1. Alter your sleep schedule prior to your trip. Calculate the time difference you are traveling to: 1, 2, 6 hour time change? Alter your sleep schedule to fit the time zone you are traveling to at least a few days in advance.
2.  Pack your oral appliance with you in your carry-on. If your flight is overnight, or you plan to snooze in air, wear your appliance. Not only will you feel better, your fellow travelers will appreciate a snore-free flight.**
3. Stay Hydrated.  The day prior to and on the day of your flight drink plenty of water and fluids, 8 oz. of fluid for each hour of flight.
4. Change your electronics to the correct time zone the day of your trip.   Include your watch, phone, computer and any electronics you carry.
5. Get out in the sun! Even if your body wants to sleep, get out in the sunlight. The sun will help your body “wake up” and get on the new time zone schedule.

**If you currently use a CPAP-machine to treat your sleep apnea and snoring, consider an oral appliance for travel.  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!

Dr. Brian Weyneth , general dentist in Naperville Illinois, is a highly trained dental practitioner in the treatment of TMD. He has spent years learning and practicing the most advanced technology and research to bring relief to our TMD patients. The heart of our practice is to help you find freedom from TMJ and related symptoms – especially TMJ tension headaches and migraine headaches.

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.

The latest studies, published August 11, 2011 by the Journal of American Medical Association,  have found that older women with sleep apnea are twice as likely to develop dementia than those without sleep apnea.

“This is the first study to show that sleep apnea MAY lead to cognitive impairment,” study leader Dr. Kristine Yaffe, professor of psychiatry, neurology and epidemiology at the University of California at San Francisco, said in a written statement. “It suggests that there is a biological connection between sleep and cognition.”  retrieved 8/18/11: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20090746-10391704.html

298 women, over the age of 65, made up the group that participated in the study. None of these women had suffered from dementia in the 5 years previous to the study. The study found 32.5% suffered from dementia or mild cognitive impairment, half of these women had untreated sleep apnea. The study suggested treatment for sleep apnea could prevent or help prevent the onset of dementia.

Obstructive sleep apnea is a life threatening and life altering condition that causes a person to stop breathing repeatedly during sleep. The oxygen deprivation that results can trigger severe health problems. The restless sleep that also results from OSA affects the quality of life of individuals. The bed partner’s sleep can also be disrupted by his or her partner’s snoring, pauses in breathing and restless sleep.

What happens during a sleep apnea event?

• The muscles in the throat relax and the tongue is sucked against the throat blocking the airway.
• The entire upper airway is blocked causing air flow to stop.
• Air (and oxygen) cannot flow into the lungs.
• When the oxygen level in the brain becomes low enough, the sleeper partially awakens, the obstruction in the throat clears, and the flow of air starts again – usually with a loud gasp or snort.
• People with untreated apnea are generally not aware of the awakenings but only of being sleepy during the day.
• Loud snoring, mixed with periods of silence (apnea), is typical but is not always present, especially in children.

How can you treat sleep apnea?

The specific therapy selected for an individual with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is based on the patient’s medical history, physical examination, and the results of the polysomnography. Multiple treatments are available for OSA including, but not limited to :

• Behavioral modifications (see below)
• CPAP
• Oral appliance therapy
• Surgery
• Pharmacological treatment – currently marginally effective

In many cases, Oral Appliance Therapy is the best option for treatment of obstructive sleep apnea. To find out more about Oral Appliance Therapy, and how Dental Sleep and TMD Center of Illinois can treat your sleep apnea, please  visit our website: TiredofSnoring.com

Referenced Articles:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904480904576498492704793076.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-edlund-md/sleep-apnea-and-dementia_b_924597.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20090746-10391704.html

During snoring muscles relax in the back of the throat narrowing the airway to a smaller opening.  As you breathe in your sleep, air is forced through this smaller opening causing vibrations known as snoring.

Although snoring may be harmless (benign snoring), it can also be a sign of a more serious medical condition which progresses from Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome (UARS) to Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA).

OBSTRUCTIVE SLEEP APNEA (OSA): During an apnea event

• The muscles in the throat relax and the tongue is sucked against the throat blocking the airway.
• The entire upper airway is blocked causing air flow to stop.
• Air (and oxygen) cannot flow into the lungs.
• When the oxygen level in the brain becomes low enough, the sleeper partially awakens, the obstruction in the throat clears, and the flow of air starts again – usually with a loud gasp or snort.
• People with untreated apnea are generally not aware of the awakenings but only of being sleepy during the day.
• Loud snoring, mixed with periods of silence (apnea), is typical but is not always present, especially in children.

Obstructive sleep apnea is a life threatening and life altering condition that causes a person to stop breathing repeatedly during sleep. The oxygen deprivation that results can trigger severe health problems. The restless sleep that also results from OSA affects the quality of life of individuals. The bed partner’s sleep can also be disrupted by his or her partner’s snoring, pauses in breathing and restless sleep.

Visit our website to learn more about the Health Consequences of untreated sleep apnea!

Dental Sleep and TMD Center of Illinois is dedicated to relieving pain and suffering from patients experiencing complex symptoms of TMD (temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction) and chronic headaches. Signs and symptoms of temporomandibular joint disorder vary in their presentation and can be very complex. Often the symptoms will involve more than one of the numerous TMJ components: muscles, joints, nerves and the teeth.

What are some of the TMD/Migraine headaches symptoms you should be looking for?

• Pain around the Ears
• Jaw, Tooth, Face, Neck and/or Should Pain
• Clicking or Popping of the Jaw
• Grinding of the Teeth
• Ringing or Fullness in the Ears
• Migraine Headaches or any other type of Headaches
• Sinus Pressure and Lack of Draining

There are 236 types of headaches.  The large majority of these headaches have a jaw joint or muscle component.  Our treatments reduce the excitability of specific cranial nerves.  By lowering this threshold the likelihood and intensity of mirgraines or headaches are diminished.

Is TMD  Curable?

Although TMD can become a chronic problem associated with permenant damage from trauma to the head, neck or TMD joint, the symptoms can be eliminated through proper professional care. The objective of our treatment is to gently and naturally bring the head, neck, jaw and bite into neuromuscular alignment.  In other words, the head literally teeters on the top of the cervical spine with the center of gravity forward to the spine.  It is tethered to the body by muscles of the joint systems.  Functional and resting head posture is dependant upon the proper tension in these muscles.  Movement of the jaw is not only related to the muscles for chewing,  but also head and neck position.

Here’s what is involved in our TMD treatment process:

A thorough evaluation and patient history, then a physical examination to discover the muscle hot spots or trigger points.  We will perform a bite evaluation using computerized equipment.  Then we use a series of office treatments including state of the art equipment and massage therapy.  Also included will be very important take home instruments to help you manage and divert early signs of headaches and migraines.

Our goal is to help you be pain free and improve the quality of your life!

If you have any further questions, or would like to schedule an appointment to meet our team and get started living pain free, please feel free to contact our TMD Director, Cathy, at 630-369-5508.