Indianapolis Sleep Apnea Treatment

Does your spouse snore? Does the snoring keep you up at night? Maybe you can’t sleep in the same room anymore. Your spouse may be suffering from Sleep Apnea.

What is Sleep Apnea?

Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when the airway collapses during sleep, preventing the flow of oxygen to the lungs. The patient tries to breathe, but the airway simply collapses more. Starved for oxygen, the brain forces the person to wake up or at least partially wake up. Gasping for air, the patient temporarily recovers, but the process continues throughout the night, sometimes every few seconds resulting in poor sleep quality and eventually leading to a host of other health-related issues. Sadly, most patients aren’t even aware of what is happening.

What are the effects of Sleep Apnea?

Can you hold your breath for 30 seconds? How about 45 seconds or even a minute? Some patients with sleep apnea starve their bodies of oxygen for several minutes at a time multiple times throughout the night. How do you think they feel when they crawl out of bed each morning? Do you think not breathing at night has any effects on the rest of their body

Recent studies show patients with untreated sleep apnea have a higher incidence of TMJ disorders, Type II Diabetes, Weight Gain, Cardiovascular Disease, Stroke, Dementia, and even premature death. If you aren’t sleeping well, you crave more unhealthy foods-leading to more weight gain.

(Cappuccio FP, D’Elia L, Strazzullo P, Miller MA. Quantity and quality of sleep and incidence of type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and meta analysis. Diabetes Care 2010;33(2):414-20.)
Greer SM, Goldstein AN, Walker MP. The impact of sleep deprivation on food desire in the human brain.
Nat Commun. 2013;4:2259.

Is Sleep Apnea and snoring affecting your loved ones?

The Sleep Cycle

It is obvious, that being suffocated many times per hour will result in less than restful sleep. Sleep is broken into four main stages:

Stage One – Transition Sleep: This should account for roughly 5% of total sleep time.
Stage Two – Light Sleep: This should account for about 45% of total sleep time.
Stage Three – Deep Sleep: This is when the body heals itself and performs many important reparative functions. Ideally, this should account for 25% of total sleep time. People who lack deep sleep tend to be physically tired.

REM—Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Sleep: This is where most of your memorable dreaming condition comes from for the night. REM should also account for about 25% of your sleep time. People that have lack REM sleep tend to feel mentally tired and have a difficult time concentrating.

Who is most at risk for Sleep Apnea?

OSA Risk Factors

Age 40-70
Gender Male
Large Neck
Overweight (obesity)
Central body fat distribution
Craniofacial & upper airway abnormalities
Genetics
Smoking
Menopause
Nighttime nasal congestion
Alcohol use before bedtime

How do I know if I have Sleep Apnea?

While a few simple answers on a questionnaire can highly predict if you are at risk for sleep apnea, only through diagnosis through a physical examination, and a thorough review of symptoms with your DETAIL DENTAL doctor can you know for sure. After a clinical exam, we might send you home with a Home Sleep Test (HST) which will be interpreted by a Board-Certified Sleep Physician who can diagnose Sleep Apnea and help you get you on the right path for treatment.

Oral Appliance Therapy for Sleep Apnea and Snoring

Treatment for Sleep Apnea may include Oral Appliance Therapy, CPAP, simple lifestyle changes, or surgery. We will work with you to decide which treatment is best for you. In most cases, primary snoring can be treated with a custom-made and properly titrated Oral Appliance.

How much will I have to pay?

If you have been diagnosed with Sleep Apnea by a board-certified sleep physician, your recommended treatment should be covered by your medical insurance. Because we work with most medical insurance, our team would be happy to discuss payment arrangements with the patients. Contact us to Schedule an Appointment in Indiana or discuss it over the phone.