If you’ve ever been sleep deprived, you know how much of your life can be affected. Your mood might be thrown off, you’ll feel fatigued, and you won’t be as productive. Sometimes, not getting adequate rest could be from a health condition rather than staying up too late from watching Netflix. In fact, you might need assistance from a dentist to get sleep apnea treatment in Lincoln to truly find a solution that works.
If you’re struggling with getting enough rest, feel free to continue reading about sleep apnea and how a dentist can help you.
What Causes Sleep Apnea?
If you’ve never heard of sleep apnea, it is a breathing condition that occurs when your upper airway is blocked by the lower jaw or tongue relaxing too much. This can cause pauses in breathing and interruptions in the sleep cycle, which leads to these unfortunate side effects:
- Morning headaches
- Mood swings
- Depression
- Decrease in sex drive
- Inability to focus
- Slowed cognitive function
- Inability to use critical thinking skills
- Chronic dry mouth
- Snoring or choking sounds throughout the night
But what actually causes sleep apnea? There are many reasons that a patient may have sleep apnea. In fact, almost anyone can develop it—even children. Some research suggests that being overweight, having a small neck circumference, or even excess tissues in the throat could cause the condition. Either way, it’s important to get the appropriate treatment so that you don’t suffer the dangerous consequences.
Why Is It Important to Seek Treatment for Sleep Apnea?
As mentioned above, it’s critical to receive treatment for your sleeping disorder. If you don’t, you could suffer from one of these horrible consequences:
- Inability to function on small tasks from your fatigue and sleep deprivation.
- Increased chance of being in a car accident because of your inability to focus on the road. Plus, you could fall asleep at the wheel.
- Severe depression and mood swings from sleep deprivation.
Let a Dentist Help You!
If you think that you may have sleep apnea, turning to a dentist could greatly benefit you. Your dentist will be able to create a custom oral appliance that relieves the symptoms of sleep apnea in an easy and comfortable way.
Oral appliances offer these benefits to patients with sleep apnea:
- Comfortable wear throughout the night.
- Small and portable for easy travel.
- Customized to your own mouth to address your specific sleep apnea cause.
- Simple to use and non-surgical.
- An easy shift of the jaw or tongue to clear the airway.
The sooner that you reach out to a dentist for help addressing your condition, the sooner you’ll be on your way to a full night of rest!
About Our Office
Here at Olberding Dental, we know how great your whole body feels after a full night of rest. On the other hand, we also have met many patients who suffer from sleep apnea and feel the side effects on a daily basis. One of the greatest rewards that come with treating sleep apnea patients is witnessing the overall quality of their lives increase immensely. Let us help you today!