Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is a serious medical condition that is often overlooked by the medical and dental community.  Recent studies suggest that it affects from 5 to 10 % of men and from 2 to 5 % of women.  Untreated Sleep apnea can greatly increase the risk of high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke.  It can also be associated with chronic tiredness or a feeling of not being fully rested.  This is because people with sleep apnea have chronically interrupted sleep.  They experience frequent episodes where breathing stops ...sometimes for 30 seconds or more and at a frequency of up to 30 times per hour.  Despite the seriousness of the symptoms, most people are not aware that they are experiencing sleep related problems.  Dr. Bob is very concerned that patients don't  pass through his doors with undiagnosed sleep apnea.  For this reason, he has studied sleep apnea extensively and has trained his team to properly
recognize and screen patients who could be experiencing sleep apnea.  
There are dental and skeletal conditions that can greatly predispose a patient to sleep apnea.  We are trained to recognize these conditions and to recommend the proper treatment in order to properly treat sleep apnea.

The first step in dealing with a patient who may be experiencing sleep apnea is to refer them for a proper sleep analysis test, or sleep study as it is often called.  Only a qualified medical doctor can interpret the results of these tests and from those results a course of action can be taken.  Many people, after receiving a sleep study, are told that they must wear a device at night (CPAP) in order to get proper airflow into the lungs. This is certainly true with patients who are diagnosed with "severe" sleep apnea, as defined by a qualified medical doctor. 
Many more people, after the sleep study, are diagnosed with mild or moderate sleep apnea and they can be oftentimes be treated successfully with a removeable appliance that allows for proper airflow. 

For more informaiton please go to www.sleepapnea.org and read Dr. Bob's article below to understand how sleep apnea can be treated or avoided in children.

Read Article : What Every Parent Should know