Sleep Apnea

Sleep Apnea in Annapolis, MD

Do you have excessive daytime fatigue? Do you wake up at night with a choking sensation and an effort to gasp for air? Guard Your Smile Dentistry collaborates with doctors to help manage sleep apnea. Sleep apnea could risk you developing health conditions like diabetes, hypertension or high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s.

What is Sleep Apnea?

If the tissues in the throat collapse during sleep to block your airway and prevent normal breathing, you could have sleep apnea. It’s a disorder that makes people wake up throughout the night, thus preventing them from getting to the state of REM in sleep. Since sleep apnea impacts the deepest state of an individual’s sleep cycle, you are left feeling exhausted the next day. As such, you are unlikely to function at your optimal potential. Consult a sleep apnea doctor in Kannapolis to get help.

How Does Sleep Apnea Present in Individuals?

A person with sleep apnea will exhibit these signs and symptoms:

  • Waking constantly at night or insomnia
  • Waking up having a choking sensation or trying to gasp for air
  • Difficult concentrating
  • Loud snoring
  • Excessive daytime fatigue
  • Morning headaches
  • Irritability or sudden mood changes
  • Having a dry mouth when you wake up
  • Sore throat in the morning

If you have these symptoms, seek the nearest sleep study center to be diagnosed and ask if getting oral appliances could help. We provide local sleep apnea treatment to ease your symptoms. Our dentist works with an Annapolis sleep apnea specialist to manage your condition.

Diagnosing Sleep Apnea

To help correctly diagnose sleep apnea in Kannapolis, patients must get to sleep specialists who do a medical assessment. As a patient, you also want to consult our dentist to conduct an intraoral exam to check for lower jaw positioning. Sleep apnea doctors near you may obtain X-rays, intraoral photos, and check gag reflex, among other tests.

How a Dentist Can Help

Our Annapolis sleep apnea specialists may offer various treatments to put you on the right path to a calm, peaceful night’s sleep after being diagnosed with sleep apnea.

Oral Appliances – These are similar to nightguards and help gently shift the jaw forward, thus helping prevent the airway from collapsing while asleep. Oral appliances for sleep apnea are viable when your case is less severe. They are also considered more practical for daily use.

Changes in Lifestyle – Our dentist may also include changes in your treatment regimen. A healthier diet and exercise to enhance weight loss can help your condition.

CPAP – Considered the traditional approach to sleep apnea treatment, the continuous positive airway pressure device aids with delivering continuous airflow using a mask adjusted around the face. Many may find this machine too noisy and uncomfortable, but it works in cases of severe apnea.

At Guard Your Smile Dentistry, we work with the best sleep doctors nearby to expedite an appropriate sleep apnea treatment plan. We also provide the best teeth whitening in Annapolis.