Awakenings

The documented health effects of snoring and sleep apnea range from inconvenient to life threatening: 

• High Blood Pressure
• Heart Attack
• Stroke
• Diabetes
• Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD)
• Erectile Dysfunction
• Poor Work Performance
• Cognitive Disorders
• Documented increased mortality rate
• Increased risk of motor vehicle accidents
• Compromised immune system and overall well being
• Disruption of bed partner’s sleep – so much so that they may have the same ill health effects as the person with sleep apnea
• Quality of life suffers
• Increased depression

Treatment:

Behavior modification such as weight loss and good sleep hygiene may help reduce your sleep problems, but normally more is needed.

Previously, virtually all patients with Sleep Apnea were prescribed CPAP, but now the latest Practice Parameters of American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommend the following:

• Custom fitted oral appliance fabricated by a dentist trained in Dental Sleep Medicine for people with snoring or mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea, or for people with severe sleep apnea who cannot tolerate or decline to wear a CPAP.
• Continuous Positive Air Pressure (CPAP) for people with severe sleep apnea. For those patients that cannot tolerate CPAP, or do not want CPAP, a custom fitted oral appliance is again the recommendation.

Additionally there are surgeries that can be performed for specific circumstances.

A word of caution: Over the counter “boil and bite” appliances may stop snoring but can mask the underlying sleep apnea, thus allowing the health threatening problems to continue. You will think you are better but you are not. Documented studies have shown that treatment outcomes with “boil and bite” appliances are poor when compared to custom appliances or CPAP, so it is important to have a properly fitted custom oral appliance.

CPAP has been considered the gold standard for treating severe sleep apnea, however, this bulky mask and tube system does not work for everyone. This is where a custom oral appliance can be a life saver.

Evaluation:

If you think you may have a snoring or sleep apnea problem, or want an alternative to your CPAP, schedule a sleep apnea exam with Dr. Corwin. After a thorough evaluation, Dr. Corwin can discuss with you treatment options and give you the information you need to make an informed decision about your health.

Dr. Corwin is a member of the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine and works closely with trusted sleep physicians who diagnose sleep apnea in sleep studies. If obstructive sleep apnea is indeed your problem, Dr. Corwin has an arsenal of customizable oral appliances to alleviate your problem. This minimally invasive method of treating snoring and sleep apnea is excellent for patients who do not like CPAP and those who want a comfortable, simple way to reclaim peaceful nights and quality of life. 

Dr. Tom Corwin works with sleep medicine physicians and professional sleep study labs to treat obstructive sleep apnea. He can provide you with a comfortable, effective oral appliance as an alternative to CPAP machines or surgery. We can also help you stop snoring with a similar appliance. 

"When the oral appliance came in from the lab, Dr. Corwin even took extra care to be sure that it was totally comfortable for me. I feel very fortunate."
– Kathy Cabana

Click here to learn more about sleep apnea.

If you are looking for an alternative treatment approach to your sleep apnea,
please call our office today at 207.773.6331.