Is Sleep Apnea Treatable Permanently?
Sleep apnea is a severe disorder that disrupts your sleeping pattern and can affect your daily activities. In addition, this disorder can lead to lifestyle changes like social withdrawal, weight gain and fatigue throughout the day. Because of these effects, looking for sleep apnea treatment in Coppell, TX, is essential.
One question arises with sleep apnea is whether it can be treated permanently. Is there a silver bullet for this disorder? This article will provide you with all the vital information about sleep apnea and whether it can be treated permanently. So, let’s dive into it.
What is Sleep Apnea?
Sleep apnea is a sleeping disorder that causes the blockage of airways, causing cessation of breathing at different intervals throughout the night. When the breathing airways are blocked, your body goes into panic mode, causing you to wake up so the blocked airways can open partially. Sadly, this condition can become so severe that you might experience apneic symptoms up to 100 times in an hour.
Some causes of this condition include an enlarged tongue, adenoids, a deviated nasal septum or a limp soft palette. These factors hinder air passage through the airways causing cessation of breathing.
Now that you understand this condition, what are some sleep apnea symptoms?
What Are the Symptoms of Sleep Apnea?
- Insomnia
- Snoring
- Depression
- Dry mouth
- Headache
- Irritability and mood swings
- Weight gain
Can Sleep Apnea Be Permanently Treated?
As mentioned earlier, obstructive sleep apnea is caused by physical complications like an enlarged tongue. Therefore, getting a permanent cure for this disorder is quite challenging.
Nevertheless, doctors have come up with the best cures for sleep apnea. For example, a CPAP machine can help reduce the blockage of breathing airways. When you wear the machine at night, it opens your breathing airways by exerting air pressure. Although the machine is effective, some patients find it challenging to wear it throughout the night.
On the other hand, there is a new sleep apnea treatment known as oral appliance therapy. This therapy involves wearing an appliance that looks like a mouthguard and pushing the jaw forward while sleeping to ensure your breathing airways remain open.
The good thing with oral appliance therapy and CPAP machine is that they reduce the apneic episodes to less than five a night, making them an effective solution to sleep apnea conditions.
On the other hand, there are surgeries that your doctor can recommend to treat sleep apnea. Although the surgeries are effective in the short term, the condition can reappear as the apneic episodes reduce to zero.
Because the surgeries do not translate to a complete cure for sleep apnea disorder, doctors recommend opting for oral appliances and CPAP. However, surgery may be the way to go if you have severe sleep apnea symptoms.
Here are surgeries that can be performed to treat sleep apnea:
- Septoplasty and turbinate reduction- these surgeries involve opening the nasal passage to increase the flow of air.
- Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty- this surgery entails the removal and repositioning of the various tissues in the throat and mouth to increase the width of the airways. The oral surgeon might have to trim the uvula and the soft palate for this to be possible. Other surgeries that may be performed together with this include the removal of the adenoids and tonsils.
- Genioglossus advancement is where the oral surgeon pulls the base of the tongue frontwise to ensure the tongue is firm and stable to prevent it from collapsing while asleep. When the tongue collapses, it hinders the passage of air.
Does Losing Weight Help Treat Sleep Apnea?
The truth is losing weight can help with obstructive sleep apnea. Research shows that overweight people are more likely to be affected by this sleeping disorder. This is because when you’re overweight, you have excess tissue on the back of your throat that can block the airways. So, when you lose weight, you lose those excess tissues creating more room for air passage.
However, sleep apnea makes it challenging for the person to lose weight. This is because sleep apnea causes fatigue, so you’ll lack the energy and motivation to work out.
The road to sleep apnea recovery is a long one. But this is why you should trust our Compassion Smiles Dentistry – Coppell professionals to help treat this disorder and get you back on your feet.