The New Year just started, meaning everyone is (hopefully) staying strong with their New Year’s resolutions. Maybe you’ve resolved to go to bed earlier or take other actions to get a better night’s sleep. If you or your significant other has noticed that you snore heavily during the night, or if you’ve started to wake up in the middle of the night choking, you may need to take more action than just going to bed early. You might be suffering from obstructive sleep apnea or OSA. If this is the case, your dentist can provide you with the help you need to sleep more soundly this New Year.
When you think of treating sleep apnea, your mind probably conjures images of a CPAP machine. A CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machine can be bulky and loud. It will help prevent you from snoring and choking in the middle of the night, which can have detrimental effects on your health, but it can also keep you from sleeping as soundly as possible because of machine noise or the uncomfortable mask strapped to your face.
Thankfully, your dentist can provide you with a custom-made mouth guard that can clear your airways comfortably and quietly, achieving the same effect as a CPAP machine without all the noisy equipment. While a CPAP machine gently pumps positive pressure into your airways, the mouth guard your dentist provides keeps the lower jaw and tongue moved slightly forward while you rest, keeping your airway clear and letting you sleep without snoring, choking, or noise from a machine.