Do you snore loudly at night? If you snore, your partner might tell you about it or you might wake up with a sore throat every day. If you are prone to snoring and wake up feeling exhausted, it’s likely that you have sleep apnea. We suggest visiting your physician sooner than later to be diagnosed so you can receive a sleep apnea treatment in Kailua-Kona from your dentist at Yokoyama, DDS. Find out how your dentist can treat you for sleep apnea today.
What is Sleep Apnea?
There are two different types of sleep apnea; one is known as Central Sleep Apnea while the other is Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Obstructive Sleep Apnea occurs when there is something obstructing your airway when you sleep, preventing air from getting in your lungs. In most cases, the soft tissue in the throat collapses when you sleep, resulting in a lack of oxygen to your brain. As a result, you will continually wake up throughout the night to catch your breath to breathe again. You will wake up feeling exhausted because your body was unable to fall into a deep sleep preventing you from getting the necessary rest you needed. If you suspect that you have sleep apnea, you will need to visit your physician to be diagnosed.
Health Risks of Sleep Apnea
If you were unaware, not treating your sleep apnea will pose some serious risks. Sleep apnea is associated with an increased risk of heart problems. For example, you are at a higher risk for a heart attack, stroke, and cardiac arrest. In addition, sleep apnea can cause diabetes, high blood pressure, mood disorders, depression, irritability, as well as extreme exhaustion. Once you begin treatment for sleep apnea, you can get a good night of sleep and therefore reduce these risks.
Sleep Apnea Treatment in Kailua-Kona
At Carter Yokoyama, DDS, we have a comfortable and effective sleep apnea treatment available for you. After you have received your official sleep apnea diagnosis, we can provide you with a sleep apnea treatment. Our treatment option at our dental office for sleep apnea is oral appliance therapy. Oral appliance therapy is when a patient wears an oral appliance while they sleep. The oral appliance looks and feels much like a mouth guard and works by pushing the patient’s jaw forward while they sleep. This prevents the throat from collapsing, therefore preventing the patient from snoring or from a lack of oxygen while they sleep. Our oral appliances are custom made to fit the patient’s mouth perfectly.
Traditional treatment for sleep apnea is a CPAP machine which most find too uncomfortable and noisy to use while they sleep. If you have tried a CPAP and didn’t like it, we highly recommend that you try an oral appliance before writing off sleep apnea treatment entirely.
Treat Your Sleep Apnea in Kailua-Kona Today
If you suspect that you suffer from sleep apnea, it’s time to begin treating it. Schedule an appointment with our Kailua-Kona dentist today to see if oral appliance therapy is the right treatment for you. Give us a call or fill out our online form today.
