What is Airway & Sleep Dentistry?
Fatigue
Daytime sleepiness, drowsiness and accidents
Difficulty focusing/concentrating
Memory issues, senile memory
Brain fog
Senile memory
ADHD-like behavioral issues in children
Morning headaches
High blood pressure
Increased risk for stroke, heart attack, sudden death
Excess weight / obesity
Lowered immunity
Dry mouth/sore throat in the morning
Excessive nighttime drooling
Frequent urination at night
Bed-wetting
Acid reflux or symptoms of GERD
Teeth-grinding
Poor performance at school or work
Accelerated aging
Chronic pain
Waking up not feeling refreshed, regardless of how much or little you slept
Sleep partner waking up feeling not refreshed because of your loud snoring, gasping, choking, and pauses in breathing during the night.
At Rest Dentistry, we take an approach that focuses on identifying and treating issues related to the airway. In other words, we appreciate the significance of breathing. Most breathing obstructions or dysfunctions that we think about happen during sleep. So let’s start by touching on some of the things that tie the airway and sleep together.
You might be thinking, “I’m alive and well, I must be breathing just fine.” Or you might think, “I’ve been told I snore, but I only do it when I’m super tired.” Or maybe you and your spouse sleep in different rooms because of sleep-related breathing issues. Or you might know you are living with this issue, but just don’t know where to go or where to start. I hope you find this introduction helpful.
First, let’s start with some symptoms that are related to airway and sleep disorders:
These symptoms are most often associated with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), which you’ve probably heard of, and Sleep Related Breathing Disorders (SRBDs), which you may not have heard of but is pretty self-explanatory. And while we often think of the overweight male when we think of these issues, it really can affect almost anyone.
For example, you wouldn’t think a thin, athletic woman in her 30s would have any of these issues. And if she were to take a polysomnograph (PSG) commonly referred to as a “sleep study,” her Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI) may be normal or low (lower is better). However, even with those good sleep study numbers, she may suffer from Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome (UARS). In this syndrome, the airway doesn’t quite collapse like in Obstructive Sleep Apnea, but resistance is increased enough to disrupt sleep and cause frequent arousals during a time when our bodies should be going through restoring and reparative processes. So this woman might be eating clean, exercising regularly, and sleeping what she thinks is a good 7-8 hours each night, but still suffer from symptoms like:
Fatigue
Feeling unrefreshed upon waking
Feeling wired
Dizziness
Anxiety or depression
Cold extremities (hands and feet)
Low blood pressure
Clenching or grinding teeth
Allergy-like symptoms without a good reason
And aside from the nighttime breathing issues, there are less obvious breathing issues that can occur during the day. Not as much attention is paid to those issues. Obviously, most people don’t go around snoring during the day, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t having some significant challenges to accomplish each breath.
Mouth breathing is a big clue that breathing is not as it should be. Chronic nasal congestion is also a red flag. We’re designed to have our lips together and breathing comfortably through our noses. But if we’ve experienced poor facial development, or our lower jaws are not where they should be for varying reasons, it can lead to the tongue and other structures being pushed back into the airway’s space and also to issues of the TMJ.
For this reason, people who have less than optimal airways sometimes tend to take on a slightly forward head posture. Why? This takes an airway that’s partly obstructed or pinched, and opens it up by moving some of these structures (like the tongue) forward and away from the airway.
These types of issues can be circular too. A child who is constantly mouth breathing and has poor tongue and facial posture can experience poor facial and airway development–which can be avoided if caught early enough. And there are other things that can contribute to the healthier development of growing (and already grown) faces and airways. This introduction is only scratching the surface.
Consider visiting us at Rest Dentistry in Battle Ground, WA to discover solutions to your issues with airway, sleep, or both.