Millions of people around the country are affected by sleep apnea.
With this condition, a person typically stops breathing for a few seconds, but it could last as long as a minute. As a result, your sleep is interrupted and your overall health and well-being can be greatly affected. The lack of oxygen can leave you feeling fatigued and sluggish all day long.
Common symptoms of sleep apnea include:
- Snoring or gasping sounds during sleep
- Excessive fatigue throughout the day
- Headaches upon waking up
- Dry mouth or sore throat
- Irritability
While a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) system is a common treatment for sleep apnea, there are also several dental appliances that you can wear during sleep to open up the airway and improve the quality of your sleep.
Once we have determined that this is the best option for treating your sleep apnea, we will make a custom piece designed to fit your mouth.
The appliance fits like a regular sports mouth guard and is easy to wear. After performing a complete evaluation of your mouth, we will create a model of your teeth and create a mouthpiece that matches the unique specifications of your mouth.
When your mouthpiece is ready, you will be able to test it out in the office so that we can make adjustments as necessary to maximize comfort. Additionally, the mouthpiece will need to be checked and adjusted as needed at routine follow-up visits to ensure maximum effectiveness. With the right mouthpiece, you will be sleeping, breathing, and feeling better for many years to come