Sleep Apnea:

Sleep apnea is a common sleep disorder that affects more than twelve million Americans, according to the National Institutes of Health. Untreated, sleep apnea can cause high blood pressure, other cardiovascular disease, memory problems, weight gain, impotency, and headaches. Untreated sleep apnea may be responsible for job impairment and motor vehicle crashes. Fortunately, sleep apnea can be diagnosed and treated.

Treatment:

Four years ago I became involved with the treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). As I observed and trained it became apparent to me that there were few treatment options and most had limited success. So I set out to find the best method of helping people with this condition. I found I could believe in two treatment approaches. The CPAP and the dental appliance.

CPAP:

The CPAP (continuous positive air pressure) machine is the most effective treatment. It delivers pressurized air forcing the patient’s obstructed airway to open and allow airflow to the lungs ensuring the patient maintains healthy oxygen levels throughout their sleep.

Unfortunately, many patient’s reject the CPAP because of it’s awkwardness. Many patient’s find the face mask claustrophobic or the constant sound of the motor disturbing. Spouses complain of air leaking from the mask blowing in their faces. All too often the patient’s CPAP machine goes into the nether-reaches of a closet and is long forgotten.

Dental Appliances:

While CPAP remains my first choice of treatment, there is an alternative for those who cannot tolerate the machine. Using a small dental appliance that looks similar to an orthodontic retainer, sleep apnea can be dramatically reduced.

Traditional Dental Appliances:

In past, dental appliances were only moderately effective, if at all. The primary action of the appliance was moving the lower jaw, forward forcing the airway open. This approach not only led to limited results but also potential irritation of the TM joint (a delicate jaw joint located in the ear area). I reviewed all the appliances available and discarded them as feasible treatment options. The risks vs. benefit just wasn’t acceptable for my patients.

New Research and Dental Appliance Breakthrough:

New clinical research is showing that the key to mild and moderate OSA is the tongue. As the body relaxes the tongue falls back and blocks the airway, causing the upper airway to collapse.Armed with this information I went searching for an appliance that would address the issue of the tongue and I found it. A new design that was so unique it earned it’s own patent and so effective it received FDA approval for OSA treatment. It is the only design I have found that successfully targets the tongue and only minimally moves the jaw. More benefits with lower risks. Today I am treating my OSA patients with fantastic success!

Complete Treatment Facility:

After watching and studying the field, I decided to dedicate my career to helping patients with OSA by creating a comprehensive treatment center. In a combined office setting we have a certified sleep study center, a CPAP distributor and customized dental appliance (CPAP Alternative) treatment program.

About 37 percent of American adults ages 30-69 have at least mild OSA. In a sleep apnea cycle, breathing stops, blood oxygen levels drop, and the person wakes briefly gasping for breath. This continues hundreds of times throughout the night. Apnea is classified as a complete cessation of breathing. Each episode of sleep apnea lasts a minimum of 10 seconds

What causes this high prevalence of sleep disordered breathing in baby boomers? It’s not just because they are ‘boomers’; rather, it is due to the continued changes of growing older. Changes in airway anatomy occur with age. The soft palate gets longer, the pharyngeal fat pads increase in size, and the shape of bony structures around the pharyngeal airway change. All of these contribute to the increased prevalence of sleep apnea in baby boomers.

being overweight increases sleep disordered breathing

Football legend Reggie White, a defensive end for the Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles, is regarded as one of the NFL’s greatest players. He died from complications related to sleep apnea and sarcoidosis at age 43.

Sleep apnea has an insidious and damaging impact on a person’s health. It makes patients feel chronically tired, erodes their quality of life and impairs their ability to perform safety-critical tasks, such as driving a car. It also heightens the risk of high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes. Untreated sleep apnea causes accidents and illness, undermines a person’s effectiveness in the workplace and imposes large burdens on the healthcare system.

While hypothyroidism is more prevalent in female baby boomers, male boomers with constant fatigue are more likely to be suspects of sleep apnea – although 80 to 90 percent of those who are go undiagnosed. As many as three million middle-aged men don’t know they have this chronic upper airway obstruction during sleep, usually associated with loud snoring.

Many people long to die peacefully in their sleep, their heart stopping while they dream and snore. But reality is different: Heart attack deaths actually hit their nadir at night, and peak between sunrise and noon.

The exception is people who suffer from sleep apnea. New research shows that they are far more likely to die in their sleep.
The new research, published in today’s edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, involved 112 Minnesota residents, diagnosed with sleep apnea, who died suddenly of heart-related causes. Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn

Researchers found that more than half the sleep apnea sufferers died between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. In the general population, this was the time people were least likely to die of cardiac-related problems.

The literature suggests up to 80 per cent of people with sleep apnea don’t have a clue what’s going on,

Research shows that a neck circumference greater than 16 inches in a woman and 17 inches in a man correlates with an increased risk for the disorder, said Dr. Robert Gunnink, medical director of REM Medical and a board-certified sleep medicine and neurology specialist.

For More Information and a FREE audio click here “Sleep Apnea-The Not So Silent Killer”

My name is Dr. Jonathan Greenburg.

There are many researchers that are convinced that Sleep Apnea and Snoring are serious signs of other health risks such as heart disease, strokes and traffic accidents.

This site is being developed to educate people of these risks.