Dr. Jason Baldwin is dedicated to helping you maintain not only your dental health but your best overall quality of life. In addition to providing comprehensive, personalized dental care for all of your oral health needs, Dr. Baldwin works with patients to diagnose and treat sleep disorders, including obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). You can get sleep apnea treatment in his Truckee, CA, dental office.
What is Obstructive Sleep Apnea?
Obstructive sleep apnea is when a person repeatedly stops then starts breathing while they are asleep. The breathing ceases when the throat muscles relax and block the airway. This is a potentially dangerous disorder that should be treated due to the damage it can do to your overall health.
A person can stop breathing for 10 seconds or even longer cutting off oxygen to the blood. People wake up gasping for air, choking, snorting, or with shortness of breath when this happens. This pattern can repeat many times during sleep. However, loud snoring and waking up feeling tired still are some of the main symptoms.
More than just the cause of your nightly snoring, OSA can present many health risks and debilitating symptoms that affect daily life. Effective treatment will restore your quality of sleep and reduce your risk of cardiovascular and systemic diseases, which are often made worse by sleep apnea. Sudden drops in oxygen levels can increase blood pressure, straining one’s cardiovascular system.
Many people develop high blood pressure who have suffered from OSA. The more severe cases of OSA can even lead to stroke, heart attack, heart failure, and coronary artery disease. Sleep apnea also affects your partner and their ability to get a good night’s rest as well possibly leading to a strain in the relationship.
Are You At Risk for Sleep Apnea?
Common risk factors include:
- Being overweight or obese
- Being a smoker
- Having high blood pressure (hypertension)
- Having a large neck circumference
- Chronic nasal congestion
- Narrowed airway
- Suffering from diabetes
- Having Asthma
- Having a family member with sleep apnea
Signs and Symptoms of Sleep Apnea
Understanding and recognizing the common signs of sleep apnea is essential for seeking treatment that will improve your health:
- Feeling groggy or sleepy during the day
- Dry mouth in the morning
- Snoring
- Headaches in the morning
- Difficulty concentrating
- Restless sleep, sudden waking
Treatment for Sleep Apnea
The CPAP is considered the “gold standard” of treatment for OSA, but the discomfort and inconvenience associated with the machine often lead to non-compliance among patients. This can lead to a resurgence of symptoms and health risks.
Dr. Baldwin offers effective oral appliance therapy to treat sleep apnea in patients with mild to moderate OSA. Oral appliance therapy uses a comfortable, custom-fit mouthguard that will reposition the jaw to avoid the collapse of soft tissue at the back of the throat that is characteristic of OSA.
Oral appliance therapy is usually well tolerated by most patients and offers key benefits that significantly improve compliance:
- Patients can drink fluids and speak clearly while wearing the appliance
- Portability- your appliance fits into a small plastic case for travel
- More comfortable when sleeping than the CPAP machine, allowing freedom of movement while asleep
After you get a sleep study, you can get treatment from our office. We recommend an at-home sleep study or a sleep study in a lab to determine your type of sleep apnea. At our office, we will recommend treatment with a sleep appliance if you have mild to moderate sleep apnea symptoms.
Sleep Apnea FAQs
Learn more about sleep apnea in Truckee, CA with answers to these common questions:
What foods cause sleep apnea?
Foods that are high in dairy are known to increase the body’s mucus production. This can cause blockages worsening your sleep apnea symptoms. Weight gain can also worsen sleep apnea due to the buildup of fat around the esophagus and narrowing of the airways.
What is the best position to sleep if you have sleep apnea?
the way you sleep can make a big difference in your breathing and overall sleep quality. Sleeping on your side helps keep your airway open, making it easier to breathe and reducing the number of apnea episodes during the night.
Lying on your right side is considered the best option. Sleeping on your right side can help reduce snoring and improve blood circulation, which benefits your heart and overall health. It also puts less pressure on your airways compared to sleeping on your back.
Sleeping on your back is usually not recommended for people with sleep apnea because it can cause the tongue and soft tissues in the throat to collapse, blocking airflow and making it harder to breathe. If you tend to roll onto your back while sleeping, use a body pillow or adjust your pillow setup to keep you in a side-sleeping position.
What are the 3 types of sleep apnea?
The three main types of sleep apnea include:
- Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA): This is the most common type of sleep apnea. It happens when the muscles in the throat relax too much during sleep, causing the airway to become blocked. This blockage can make it difficult to breathe and often leads to loud snoring, gasping for air, or waking up throughout the night. Our dental office can help manage obstructive sleep apnea with custom oral appliances designed to keep the airway open.
- Central Sleep Apnea (CSA): Unlike OSA, central sleep apnea is not caused by a blocked airway. Instead, it happens when the brain fails to send the proper signals to the muscles that control breathing. This type of sleep apnea is less common and is often linked to medical conditions like heart disease or stroke.
- Complex Sleep Apnea Syndrome: Also known as treatment-emergent central sleep apnea, this condition is a combination of both obstructive and central sleep apnea. It can develop in people who are being treated for OSA with a CPAP machine but still experience breathing interruptions.
The most common is obstructive sleep apnea, which we can help manage at our dentist office.
Treat Sleep Apnea
Stop snoring and reduce the risk of health problems with sleep apnea treatment. Get sleep apnea treatment in Truckee, CA. Call Dr. Baldwin at (530) 206-0392. You can also request an appointment with us online.