About 90 million people in the United States admit to snoring at one time or another and 37 million report regular snoring. While snoring usually isn’t dangerous, it can have an impact, especially for the person lying next to the offender.
If your partner is keeping you up at night because of snoring, there are solutions. At Plano Dental Distinction, Dr. Mohammed Mansour and our team offer snore guards that help air to pass easily, and silently, through the back of the throat, allowing everyone to sleep soundly.
The many causes of snoring
Your partner has a cold or a late night out with friends, causing them to ruble through the night. These examples of snoring are temporary, thankfully, and silent sleep is on its way.
People who snore with regularity, however, often do so because of:
- Structural issues, such as deviated septum
- Nasal polyps
- Obesity
- Obstructive sleep apnea
For the purposes of this discussion, we’re going to focus on this last issue — obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) — which is fairly prevalent. Sleepapnea.org reports that 22 million people have sleep apnea, and the majority have a type of the condition called obstructive sleep apnea.
With OSA, the soft tissues at the back of your partner’s throat collapse, blocking the airways. When your partner can’t get air through, their brain rouses them so that they can clear their airway again. This is why you may hear silence and then a loud snorting noise. And this can occur throughout the night, many times an hour.
Breathing easier
If you suspect that soft tissues at the back of your partner’s throat are to blame for the constant snoring, the good news is that we offer solutions in the form of snore guards.
These oral devices work in two different ways:
1) Mandibular advancement device (MAD)
With a MAD, the goal is to pull your partner’s lower jaw forward to keep the entrance to their airway clear of soft tissues.
2) Tongue stabilizing device (TSA)
Another approach to snoring is the TSA, which depresses your partner’s tongue so it can’t slip back and block the airways.
We customize both of these devices so they fit comfortably in your partner’s mouth, and they’re far easier to sleep with than the continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines that are often prescribed for people with sleep apnea. With a CPAP machine, you’re trading the noise of your partner’s snoring for that of the machine.
Ultimately, when your partner’s snoring is cured, you both get the restorative sleep you need.
If you’d like to figure out which option would be best for your partner, please contact our office in Plano, Texas, to set up a consultation.