When you have sleep apnea, the muscles in your throat don’t hold up as they should while you are sleeping. As a result, you experience intermittent pauses in breathing during sleep. This makes your oxygen levels fall, contributes to exhaustion throughout the day, and even puts you at a higher risk for heart conditions. At Sleep Better Metrowest, Dr. George Ghaly, DDS, aims to help you understand the reasons behind sleep apnea and introduce a treatment – oral appliance therapy – to help resolve it permanently.
It’s a sleep disorder where your breathing repeatedly stops and starts again while you are not even aware. Unfortunately, it’s like your body takes unscheduled breaks in breathing, which isn’t as restful as it sounds. This happens because of one of two reasons or sometimes both:
This is the more common type. It happens when the muscles in your throat relax too much during sleep, which blocks the airway.
This one is less common. CSA has nothing to do with physical obstructions; instead, the brain does not send the right signals to the muscles that control breathing.
During these “apnea” episodes, when the breathing pauses, it can last from a few seconds to minutes and happen many times an hour. Your body does not like this at all, so it momentarily wakes you up to reopen the airway or to restart your breathing, even if you don’t fully wake up and remember it. This prevents you from getting that deep, restorative sleep that most of us take for granted.
There are a few factors and conditions that can cause or increase the risk of developing sleep apnea:
Some people have physical traits that make them more prone to obstructive sleep apnea, such as having a thicker neck, narrow airway, or enlarged tonsils. Essentially, anything that can physically restrict airflow can be a contributing factor.
Being overweight is a major risk factor for OSA. Extra fat around the neck can put pressure on the airway, making it more likely to collapse during sleep.
The risk of sleep apnea increases as you get older. This might be due to the loss of muscle tone around the airway, making it more susceptible to obstruction.
Genetics play a role, too. If sleep apnea runs in your family, you might also be more likely to develop it.
Medications like alprazolam (Xanax), diazepam (Valium), lorazepam (Ativan), codeine, morphine, oxycodone (OxyContin), hydrocodone (Vicodin), and some antidepressants are known to loosen the throat muscles and contribute to OSA. Alcohol has the same effect.
Smokers are more likely to have sleep apnea than non-smokers because smoking tends to increase inflammation and fluid retention in the airway.
Suppose you have difficulty breathing through your nose due to a deviated septum, enlarged turbinates, nasal polyps, choanal atresia (a congenital condition), nasal valve collapse, or allergies. In that case, you are more likely to develop OSA.
For central sleep apnea, the causes are often related to medical conditions that affect the brainstem’s ability (which controls breathing) to function properly. This includes conditions like heart failure, stroke, or high altitudes with thinner air.
If you or someone else notices these symptoms, especially the snoring combined with silent breathing pauses followed by gasps, it’s a strong indicator of obstructive sleep apnea. The tricky part is that you might not be aware of your own snoring or breathing interruptions since they happen while you are asleep. That’s why feedback from a partner or a family member can be invaluable.
We recommend consulting with a healthcare provider. They might suggest a sleep study, known as polysomnography, to monitor your sleep and breathing patterns overnight. This can confirm whether you have OSA and how severe it is, which is essential for guiding the best approach for treatment.
Continuously interrupted sleep can result in serious health-related problems.
Potential health issues that may result from untreated sleep apnea include:
Sudden death
Heart attack
Stroke
High blood pressure
Diabetes
Obesity
ADHD
Dementia
Depression
Inability to concentrate
Impaired memory
When it comes to managing sleep apnea, the CPAP machine is one of the most recognized solutions out there. It helps you breathe steadily throughout the night by delivering air through a mask. That said, only a small percentage of patients manage to continue using CPAP therapy because it is bulky, noisy, and not the easiest thing to have next to your bed every night.
Fortunately, there are several other approaches to tackle sleep apnea as well. These include using oral appliances that fit in your mouth and surgeries that open up the breathing passages (although surgery is only recommended for the most severe cases)
At Sleep Better Metrowest, we offer oral appliance therapy (OAT) as a much more efficient treatment option than CPAP. It resembles a mouth guard or retainer that you wear while you sleep. It’s specifically fabricated to keep your mouth and throat open to prevent any blockages that can interrupt your breathing.
Dr. Ghaly has 10+ years of experience in dental sleep medicine and customizing these oral appliances to fit a variety of dental structures. If you have tried CPAP and couldn’t continue with it for any reason, an oral appliance might be what you need to finally enjoy a full, restful night of sleep.
A full night’s sleep for both you and your partner. Wake up feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.
Experience increased concentration, memory, focus and energy.
Avoid the health risks caused by untreated sleep apnea and live a longer, healthier, more enjoyable life.
An off-the-shelf oral appliance might seem convenient, but it is unlikely to fit your mouth as well as it should. This poor fit can mean that your snoring or sleep apnea continues, if not worsens. However, a made-to-order device from a qualified dentist like Dr. George Ghaly is a comfortable, safe, and no-risk option. Your health insurance most likely covers your treatment. In case it is not, we also offer flexible payment plans.
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