Dr. Sosenko discusses the questions you need to know the answers to. Join her for 23 minutes of the most up-to-date sleep test information.

**If you currently use a CPAP-machine to treat your sleep apnea and snoring, consider an oral appliance for travel.  Consult with Dr. Sosenko or visit our website TiredofSnoring.com to determine if an oral appliance would hellp you enjoy the vacation of your dreams. Be prepared for your best trip ever!

ANSWER:   You are not alone! Recent research suggests that as many as 40%-50% of patients don’t use their prescribed CPAP machines.  For those that do use it, it is a wonderful treatment often changing their lives by helping them sleep well.

Unfortunately, for many others using this bedside air breathing device is a nightmare.  Patients often struggle with the hoses and masks, and they hate to travel with them. Many patients are simply just too claustrophobic with them in place. And untreated apnea can be life threatening especially in the earlier adult decades.

Luckily, for thousands of individuals, professional oral appliance therapy is now considered the standard of care but the American Academy of Sleep Medicine for mild to moderate OSA and for others who can not tolerate CPAP.

This well researched therapy involves the fitting of a custom made night time oral appliance.   Current research has documented that the compliance is far greater with OAT than CPAP because of increased comfort, lack of sleeping constraints, no noise levels, and ease of transportability.  Documented research also has shown that even 75% of successful CPAP users who tried OAT would in future take the OAT route even if they had to pay for it in its entirety.  However, medical reimbursement for such therapy is quite common.

Patients seeking this type of treatment should be referred to dentist specifically trained in sleep disorders. These dentists work with your physician as part of your medical team in your diagnosis, treatment, and ongoing care.  Should you find you find oral appliance therapy an effective option for you, you may not only sleep better, but you will feel better knowing that you are treating this life threatening condition.

To find out more about oral appliance therapy visit www.FreeMeFromCPAP.com .

Does Your Snoring Make Your Bed Partner or Family Sick?

Snoring is not only affecting your sleep, but your bed partner and possibly you entire household, too.  In fact, every time your wife/husband has to wake you up to tell you to roll over and stop snoring, you’re interrupting their sleep.  The consequences of sleep deprivation often lead to serious health problems, including hypertension, stroke, diabetes, an increased risk for heart attacks and heart disease, depression and weight gain.

 What are some telltale signs that you are not getting enough sleep?

• Loud snoring more than 4 times per week
• Being told you gasp for air during sleep
• Daytime drowsiness
• Waking with a headache
• A large neck – 17in+ in men, 16in+ in women
• High blood pressure

 If you are snoring on your back, try a positional sleep device.  Sew a pocket in the back of a sleep t-shirt and place tennis balls inside.  This will force you to sleep on your side and may eliminate your snoring. Avoid caffeine and alcohol products and finishing eating 2 to 3 hours before your bedtime. You can start tonight and get the sleep you need to improve the quality of your life. 

Dr. Sosenko is a Diplomate of the American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine and the founder of Dental Sleep and TMD Center of Illinois.  She offers snoring and apnea patient’s relief through professional oral appliance device therapy. Visit www.TiredofSnoring.com for more information.

Here are some of the most dangerous issues for snorers: 

Fatigue and EDS (excessive daytime sleeping) can kick in for patients with snoring or patients with apnea. That’s because a lot of snorers actually wake themselves up from their own snoring, or if they do have apnea and they have a decrease of oxygen, deep sleep can be cut down because they keep getting woken up.

Snorers have an increased likelihood of motor vehicle accidents. Up to 74% of apnea patients have had an accident due to drowsiness, and we see that all the time. Many, many of our patients have had car accidents.

One of the scarier situations was a few weeks ago we had a patient who was a snoring individual, was not getting treated for her apnea, and at 70 mph on cruise control on a family vacation on a highway went off the road.

Luckily nothing happened to that family, but it was definitely enough to wake her up into getting some treatment. Hopefully people don’t wait that long to get the treatment that they need. It’s definitely a very important danger out there.

Also snorers are seven times more at risk of falling asleep at the wheel. This last finding is a scary finding from the National Sleep Foundation that the sleep deprivation caused from these people with snoring and apnea trouble is equivalent to a blood alcohol concentration of legally drunk, which puts somebody at a higher risk for a car crash.

We have people falling asleep at red lights. We hear that all the time. There’s definitely a snoring danger associated with driving.

You even hear strange stories in the news, like the woman accused of attacking her snoring husband. You hear about this kind of thing now and then. I’m surprised we don’t actually hear about it more frequently. It’s probably out there in the news. I know I’ve seen bantering going on in Facebook.

We’ve heard of people having issues when they’re traveling and in groups and in things like that, so there’s definitely some dangerous stories out there with unhappy spouses.

Fatigue and excessive daytime sleepiness can cause an increase in work accidents.

A lot of the real disasters are actually attributed in part to over-fatigued workers and suspected sleep disorders. That’s definitely an underlying factor in a lot of these pretty big and even smaller work accidents.

Poor job performance is really common in a lot of our patients who suffer with snoring. Just yesterday we had a patient come in that has successfully been treated, but prior to treatment he spoke of falling asleep at board meetings. His boss would throw something at him to wake him up. Luckily he doesn’t have to do that anymore. Poor sleep due to snoring can definitely can alter job performance.

Of course there are often relationship problems. This goes without saying. A lot of patients are aware of those issues from traveling or just night-to-night sleeping. Many of the spouses that come into our office with their spouse, the patient, have actually slept in separate bedrooms. That’s definitely not uncommon. Maybe even a third of our patients are sleeping in separate bedrooms, so they definitely have issues with that. It’s quite common.

So you see, getting help for your snoring problem is going to have positive repercussions all across your life – from safer driving to better alertness at work and better relationships. Don’t feel that you have to continue to suffer with your snoring problem. Get a professional evaluation to find the best options for your personal situation.

Visit our site at www.TiredOfSnoring.com for additional free resources, or call our Naperville Sleep Office, Dental Sleep and TMD Center of Illinois,  1-800-SNORING (630 369-5508) to either make an appointment at our office or get a referral to a certified specialist in your area.

•  Weight loss

If you are found to have snoring and not have apnea, if you’re overweight, weight loss is a great place to start. Sometimes just 20 pounds difference can make a big difference in the world of snoring and apnea. That’s usually recommended at the beginning.

•  Over-the-counter sleep aids

There are a lot of different types of over-the-counter sleep aids available, including breathe strips, back-avoiding devices, and different types of pillows. You might want to try something, especially if you’re not having apnea and you’re just snoring on your back. They train you to keep off your back.

•  Retainers and mouth devices

Be very, very careful with devices like PureSleep and SnoreMender. I don’t recommend them at all. There’s lack of follow-up with those devices, and it’s pretty common to see changes in people’s bites, even speech, with using some of these appliances, because there’s really nobody to help guiding you as to the position and what to do to counteract these side effects. I know there are some physicians that are recommending them out there, but only for short periods of time.

•  Professional oral appliances

Professional oral appliances are highly recommended for snoring, probably the best option. We urge you to seek somebody from the Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine, preferably a Diplomate. Those are dentists that are trained more than just a couple classes. They’ve actually taken tests and have built a relationship with the medical community based on snoring and apnea treatment.

Usually their expertise is far different than the general practitioner or general dentist, just as the sleep physicians and the general practice physicians. Typically the amount taught in dental and medical school is pretty minor compared to people who seek training through these academies. That’s the Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine, and preferably a Diplomate.

These appliances are custom-made, and it’s important to work with an office that can help you prevent some of the side effects that can develop with these jaw retainers.

• Surgery

Surgery is still out there and recommended by some ear/nose/throat physicians, but for just the milder cases the results tend to be pretty short-lived.

• Or you can do nothing. I know that that leaves some relationships strained, misery in some people, so I definitely don’t recommend doing nothing for primary snoring.

Now if you do have apnea with your snoring, your treatment options are different. You really want to consult with a certified snoring specialist to make sure you’re treating the right problem in the right way.

Visit our site at www.TiredOfSnoring.com for additional free resources, or call 1-800-SNORING to either make an appointment at our office or get a referral to a certified specialist in your area.

Here latest? Finding out to be sure your Medical Insurance is working for you.

Oral Appliance insurance expert, Jan Palmer discusses with Dr. Sosenko how you can Maximizing Your Insurance Coverage.

Follow this link to the Sleep Health Connection webpage and listen in!

Click here for the Sleep Health Connection

Our firm commitment to you, as our patient, is to provide relief from migraine headaches, grinding your teeth, popping and clicking of your jaw, fullness and ringing in your ears, as well as any jaw, face, head, or neck pain related to TMJ.

Our approach is a comprehensive program for treating TMJ problems such as headaches, jaw pain, and bruxism. We start with a complete in-office assessment, including computer evaluation of head/neck/ biting forces and their relationship to healthy muscle and joint positioning, specific splint therapy, massage therapy, laser therapy, and ultrasound. We back up this assessment with outstanding home products, such as a painless Microcurrent unit that gently helps heal muscles and joints and relieves head and neck pain. Read more about the treatments on our website.