San Francisco and Marin CA
For decades, if you were diagnosed with sleep apnea, it likely meant treatment with CPAP. However, CPAP is not right for everyone. At Glen Park Dental, we offer alternative treatment methods to resolve your obstructive sleep apnea. Read on as we explain our no-strings-attached solution to sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea and its effects
Sleep apnea is one of the more serious ailments on the spectrum of sleep breathing disorders. Someone with sleep apnea experiences blockages of the airway, which may be partial but are often complete, totally cutting off the flow of air. Each time one of these blockages occurs, it is known as an apneic event. Oxygen levels in the body begin to decrease due to the disruption in breathing. The brain reacts, thinking that you are choking, and signals your body to resume normal breathing. Every apneic event disrupts the sleep cycle and, with it, means you lose some of the restoration to the mind and body that take place during the deepest stage of sleep.
If you have sleep apnea, your quality of sleep is not what it should be and that sleep quality will continue to decrease for as long as you live with untreated sleep apnea. Daytime fatigue becomes common for someone with sleep apnea.
As time passes, the consequences of living with sleep loss include:
- Diminished performance at work or school
- Problems concentrating or remembering
- Irritability, short-temperedness or sudden changes in mood
- Unexplained weight gain
Treating sleep apnea
CPAP, which is short for continuous positive airway pressure, is considered the most popular method of treating sleep apnea. If you are using CPAP to treat your sleep apnea, this entails wearing a mask at night, which attaches to a machine that provides a continuous flow of air while you sleep. This constant airflow maintains an open airway, thus preventing the airway issues that lead to an apneic event.
Unfortunately, many patients – more than you probably realize – struggle with CPAP. The results of one study found that 81% of sleep apnea patients who use CPAP become non-compliant, meaning they use their CPAP correctly for less than four hours per night – or stop using it altogether. Failure to use CPAP will just lead to a recurrence of sleep apnea.
Our no-strings-attached solution
Maybe you’ve been diagnosed with sleep apnea, or you have been using CPAP but having difficulties with that method of treatment. In either case, consider the oral appliance therapy we use at Glen Park Dental to provide lasting relief for your sleep apnea.
We provide you with a custom-made oral appliance, designed from the specific impressions of your teeth and mouth. This device looks similar to the anti-snoring night guards you might see available for purchase in stores, but is made from higher-quality materials and will be much more effective as well. When you wear one of our customized oral appliances when you sleep, it brings the lower jaw forward, helping to maintain an oral resting posture that encourages an open airway.
This method of therapy is minimally invasive, requires little to no maintenance and traveling with your oral appliance is as simple as dropping it into your pocket.
Sleep apnea treatment without CPAP in San Francisco and Marin, California
If you are living with sleep apnea, the effects of the disorder are only going to get worse without treatment. At Glen Park Dental, we can treat sleep apnea without CPAP and help you get the deep restful sleep you have been missing. To find out more, schedule a consultation with one of our sleep apnea dentists. Just call (415) 585-1500 or complete our online form.
