Sleep Apnoea & Your Dentist
We can help!
Sleep apnoea is a condition a lot of people have heard of, perhaps through friends and family, through their own experiences with it, or through it being mentioned on the TV or online.
However, what a lot of people don’t know is that their dentist can help to recognise sleep apnoea and help with treatment for it too.
Your dentist is in the perfect position to diagnose sleep apnoea because they likely see you more often than your family doctor and they know how to look for signs and symptoms of the condition. Often diagnosis is the most important step in a treatment plan because it means that you can start the road to recovery. No more feeling exhausted, no more snoring and keeping your partner awake, and importantly, no more damage to your teeth!
What Is Sleep Apnoea?
Sleep apnoea is a truly exhausting condition where the person has issues with their breathing as they sleep. They may breathe very short, shallow breaths. They may stop breathing completely for a few seconds, or even a few minutes. This can happen many times through the night, sometimes over 25 times every single hour. Often the person is ‘woken’ out of the breathing pause by choking or snorting that wakes them up. There are lots of reasons for it, and lots of potential symptoms. It can be very scary for the partner of the person experiencing it because of the pauses where breathing stops and overall, it tends to be exhausting for both parties because it causes disturbed/ lack of sleep.
The Different Types Of Sleep Apnoea
There are two different types of sleep apnoea. One relates to signals from the brain affecting the muscular responses to sleep and is much rarer than obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) which is the most common type. With OSA your throat muscles relax too much, causing the airway to temporarily block and prevent breathing.
This can be very dangerous because your heart rate increases so that you have the right amount of oxygen running through your body. As the sleep apnoea causes these responses regularly, you can have more carbon dioxide in your body than you should, and your breathing can be of a lower quality. As well as the way the lack of sleep and the symptoms make you feel, over time it could lead to an increase in your risk of a higher blood pressure, heart disease and stroke.
What Increases Your Risk Of Sleep Apnoea?
There are lots of risk factors that could make you more likely to get sleep apnoea. Some of the most common risk factors include but are not limited to:
- Being overweight or obese
- Being aged 60 or over
- Being a man
- Airways that are shaped differently to normal
- Small airways
- Close family members have it
- Alcohol abuse
- Abuse of certain drugs
- Being a smoker
- Lifestyle choices
This list is not exhaustive and anyone can get sleep apnoea or suffer from it at some point in their life.
Do You Have Sleep Apnoea?
Sleep apnoea can cause many symptoms and those symptoms may differ for everybody. However, there are common symptoms associated with sleep apnoea including:
- Headaches, especially in the morning
- Issues with concentration during the day
- A high level of sleepiness in the day
- Exhaustion
- Mood disturbances
- Waking up several times in the night
- Partner reporting on you stopping breathing
- Snoring
- Pain in the jaw and temples
- Potential bruxism
The Dental Impact Of Sleep Apnoea
Jaw pain is a strong indication of sleep apnoea in combination with other symptoms. It is often listed as TMJ (Temporomandibular Joint Disorder) as a direct cause or symptom of sleep apnoea. The reason for this is that stress may occur causing you to grind your teeth and clench your jaw through the night in combination with sleep apnoea. When your muscles relax and your airways begin to block, the jaw can lock to try and stop this happening, putting even more pressure on the joint. As a result, you may have all of the above symptoms, as well as cracked or broken teeth, signs of teeth grinding, issues with pain when talking or eating, and pain in your neck and shoulders because of the tension in your body. Altogether very unpleasant!
How Abbey Road Dental Can Help With Sleep Apnea
You don’t have to live suffering from sleep apnoea, or struggling with the increased risk of serious physical problems the issue causes. If you think you might be experiencing any of the symptoms we have mentioned we do recommend you speak to your GP as a first priority. They may refer you to a sleep clinic who can look into diagnosis and use special equipment to treat it.
However, please do mention your concerns to Abbey Road Dental too next time you come in as we can help to diagnose you as suffering from sleep apnoea. Although we cannot refer you to a sleep clinic, and you will need to work with your doctor on that, we can help you with the effects of sleep apnoea on your dental health.
We can take a look at how it could have affected your jaw and teeth, and most importantly help prevent any further side effects occurring. Our dedicated NW8 dental team has lots of experience in helping to treat sleep apnoea.
It may be that a special gum shield or similar dental device can be designed just for you to help prevent you from grinding your teeth and even to help prevent snoring. We have lots of solutions, and the most important thing is that our St John’s Wood dental clinic knows your concerns and diagnosis so we can help reduce, treat or prevent your symptoms.
Do You Think You Have Sleep Apnoea?
Please do give our friendly team a call on 02076241603 and we will be pleased to book you an appointment at a suitable time. Alternatively, please mention your concerns at your next checkup at Abbey Road Dental. Along with your thorough check up we can speak to you about your sleep apnoea symptoms and/or diagnosis and then discuss what we can do to help. We have the modern tools, experience and skills to ensure your dental health is in the best possible condition now, and long term and we’ll be delighted to help.