When you awaken yourself at night because you’ve snored, gagged, or choked, you may have a serious sleep disorder called sleep apnea. But you may be able to avoid surgery and CPAP masks by visiting Dr. Mary Sue Stonisch at Faircourt Dental Smile Studio in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. If you want the easiest, least invasive treatment possible for sleep apnea, call the dedicated team at Faircourt Dental Smile Studio or book a consultation online.
Sleep apnea is a sleeping disorder that can have serious consequences. The word apnea refers to a pause in your breathing that can last anywhere from a few seconds to minutes. You may have up to 30 apneas an hour during sleep. These apneas awaken you briefly and prevent your body from becoming fully rested and restored.
Most people with sleep apnea have obstructive sleep apnea, which is caused by relaxed soft tissues in your mouth blocking your airway. A rare form, central sleep apnea, is caused by medications or medical conditions that interfere with your brain’s signals to your respiratory muscles.
If you have sleep apnea, you may snore so loudly that you disturb your partner or even interrupt your own sleep. You might also gag, gasp, or choke, and wake yourself up. Insomnia and restless sleep are also common with sleep apnea, and you may feel excessively tired during the day or have trouble focusing.
Other symptoms include:
Sleep apnea that’s not treated increases your risk for motor vehicle crashes and other accidents. Extreme tiredness may detrimentally affect your performance at work or school, and long-term sleep apnea can lead to heart problems, heart failure, and stroke.
Obstructive sleep apnea is most common in men, but women and children develop it, too. Being overweight, getting older, or having large tonsils or a large tongue increases your risk for sleep apnea. Other structural problems that contribute to sleep apnea include a deviated septum or a recessed chin.
Traditional medical treatments for sleep apnea include continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) masks and surgery. At Faircourt Dental Smile Studio, Dr. Stonisch treats sleep apnea with an easier, less invasive “airway and breathing” program.
The program includes fitting you with a custom-made oral appliance that stabilizes your tongue and resolves other structural impediments to clear breathing. Dr. Stonisch teaches you how to use the device, and she makes other recommendations to improve your breathing at night.
Improve your sleep by calling the helpful staff at Faircourt Dental Smile Studio to set up a sleep apnea consultation, or book one yourself with the online form.
Myofunctional therapy is an exercise-based treatment program that focuses on the muscles of the mouth,face and throat.
By strengthening weak muscles, learning proper function and making behavior modifications, improvements can be made to breathing, speaking, chewing and swallowing.
Common signs and symptoms include:
An open mouth posture with a low resting tongue is more than just a bad habit. Mouth breathing in children leads to problems with facial growth and development, and adults who mouth breathe are more likely to snore and develop sleep apnea.
People who are tongue-tied (limited range of motion of the tongue) often mouth breathe, so they also experience a variety of myofunctional problems and symptoms. Chronic jaw pain and headaches, clenching and grinding along with dental and orthodontic issues are quite common in people who have tongue-ties.
Proper Lip Seal
Breathing through the nose is the way we’re meant to breathe! It filters, warms and adds moisture to the air. Healthy nitric oxide is also released into the body when we breathe through the nose.
Nasal Breathing
Our lips should rest naturally and comfortably together. When your mouth is closed, you sleep better at night and have a lower risk of getting tooth decay and gum disease.
Tongue Posture
The tongue is meant to fill up the entire roof of the mouth. When it does, it provides an internal support structure for the upper jaw. If your tongue is in the right place, your teeth will grow in straighter and your face will develop properly. The tongue plays an amazing role in our facial appearance.
When a frenectomy is completed, the tongue will have more range of motion. Consequently, it is important to re-teach
the tongue and all of the associated muscles how to properly function together.
Myofunctional dysfunction will not magically disappear just because the tongue now has full movement.
Similar to the physical therapy prescribed following a major surgery, myofunctional therapy is often prescribed in conjunction with a frenectomy.
