Sleep Dentistry
How you breathe will change your life.
Based on Dr Fern White’s background in yoga and nasal breathing techniques, our team are able to advise you on issues relating to sleeping, snoring and more importantly breathing… as how you breathe shapes your life and your mouth.
Call (03) 9646 1599 for a consultation.
Normal Breathing
When you breath normally, air passes through the nose and past the flexible structures in the back of the throat such as the soft palate, uvula and tongue. Whilst you are awake, muscles hold the airway open. When you fall asleep, these muscles relax but, normally, the airway stays open.
Snoring
Snoring is the sound of obstructed breathing during sleep in which the soft tissues at the back of the throat vibrate. While snoring can be harmless (benign snoring), it can also be the sign of a more serious medical condition which progresses from upper airway resistance syndrome (UARS) to obstructive sleep apnoea. (OSA)
Sleep Apnoea
When you breath normally, air passes through the nose and past the flexible structures in the back of the throat such as the soft palate, uvula and tongue. Whilst you are awake, muscles hold the airway open. When you fall asleep, these muscles relax but, normally, the airway stays open.
Treatment
Dental Appliance Therapy is scientifically proven as the most effective and comfortable treatment for snoring as well as for mild to moderate sleep apnoea.
The main way that appliances work is by preventing the tissues at the back of the throat and the base of the tongue from collapsing back into the airway.
There are many different appliances available to dentists. They are often referred to as Mandibular Advancement Splints.
These appliances take the lower jaw forward bringing the tongue with it, thereby clearing the airway at the back of the throat.
The ideal most comfortable type of appliances are those made from impressions and models of the patient’s own teeth.
There are two basic types- non-adjustable and adjustable:
Non-adjustable – Many available appliances are non-adjustable, making the ideal forward position of the jaw a guess by the dentist.
Adjustable – An adjustable appliance is far superior because it allows the dentist, or importantly the patient, to slowly bring the lower jaw forward to the ideal mostcomfortable position to clear the airway.
Current scientific research demonstrates that the adjustable design as the most effective.
