Dr. Lydia Sosenko provides this week’s Smart Sleep Tip. If your child grinds their teeth, please watch this video.

Dr. Sosenko is a general dentist and Diplomate of the American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine. She offers state-of-the-art snoring and apnea patients relief through professional oral appliance therapy. She may be contacted at www.TiredofSnoring.com or call 630.369.5508.

For the past fifteen years,  we have been working with patients who suffer from snoring and sleep apnea. We find it a privilege to improve their quality of lives and sleep with oral devices that help them reach peaceful sleep. These oral devices are small, convenient and fit in the palm of your hand, far easier to deal with than previous failed attempts of CPAP therapy (often prescribed for snoring and apnea patients). Simply, these devices save lives.

One of the obstacles of moving forward with oral appliance therapy that we often hear from our newer patients includes cost and payments. So here are a few facts we put together.

• In most cases,  medical insurance reimburses a large portion of the service and device if the claim is properly handled.

• If insurance should not cover your situation, let’s do the math. If you consider the wide range of oral devices for snoring and apnea, let’s choose as a sample to use a longer lasting high quality custom device. A new custom type quality mouth device for snoring and apnea can last 3 years and usually much longer. (One of my patients who came in yesterday brought in his 10 year old oral appliance, and it is still in great shape!)  If you wore your oral device every night for 3 years, it would only cost you $2.47 a night.  If you compare that to a tall cup of Starbuck’s coffee which averages $3.00, that is 53 cents more a day to drink coffee than to wear a much needed, life saving device.

• Ask us if there is a temporary option using a lower quality and not as highly custom type device for you. For some patients,  this device can give some relief but we still recommend working with a dentist trained and willing to help you with this.  Side effects for these devices are often worse than  FDA approved adjustable custom devices.

Let us look at some of the possible outcomes with the lack of treatment in relation to obstructive sleep apnea and snoring. There are thousands of dollars of cost that often accompany these conditions.

• High Blood Pressure
• Stroke
• Heart Attack
• Morning Headaches that last all day.
• Sexual Dysfunction
• Mood Changes
• Relationship strains
• Higher traveling expenses (separate rooms)

Consider this: An oral appliance last years and profoundly change the quality of your life, especially if you have already attempted CPAP therapy. Make sleep a number one priority in your life! Peaceful, restful nights can add years to your life.

Dr. Sosenko is a general dentist and Diplomate of the American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine. She offers state-of-the-art snoring and apnea patients relief through professional oral appliance therapy. She may be contacted at www.TiredofSnoring.com or call 630.369.5508.

Help us raise awareness about a sleep condition that affects more than 20 million adults each year.  The sad truth is that most people are not aware that chronic snoring is associated with the obstructive sleep apnea, a life-altering condition. Isn’t it time to educate ourselves?

If you or someone you know is frequently snoring or has the following symptoms you should consider getting a medical evaluation.  If a sleep disorder like obstructive sleep apnea is suspected, a sleep test may be requested. Here are some common reasons why a sleep test might be ordered:

• Snoring
• Gasping for breath, after a pause in breathing
• Waking with a dry mouth
• Excessive daytime sleepiness
• Drowsy driving
• Morning headaches
• Depression
• Overweight
• Gastric reflux
• Restless sleep
• Periodic leg jerks/movements
• Frequent trips to the bathroom at night
• Excessive night sweating
• High blood pressure
• Diabetes
• Insomnia
• Sleep walking, talking or eating

A sleep study is the best way to analyze and diagnose your sleep. There are many types of sleep disorders in addition to sleep apnea. Sleep studies can also determine whether you have a problem with your stages of sleep also. Depending on what the testing shows, there are several treatment options.

Do not let the affects of sleeping disorders such as sleep apnea change your life!

Dental Sleep and TMD Center of Illinois, a premiere snoring and apnea treatment center in Naperville has been providing the CPAP alternative treatment of oral appliance therapy for over 15 years successfully. We are extremely passionate in helping individuals that have been struggling with CPAP therapy in Naperville, Wheaton, Aurora, Bolingbrook and surrounding Chicago suburbs. For more information on this physician recommended treatment option, visit www.TiredOfSnoring.com or call us at (630)369-5508.

(As seen in Naperville Glancer, April 2013 edition)

“I feel like myself again!” a patient happily blurted out at a recent visit to our practice. Was she talking about a recent smile makeover? Or possibly a re-energized feeling from a new exercise program? Maybe a new healthy eating plan has rejuvenated her? No, she was able to sleep well again, for the first time in over a decade!

Knowing she had snoring issues, Elaine was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea, a sleeping disorder that caused pausing or dips in breathing throughout the night during sleep.  In many cases sleep apnea can cause restless sleep, poor quality of sleep and an entire list of other problems such as:

• Lack of energy
• Lock of focus
• Depression-like symptoms
• Weight gain
• High blood pressure
• Personality changes
• Increase the chance of stroke and heart attacks

Unfortunately, Elaine could not get accustomed to wearing an air pressure device (CPAP) that is often used to treat OSA patients.  Years of not treating her condition took a real toll on her emotional well-being. She never felt rested, and often even depressed.

Luckily her physician referred her to us, for the treatment of oral appliance therapy, a CPAP alternative. An oral appliance proved to be a success for her.  In as little as a week after wearing an oral appliance, she was able to sleep well for the first time in years. 

And soon afterwards, she notices how much better she felt throughout the day.

Whether it be snoring, obstructive sleep apnea a, or one of the many other sleeping disorders, lack of good quality of sleep can have devastating effect. If you are interested in regaining your ‘youthful’ self-back and sleep well again, discuss your symptoms with your physician. It may lead to a youthful, more energetic you!

Dr. Sosenko is a general dentist and Diplomate of the American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine.  She offers state-of-the-art snoring and apnea patients relief through professional oral appliance therapy. She may be contacted at www.TiredofSnoring.com or call 630.369.5508.

Hi I’m Dr. Lydia Sosenko and today’s sleep tip involves the hereditary component of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

If you have been previously diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea, a sleeping disorder that often is accompanied with snoring, it is important to know that this condition often runs in families. Although increased weight increases your chance of having obstructive sleep apnea, there’s a lot more involved than this and some people are very thin and have apnea.  There are hereditary attributes such as jaw structures, and other upper anatomy situations that makes one at higher risk for OSA. If you have been previously diagnosed and you are suffering from apnea, or even getting it treated, please talk to your adult kids, parents, or siblings. They are all at high risk for developing sleep apnea as well, and you might want to share that knowledge with them. Thank you and today’s sleep tip is to openly discuss with those close in your family that they are high risk for having obstructive sleep apnea.

Dental Sleep and TMD Center of Illinois, a premiere snoring and apnea treatment center in Naperville has been providing the CPAP alternative treatment of oral appliance therapy for over 15 years successfully. Please call us if you have any questions 630.369.5508.