At Knight Dental Care, we’re thrilled to offer you and your family a full spectrum of dental care services. These include the well-known, such as dental exams, professional in-office cleanings, and various forms of preventive care to allow you and yours to enjoy long-term health and happiness. We also offer treatment strategies for the lesser-known issues that can be alleviated with professional dental care, including sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea is punctuated by stoppages in one’s breathing throughout the night, caused by relaxation of the throat muscles and gravity pulling the airways closed. Without proper rest, individuals often struggle throughout their days, and multiple health issues can result. But Dr. Edward Knight can help avert these issues by creating custom-fit night guards that allow proper breathing. So contact us today for better, more restful sleep in Midland, MI.
What is sleep apnea, and how does it affect one’s quality of life?
Sleep apnea can significantly impact one’s life, since it does not allow individuals to get the rest they need to be at their productive best throughout the day. Those with sleep apnea repeatedly stop breathing throughout the night. And while a professional opinion is always recommended, a patient may know they’re suffering from sleep apnea if they snore loudly or feel unrested the following day, even after having (seemingly) slept peacefully through the night.
Sleep apnea can be thought of as recurrent, temporary suffocation, and it exerts a serious amount of stress on the body. This stress manifests in multiple ways, including mood problems, memory loss, a pervading feeling of fatigue, weight gain, hypertension, and other negative consequences that stem from consistent physiological and psychological tiredness.
Struggling with sleep apnea? A dentist’s visit could help transform your quality of life
Sleep apnea treatment options range across many modalities, including surgical, with tonsillectomy, adenoidectomy, or maxillofacial surgery sometimes offered as solutions. In addition, many sleep apnea sufferers may use CPAP machines, but these are bulky and uncomfortable.
Fortunately, you can avoid the hassle and downtime of surgery, or the discomfort of unwieldy CPAP machines, with a simpler, convenient dental innovation: oral appliance therapy (OAT). Think of it as a mouth guard or retainer, whose purpose is to pull your jaw forward to keep the airways open. And it’s custom-fitted just for you via a dental evaluation and digital x-rays.
If you’re one of the 25% of men or 10% of women afflicted with sleep apnea, OAT can provide more restful, uninterrupted sleep while reducing snoring. Better sleep transfers to overall health, decreasing the risk of various diseases and disorders, including hypertension, heart diseases, diabetes, anxiety, depression, and more.
Lift the mental fog with a custom-fit night guard
A good night’s sleep is invaluable and necessary to leading a productive, happy, healthy life. Yet sleep apnea can prevent quality shut-eye by temporarily blocking one’s breathing hundreds of times per night as the throat relaxes and closes. With no oxygen reaching the brain during these periods, sleep quality suffers, and multiple problems can arise.
But you can protect your health and enjoy happier, rested days by contacting us today at Knight Dental Care to schedule a consultation with Dr. Edward Knight in Midland, MI.