Sleeping on Your Side May Reduce Snoring and Sleep Apnea

If your doctor is not taking your snoring seriously, he may respond to a request for snoring treatment by telling you to sleep on your side. It turns out this is a reasonable solution for some snorers and obstructive sleep apnea sufferers. According to a recent study conducted by sleep researchers in Israel, just over half of the sleep apnea patients evaluated were positional. In other words, for 54% of sleep apnea sufferers, they were affected by obstructive sleep apnea only when sleeping on their back, not when sleeping on their side. The other 46%, however, continued to suffer the same degree of sleep apnea no matter what position they slept in.

The main difference between the two groups of sleep apnea sufferers? Weight. According to the study, the non-positional sleep apnea sufferers tended to be significantly heavier and have a higher BMI than the positional sleep apnea sufferers. These people likely suffered airway collapse partly due to the weight of tissue pressing on their airway at night, pressure that continues no matter the orientation of the body during sleep.

It is unknown whether the population distribution in this relatively small population reflects the overall population, but for people suffering from mild or moderate sleep apnea, changing sleep position is one of a number of lifestyle changes that can be used to supplement oral appliance therapy in order to get you the maximum correction of your obstructive sleep apnea.

To learn more about the full range of sleep apnea treatment options, please contact a sleep dentist today.

New CPAP Alternative Publishes Positive Study Results

It looks like obstructive sleep apnea sufferers may soon have another option for sleep apnea treatment. The device, known as Provent, uses the body's own respiratory cycle to create the air pressure necessary to keep airways from closing during sleep.

Provent attempts to give patients the benefits of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) without the noisy device and uncomfortable mask. The device is described as an expiratory positive airway pressure (EPAP) device because its vent system uses the body's expiratory motion to maintain pressure that keeps airways open. To use the system, patients put one disposable device in each nostril. These nostril devices are secured with hypoallergenic adhesives that create a seal on the nostril. They have vents that allow you to breathe in, but close when you breathe out, creating a positive pressure that helps the airways to stay open.

In the preliminary results from this study, which is being conducted at 19 centers across the country, researchers compared people using the device with those using sham devices. Within the first week, the 127 people being treated with the Provent device showed significant improvement while the 123 people using sham treatment did not. At three months, the people using the Ventus device saw a 42.7% decrease in their apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), a measure of a person's degree of oxygen deprivation during sleep. In addition, their Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) scores reduced from an average of 9.9 to 7.2. Perhaps most important for comparing the results for the device to CPAP, the median percentage of nights in which people used the device for the entire night was 88.2%.

It is nice to know that there may be another treatment option for people looking to treat their obstructive sleep apnea without CPAP. If you would like to learn more about the treatment options available for your sleep apnea, please contact a local sleep dentist today for more information.

Share Your Successful Sleep Apnea Treatment Story

Unfortunately for them, about 80% of obstructive sleep apnea sufferers are undiagnosed. This means that they are unaware of their increased risk for dangers of sleep apnea, including their overall sixfold increased risk of "all-cause mortality," death by any cause, from car accidents to heart attacks and stroke. To reduce their risks of these serious health consequences, people need to understand what sleep apnea is and how its seemingly-innocuous symptoms can be a sign of a life-threatening condition.

If you are a current or previous sleep apnea sufferer, you can help those around you who are suffering from undiagnosed sleep apnea by talking to them about your experience. Talk about risk factors and make sure people understand when they should be tested. Talk about your symptoms, and talk about how you got your diagnosis. Talk about the treatment options you tried, the ones that worked and the ones that didn't.

Finally, talk about how much of a difference treatment has made in your life. Most sleep apnea sufferers live under a low-energy cloud. They may suffer from a lack of motivation, may suffer depression or a loss of enjoyment in life's activities. Their personal and professional relationships may suffer. Sometimes their undiagnosed condition may make it seem like there is no hope, but if talk to them about your story, you can show them that there is hope, that there is a way to turn their lives around.

Sleep dentists are dedicated to helping sleep apnea patients learn about their condition and the full range of treatment options available. To get treatment for sleep apnea or to share your successful treatment story, please contact a local sleep dentist today.

Nighttime Urination May Be Sign of Sleep Apnea

Men who get up to urinate in the middle of the night are commonly encouraged to talk to their doctors about prostate cancer. While this is an important issue to discuss, these men should also talk to their doctor about sleep apnea.

A study published in the Journal fo the American Board of Family Medicine shows that men with benign prostate enlargement who get up to urinate once in the night, were 2.44 times more likely to have obstructive sleep apnea than men who reported no awakenings. And if the men reported two to three episodes and three or more episodes the risk increased to 5.75 and 12.3 times, respectively.

This evidence suggests that if you are being awakened and suspect you may have prostate cancer or BPE, you should also talk to your doctor about the possibility of obstructive sleep apnea. Prostate cancer is serious, of course, but a diagnosis of BPE can give a false sense of security when you may be at risk from the dangers of obstructive sleep apnea.

If you have frequent awakenings due to BPE, you should talk to your doctor about sleep apnea or find a local sleep apnea dentist who can help you find treatment options for your apnea.

Incomplete Resolution of Sleep Apnea Can Be Corrected With Tongue Tapper

I recently had a request from a Dentist about how the Tongue Tapper works. It is something that I add to an oral appliance on occasion when incomplete resolution of sleep apnea is a problem.

Don: Dr.S, In one of the recent AADSM forum discussions you mentioned a tongue tapper to help with tongue reflexes. Can you share how you do that with a MAD? Thank.

Dr Shapira Response:I use a 1 mm ortho spring wire from either the lower or upper appliance with a small composite or acrylic button that very lightly touches the posterior lateral surface of the tongue. If the tongue drops back and touches it elicits a protrusive reflex of the tongue.

Light touch not brute force similar to how tonsils cause tongue thrusts.

THERE ARE MANY ORAL AND PHARYNGEAL REFLEXES THAT CAN EFFECT BREATHING IN SLEEP. THE TONGUE TAPPER TAKES ADVANTAGE OF ONE OF THESE REFLEXES TO CREATE TONGUE PROTRUSION. ONE OF THE REASONS I LIKE THE TAP 1 APPLIANCE IS THAT IT ELIMINATES OR DECREASES RETRUSIVE TONGUE REFLEXES.

tHE MOSES APPLIANCE IS DESIGNED TO PREVENT RETRUSIVE REFLEXES AS WELL.

ILLINOIS CPAP: COMFORTABLE ALTERNATIVES TO CPAP

MANY ILLINOIS PATIENTS DIAGNOSED WITH SLEEP APNEA WANT A COMFORTABLE ALTERNATIVE THAT DOES NOT INVOLVE MASKS, HOSES AND COMPRESSORS. I HATE CPAP! (HTTP://WWW.IHATECPAP.COM) OFFERS EXCELLENT INFORMATION ON TREATMENT OF SLEEP APNEA WITH ORAL APPLIANCES.

DR SHAPIRA TREATS PATIENTS IN GURNEE, SCHAUMBURG AND SKOKIE. ADDITIONAL OFFICES ARE PLANNED IN THE NEAR FUTURE.

CONTACT DR SHAPIRA THRU THE I HATE CPAP! WEBSITE AND SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT.

BETTER SLEEP LEADS TO A HEALTHIER AND BETTER LIFE.

IF YOU ARE NOT USING YOUR CPAP NIGHTLY COME TO I HATE CPAP.COM AND LEARN MORE ABOUT COMFORTABLE ORAL APPLIANCES,

Wisconsin Sleep Apnea Treatment: Oral Appliances are a comfortable alternative to CPAP, BiPAP or A-PAP

Treatment of sleep apnea is vital to the health and welfare of patients diagnosed with sleep apnea. CPAP treatment was once the only treatment offered to most patient. This is no longer the case. Dental Sleep Medicine ofers comfortable oral appliances as a comfortable alternative to CPAP.

Most sleep physicians follow the AASM guidline and offer oral appliance therapy as a treatment choice. Some sleep physicians have not kept up with the research and are not aware that recent studies have shown that properly titrated cpap oral appliances can be as effective as cpa.

60% of all patients who try cpap cannot tolerate and discontinue treatment while 90-95% of patients are successful with oral appliance therapy. The majority of patients offered a choice prefer oral appliance therapy to cpap and most insurance companies now cover oral appliance therapy.

Coverage of sleep apnea treatment saves insurance companies money by reducing heart attacks and strokes, hypertension, aiding in diabetes treatment and reducing motor vehicle and work-place accidents.

Employers have found that employees who have had effective sleep apnea treatment have higher output, lower medical expenses, and fewer workplace accidents and worker compensation claims.

Some sleep physicians continue to bad mouth oral appliance out of ignorance or due to bad experiences with untrained dentists providing poor quality treatment in the past.

Many dentists do not understand the importance of follow-up polysomnography in all patients. Failure to follow proper protocols can put patients at risk.

Other physicians have financial intrests in DME companies and are loathe to lose the income sales of cpap and cpap supplies generate.

I provide Dental Sleep Medicine treatment with oral appliances to patiens in Southeast Wisconsin including Lake Geneva, Kenosha, Racine and Milwaukee. I am certified in Dental Sleep Medicine and a Diplomate of the American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine. I am a former Asistant Professor at Rush Medicak Schools sleep center and have over 25 years successfully treating sleep apnea with oral appliances.