What Is Sleep Apnea?
Sleep apnea is a disorder marked by persistent stops in your breathing while you sleep. The most serious type, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), occurs when the muscles in the back of your throat relax, allowing gravity to pull your airways into a closed position. Suddenly, you can’t get enough air and your blood oxygen levels take a dive.
When this happens, your brain will sense your inability to breathe and wake you from your sleep. You may gasp, snort, or choke, then fall back to sleep, only for the pattern to repeat itself countless times throughout the night. As you might imagine, this creates an excessive strain on your body, which can lead to complications like memory loss, mood change, weight gain, fatigue, and hypertension. To complicate the problem, you will probably have no memory of this disruption of your sleep.
Your Treatment Options
There are many ways to treat sleep apnea–including surgery to CPAP devices–but if your case is mild to moderate, or if you just want to put a stop to your snoring, you might consider turning to your dentist for a less invasive solution.
Solving Sleep Apnea with Dr. Farber
Silent Nite®
Dr. Farber recommends Silent Nite®, a mandibular advancement appliance, for the effective treatment of snoring and mild to moderate sleep apnea. Worn only at night, this flexible, thin device (pictured at right) is similar to a retainer or a mouth guard used in sports. The main difference is that rather than protecting your teeth from harm, it softly places your lower jaw into a forward position, keeping your airway open and giving you a safer and more satisfying night’s sleep.
If you are looking to mitigate your sleep apnea—or its “little sister,” snoring—you can start with an examination at our office in Midtown Manhattan. Using the iTero wand, Dr. Farber will take detailed optical impressions of your teeth and send them to the Silent Nite® lab where they will custom-make your appliance.
Silent Nite® Fitting & Follow-Up
After your dental appliance has been created, you will return to our office for a fitting. Dr. Farber will adjust and fit the appliance according to your requirements to make it as comfortable as possible. At your appointment, she will allow ample time to teach you how to clean, store, and maintain your appliance. Dr. Farber will ask you to bring your Silent Nite® appliance to future appointments and return every year to watch for wear and tear.
Snoring & Sleep Apnea
A common indicator of sleep apnea is snoring, which is caused by air passing over the soft tissue which has relaxed into your breathing passage causing it to vibrate. Those vibrations can keep everyone from a good night’s sleep.
Dr. Farber likes to keep up-to-date with new technologies. Another treatment option she offers for snoring is Solea Sleep.
This is a non-surgical technology that works in just one appointment by using a laser to gently tighten the tissue in your soft palate and reduce vibrations that cause you to snore. Check out this testimonial about the effectiveness of this treatment:
If you think you might be experiencing sleep apnea, or want to put an end to your snoring, please either give us a call or schedule an appointment with our online form.
