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.

Recent headlines in the news have described a potential new treatment option for snoring and apnea sufferers. The excitement on this potential treatment option lies in the fact that 40-60% of patients that have prescribed the treatment of CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) do not use their machines.  Many more who have snoring symptoms without apnea are not using anything at all to control their snoring, often causing disturbances with their sleep partners.  Sleep apnea is a condition in which a person’s airway is blocked repeatedly throughout the night, from 5 to over 100 times per night. Left untreated, obstructive sleep apnea can lead to life threatening conditions. Some of these include high blood pressure, stroke, heart attack and more.

This new “tongue-zapper” therapy is based on hypoglossal nerve stimulation.  With this treatment a small pacemaker like generator is implanted under the skin near the collarbone. A small wire leads to the hypoglossal nerve near the base of the tongue.  The relaxation of the tongue, jaw and associated muscles and tissues often lead to the airway blocks that occur during apnea.  As breathing is monitored by sensors, a signal is delivered to this nerve.  Signals include mild electrical currents that “zap” the tongue muscles preventing them from relaxing to the point of blocking the airway.

It’s important to realize that this type of therapy is experimental and although studies are scheduled, my research has found that only a handful of patients at most to date have been treated worldwide with this implant.  My clinical observation from working with apnea patients for the past 15 years  is  that although this therapy remains hopeful for some select patients, there are far more associated anatomical obstructions and considerations  of the airway in addition to the tongue muscles. In addition, medical reimbursement for experimental therapy remains almost impossible.

Patients looking for an alternative for CPAP therapy at this time would overwhelmingly  benefit from oral appliance therapy that has been developed,studied and researched for over 30 years. Oral appliance therapy remains the standard of care as an alternative for mild to moderate apnea and for those with severe who are not able to use CPAP therapy.

Do you wonder how well you are sleeping?

Is your room set up for the best night of sleep possible?  We often give tips on how to arrange your room in the best way for optimal sleep.

Today, one of our oral appliance patients at Dental Sleep and TMD Center of Illinois sent us the following link to share with our others that suffer from poor sleep.

BBC Sleep Site

Try out the short test to give you a sleep profile.  They make excellent suggestions to help you change your habits to give you a better night’s sleep.

Not sure if you are alert enough to get behind the steering wheel? Scroll down the BBC site, and try out the Sheep Dash test. This VERY short test will give you your reaction to stimulus time and might make you rethink getting behind the wheel.

If you snore, or suffer from sleep apnea, I urge you to see your physician and discuss your personal situation.  Sleep is essential to your health, when you take the time to improve your quality of sleep, you will improve your overall health.

There are alternative options to a CPAP machine.

Many sleep apnea sufferers are not given an option.

If you are like Mike, or Molly, visit our website:  www.TiredofSnoring.com and learn more about the #1 alternative to CPAP – Oral Appliance Therapy.

Dental Sleep and TMD Center of Illinois would love to help you and your bed partner get a good night’s sleep, CPAP-Free.