Boise Dentist Blog
The professional blog of Doctors Dan Bruce, Steve Bruce, Rosa Pothier and Rob Ririe
Do you hate CPAP?
This is a misleading question and my answer will probably not be what you would expect for a dentist who treats sleep apnea with oral appliances. Sleep apnea is a serious and often debilitating disease.
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Sleep Apnea Success Story
This blog post is meant to provide an example of how a typical patient with sleep apnea who wants an oral appliance goes through the process. I will call this patient "Jane." Typically our sleep apnea patients are referred to see us by their sleep physician, general physician, a friend, through their medical insurance or via online research.
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Sleep apnea symtoms
It appears that football player Percy Harvin, who has been unable to play due to migraines, has sleep apnea. This is just one of the many symptoms of sleep apnea, which occurs when a person stops breathing at night. Although the most common symtoms are snoring and daytime sleepiness or fatigue, other signs and symptoms include morning headaches, short-term memory loss, irritability, depression, reduced sex drive and impaired concentration.
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How snoring and sleep apnea affects bed partners
A recent article in Sleep and Breathing studied "the hypothesis that obstructive sleep apnea/hyponea syndrome and snoring affect not only the patients but also their bed partners." The study used 3 tests to determine depression, anxiety and sleepiness in bedpartners of patients with snoring and obstructive sleep apnea.
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Snoring associated with carotid artery atherosclerosis
Apparently snoring can be more than a nuisance, it can also be a health risk! A new study has found that snorers are at a significantly higher risk for developing carotid artery atherosclerosis. This can lead to an increased risk for stroke.
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Sleep Apnea in Children
After coming home from the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine annual meeting in Seattle I learned some new facts about sleep apnea in children. Sleep apnea in children occurs in 1-3% of children. Enlarged tonsils and adenoids are most commonly the reason for obstruction of the airway.
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Sleep Apnea Resources
I just finished reading an informative article from the Academy of General Dentistry regarding sleep apnea and the general dentist. Here are some links for more information about sleep apnea and treatment options: American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine (AADSM): www.
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Sleep Apnea
Sleep apnea is a topic of much discussion in medicine and dentistry recently. Sleep apnea occurs when a person stops breathing while sleeping, causing oxygen to not get into the blood. The gold standard for sleep apnea treatment is a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) device.
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