Sleep apnea — a condition characterized by interruptions of one’s breathing during sleep — is probably the most well-known sleep breathing disorder, but it is not the only one. At the office of Laurel M. Morello, DDS, we are familiar with breathing, airways and the mechanisms involved in sleep breathing, as well as the unique pathologies of sleep disorders that cause a person’s breathing to be negatively impacted during sleep. While keeping one’s partner awake at night through snoring is certainly a nuisance that these disorders can cause, it is only one symptom of what can be a much larger problem.
List of questions to ask yourself regarding restful sleep:
- Do you wake up refreshed in the morning ready to start the day … without coffee?
- Do you experience daytime fatigue or tire easily?
- Do you snore?
- Do you sleep soundly?
For children:
- Does your child thrash at night with covers disheveled?
- Does your child sleep with their mouth open?
- Does your child have trouble focusing during the day?
- Does your child’s behavior concern you in any way?
Disrupted or inhibited breathing during sleep can negatively impact the flow of oxygen one gets during sleep, cutting off the crucial supply of oxygen to one’s brain, heart and other vital organs. A lack of oxygen also impacts the emotional and psychological states during the day causing symptoms such as anxiety and panic attacks. Once restful sleep is restored, many have experienced a loss of their anxiety. If you are not enjoying a full night’s sleep, or you are keeping your partner awake at night, it may be caused by a sleep breathing disorder, and we can help you. Oftentimes, simply strengthening the airway and tongue muscles can relieve patients of the sleep breathing issue. Our dentists and experienced team can assist in treating your respiratory concerns to help you get more restful sleep.
Dr. Laurel Morello offers a very economical way to screen overnight breathing and heart response. With this information, we are able to help you with the next step to better sleep. This holds a wide range of possibilities, from intraoral appliances that open the airway and greatly reduce snoring to nutrition and exercise regimens. In severe cases, we may also recommend MD sleep referrals. This can initially help you gain stability and can then be followed by a long-term wellness solution through growth and development methods.
Not depicted in the video above is a non-surgical functional growth method to address sleep breathing disorders. The ALF and other like appliances are designed for all ages, children through adults, to stimulate growth in the bones of the jaw and face with a resulting increase in nasal sinus space and the oral cavity itself. Given the additional space, the tongue, with proper training, can reach its most efficient position up and forward and out of the airway. Often, a low tongue position will obstruct or lessen the volume of air able to pass in the airway.
As the sinus space opens, so does the ability to breathe in the most efficient manner, through the nose with lips together. This position allows maximum oxygen uptake as well as limiting excess exhalation of carbon dioxide necessary for the transport of oxygen to the brain and organs of the body.
The body and its incredible brain know the importance of the next breath. Functional growth appliances give the brain the opportunity to create the best breathing conditions possible.
To Breathe Right at Night, You Must Breathe Right During the Day
Breathing may be one of the most natural things that we do, but breathing the right way may take some effort. In order to help our patients learn to breathe correctly, Dr. Morello has created a reading list of useful resources to help you optimize your health.
SNORING: Improve or eliminate CPAP use and intraoral sleep devices!
We now have in our possession the ability to address sleep breathing disorders in a pain-free, non-invasive and non-surgical protocol with laser light. Most patients have shown a profound and immediate effect of a reduction of snoring and a clearing of the sinuses to enhance the ability to breathe better nasally. As so many of you have heard me say, “Breathing better during the day leads to breathing better at night,” when the brain is on-call to revitalize and detoxify the body and its organs from the day’s insults. The LightWalker Laser is an amazing tool to tighten the walls of the airway and the soft palate through collagen deposition, thereby reducing the flapping of the tissues, i.e. SNORING. When the walls are tighter, the airway opens to allow increased and regular flow of oxygen to the lungs to be distributed throughout the body.
Our immune systems are better equipped to perform when “on oxygen”. No better time than now in the heat of the pandemic to have a strong immune system!
Stay tuned for more info on this exciting new technology!
If you need help with a sleep breathing disorder in El Cajon, California, or the surrounding areas, please give us a call today at (619) 404-2634 to learn more about your options and set up an appointment with our dentists. We are committed to helping you breathe easily so you can get the rest you need and improve your health.
