San Francisco and Marin CA
According to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, behavioral disorders such as ADD and ADHD are estimated to affect approximately 6 million children in this country. In many cases, children struggle to see lasting relief for their symptoms. This is because, in actuality, your child’s ADD and ADHD symptoms may be caused by obstructive sleep apnea. How does this happen? Keep reading to find out the answer.
What happens when you have obstructive sleep apnea?
Obstructive sleep apnea is one of the more serious, and well-known, sleep breathing disorders. If you have sleep apnea, when you lie down to sleep, breathing becomes impeded or totally interrupted due to blockages in the airway. These blockages may stem from weak throat muscles, causing a collapse of soft tissue into the airway; or the tongue sliding back into the airway because there is not enough room to accommodate the tongue in the mouth. These blockages are known as apneic events. Each time an apneic event happens, oxygen levels drop until the brain believes you are choking. The brain then signals the body to resume normal breathing. You may never consciously wake up during an apneic event, but each of these blockages disrupts the sleep cycle. Someone with severe and untreated sleep apnea may experience hundreds of these apneic events each night.
Sleep apnea manifests different symptoms in children
The symptoms of sleep apnea include chronic fatigue, problems focusing, unexplained mood changes and poor performance at work or school. Children, on the other hand, tend to show a different set of symptoms caused by sleep apnea. Specifically, children often experience symptoms of sleep apnea that mimic ADD or ADHD. If your child has been diagnosed with a hyperactivity disorder, but therapy and even medication have not produced significant changes, then your child’s behavioral issues could stem from sleep apnea, not ADD or ADHD. If this is the case for your child, their behavior will not change until the root cause – their sleep apnea – is treated by a qualified medical professional.
Sleep apnea can affect people of any age
For one thing, children tend to breathe through the mouth when they sleep – as many as 56% of children under the age of five engage in this unconscious breathing habit, according to a 2022 study. Mouth breathing often leads to snoring, and loud snoring is the primary warning sign of sleep apnea.
Treating sleep apnea in the Bay Area
Glen Park Dental offers sleep apnea treatment for patients of any age in San Francisco, Oakland, Marin and the surrounding areas in California. Although a sleep apnea diagnosis only can come from a qualified sleep specialist, we can provide treatment through oral appliance therapy.
Imagine if your child is able to overcome their behavioral issues and the personality-altering medications. Find out if sleep apnea is the true culprit behind your child’s behavioral problems. Schedule a consultation today by calling our office in San Francisco at (415) 585-1500 or complete our online appointment request form.
