Family and Cosmetic Dentist - Livonia
31574 Schoolcraft Road
Livonia, MI 48150
(734) 425-4530
You may wonder why you're reading about snoring in a dental blog, but the fact is that we dentists not only take care of your teeth and gums, we're also here to help you get a good night's sleep! In fact, I just completed a course on sleep apnea, which is where a person has frequent episodes throughout the night in which he or she stops breathing. People with sleep apnea also tend to snore heavily, and that's what I'd like to address in this article.
I learned that snoring is a problem that may affect as much as 37 percent of the adult population. It's reported that 50 percent of adult males snore, and of this 50 percent, 10 percent have sleep apnea. The course that I completed qualified me to address dental solutions for snoring and sleep apnea through oral appliance therapy, a medically recognized treatment.
If you snore, or cohabitate with someone who does, you should know that snoring can be triggered by a number of different factors, from enlarged tonsils or adenoids to your diet, health, lifestyle, age, weight, environment and other seemingly unrelated causes. Snoring is also associated with sleep apnea, as mentioned above, and with cardiovascular problems such as high blood pressure, which can lead to a stroke.
Snoring is produced when the muscles and soft tissues in the throat and mouth relax, making your airway smaller. The decrease in airway space increases the velocity of air flowing through the airway during breathing, which causes vibrations in the soft tissues of the mouth and throat, producing the "snoring" sound.
Our snoring solution comes in the form of a simple mouthpiece, which prevents the lower jaw from falling back and/or your tongue from dropping back towards the back of your throat while you're sleeping, therefore helping to keep your airway open.
You owe it to yourself, and to your partner too, to ask us about a custom-made snoring appliance that can provide a peaceful solution to your noisy nights. Please feel free to call our office at 734-425-4530 or ask me at your next dental visit!