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Have a cavity? Your dentist can fix that. Need your teeth whitened, cleaned, or repaired? There’s no better place to get the job done than in your dentist’s chair. But calling your dentist isn’t the obvious move when you’re looking for a solution to your snoring problem.
Here’s why it should be.
Most often, snoring is linked to the position of your jaw, and that falls directly into our area of expertise. At OK Tooth in Midtown Manhattan, New York, our team offers a wide range of preventive and restorative dental services, and that extends to helping you resolve your jaw-related snoring issues. Here’s how it works.
When you fall asleep, your whole body relaxes, including the muscles in your upper airway (throat). This effectively narrows your airway and limits the amount of air that can flow in and out.
This restriction causes surrounding tissues to flap and vibrate when you inhale, including your uvula, tongue, soft palate, tonsils, and pharyngeal walls. As the air struggles to get through, it creates a turbulence that rattles your soft tissues and creates an obnoxious snoring sound.
Snoring isn’t a medical condition, but it may be a symptom of one.
Sometimes snoring is circumstantial. For example, if you overindulge in alcoholic beverages, you might find that you snore more or more loudly that night because your muscles are more relaxed than usual. Sleeping aids can have the same effect.
Sometimes snoring is genetic. Depending on your genes, you may have a narrow airway, large tonsils, or other anatomical anomaly that causes snoring. Being overweight or obese often leads to snoring, as well, because the excess weight and fatty tissues decrease the diameter of your airway.
Sometimes snoring is a symptom of a medical condition, such as obstructive sleep apnea. In this case, the soft tissues collapse completely and repeatedly, stopping your breathing multiple times throughout the night. In addition to snoring, these apneic episodes can make you gasp for air and choke.
Even if you don’t remember the episodes, they can take a toll on your health and cause morning headaches, fatigue, drowsiness, forgetfulness, depression, lack of concentration, and even sexual dysfuntion. Severe cases of obstructive sleep apnea can lead to hypertension, heart disease, and other conditions.
The solution to loud snoring is keeping your airway open while you sleep. Losing weight and cutting back on alcohol can help, but a simple snoring appliance that you wear in your mouth can do the trick as soon as you start using it.
We custom design a mandibular advancement device (MAD) that fits your mouth precisely. As you sleep, the MAD keeps your lower jaw in a forward position, so even when your soft tissues relax, your airway remains open. It even keeps your tongue from covering your windpipe.
The MAD is comfortable to wear, easy to clean, and effective for all kinds of snoring.
If you want to improve your health and your relationship, schedule an appointment to see if the MAD device is right for your snoring problem. Book it online or call us today.
