Well, sleep apnea is a medical condition so dentists are not qualified to diagnose it, it’s a medical diagnoses but we often times can help greatly in the treatment. One of the biggest cause of sleep apnea is our closing of the airway while we are asleep and apnea is really a breath not breathing for more then ten seconds.

What is that? When we lie down and go to sleep and the tissues in the roof of our mouths relax and the biggest culprit of the airway tend to close and tongue relaxes and tends to drop back farther in the throat. What we do as dentists is we make appliances for our patients that they can wear, they help keep the lower jaw in position and tongue in position to keep it from dropping back and clogging up the airway. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine for mild to moderate levels of apnea for simple snoring recommends the dental devices as the first choice of treatment.

The CPAP has been the standard of treatment for sleep apnea forever and is still the best treatment possible and especially for those with severe levels. Many people maybe sixty percent or more of people that are diagnosed and placed on a CPAP aren’t able to wear it successfully for a variety of reasons so dental appliances compliances are very high because they are much more comfortable and in severe cases another thing we are doing more of is called co-therapy where were using the dental appliances to sort of stabilize the jaw and the airway using the CPAP with it and your able to turn down the pressures of the CPAP and it’s a lot more comfortable and easier for people to wear it in a severe condition.