{"id":1200,"date":"2022-05-18T04:07:08","date_gmt":"2022-05-18T04:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/dental-care-blog\/snoring-sleep-apnea-and-teeth\/"},"modified":"2022-05-18T04:07:08","modified_gmt":"2022-05-18T04:07:08","slug":"snoring-sleep-apnea-and-teeth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/dental-care-blog\/snoring-sleep-apnea-and-teeth\/","title":{"rendered":"Snoring, Sleep Apnea, and Teeth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/106\/2022\/05\/sleep-apnea-2022_543.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"543\" height=\"543\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1201\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/106\/2022\/05\/sleep-apnea-2022_543.jpg 543w, https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/106\/2022\/05\/sleep-apnea-2022_543-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/106\/2022\/05\/sleep-apnea-2022_543-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 543px) 100vw, 543px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b>SLEEP APNEA AFFECTS<\/b> over 18 million adults and up to 20% of habitually snoring children in the United States alone. Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder characterized by brief, repeated interruptions to normal breathing during sleep. It can have many short and long-term effects on a person\u2019s health (to the point of being potentially life-threatening) and is also very harmful to oral health.<\/p>\n<h3>Sleep Apnea Comes in Different Types<\/h3>\n<p>The most common type of sleep apnea is obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). It is caused by a blocked airway, usually the tongue relaxing back until it collapses against the soft palate, which in turn collapses against the back of the throat, sealing off the airway. <\/p>\n<p>Less commonly, a person could have central sleep apnea, in which the brain fails to send signals to the respiratory muscles to keep breathing during sleep. Some people have a combination of both types, which is called complex sleep apnea.<\/p>\n<p>Whether the airway is physically blocked or the brain isn\u2019t sending signals to breathe, the lack of oxygen causes the brain to react to alarm and force the person to wake up long enough to take a breath. They usually don\u2019t remember waking up because it only lasts a few seconds, but it can happen as many as hundreds of times in a single night, making it impossible to get a restful night\u2019s sleep. The cumulative effect on sleep quality can be severe.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SRT0raGQU8Q?rel=0\" width=\"543\" height=\"305\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>Sleep Apnea and Oral Health<\/h3>\n<p>Aside from having to deal with symptoms of sleep deprivation like morning headaches, exhaustion, and difficulty concentrating (all of which can be terrible for kids trying to do well in school), sleep apnea means oral health difficulties. <\/p>\n<p>Sleep apnea is associated with an increased risk of moderate to severe gum disease and temporomandibular joint disorders (TMD). This is because the jaw reflexively clenches in an effort to keep the airway open during a sleep apnea episode. This kind of TMD issue can compound, leading to problems like pain when chewing, neck and shoulder pain, damaged teeth, and chronic headaches.<\/p>\n<h3>The Dentist Can Help<\/h3>\n<p>It is so common to experience dental symptoms with sleep apnea that the dentist is often the first health care professional to observe the signs and diagnose the condition. That\u2019s one good reason of many to keep up with your and your child\u2019s regular dental appointments \u2014 not just for the sake of your oral health, but also your overall health! <\/p>\n<p>Common ways sleep apnea is treated include nighttime dental devices that adjust the position of the jaw and tongue and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines.<\/p>\n<h3>Healthier Sleep Means a Healthier Smile!<\/h3>\n<p>We all need to sleep well to feel our best. If you or your child have been struggling with the effects of sleep apnea, your next visit to the dentist could change your life. Schedule your next appointment today, and we can see if you\u2019re showing signs of sleep apnea and put you on the path to a full night\u2019s sleep and the healthy smile you deserve.<\/p>\n<h4>Wishing a wonderful night\u2019s sleep to all of our patients!<\/h4>\n<h6>Top image by Flickr user <span style=\"color: #2a7abd;\"><a style=\"color: #2a7abd;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/15029927@N05\/2190724920\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">originallittlehellraiser<\/a><\/span> used under <span style=\"color: #2a7abd;\"><a style=\"color: #2a7abd;\" href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 4.0 license<\/a><\/span>. Image cropped and modified from original.<\/h6>\n<h6><span style=\"color: #d9d9d9;\">The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.<\/span><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><b>SLEEP APNEA AFFECTS<\/b> over 18 million adults and up to 20% of habitually snoring children in the United States alone. Sleep apnea is a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":1201,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[176,179,180,181],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[216,217,818,819,218,820,374,101,202,222,37,226,227,91,80,821,822,231,246,823],"class_list":["post-1200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-dental-posts","category-general-dental","category-pediatric","category-176","category-179","category-180","category-181","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1200"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1200"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/graystonedental\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=1200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}