Besides being tired, sleep apnea patients may suffer from a variety of other problems. Many are medical issues and can be labeled: "co-morbidities".

Recently I read the latest blog entry on the website www.IHateCPAP.com. I am often reading up on or studying stuff about Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). I read magazines, go to lectures and courses and visit many websites. This is one report I thought would be good to share. It was an interesting blog about a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) confirming the theory associating OSA and other sleep disorders with depression.

I am including part of the blog here:

"As part of an ongoing study, the CDC surveyed 9,714 men and women. About 6 percent of the men and 3 percent of the women who participated in the study reported having been diagnosed with OSA. Other participants had not been diagnosed with sleep apnea, but reported symptoms such as snoring, gasping for air and snorting during sleep.

Although men seem at greater risk for developing OSA than women, the study indicates that women face a higher risk for experiencing depression. Among those diagnosed with OSA, depression was more than twice as frequent among men and more than five times as common among women compared to those who did not suffer from OSA.

However, signs of depression were not linked to OSA alone. Researchers found that people whose partners reported they snored or stopped breathing occasionally during sleep were also more likely to show symptoms of depression.

The research did not establish a cause-and-effect relationship between sleep disorders and depression. The results of the study appear in the April issue of the journal Sleep". (http://ihatecpap.blogspot.com/ 4/4/2012)

There are lots of things we all deal with regularly that may have roots in a something else. If you are curious if a sleep breathing disorder may be leading to other symptoms you are facing please call us and ask for a free consultation visit to discuss the Dental Management of Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

Visit us at todaysdental.com/sleep-apnea or email me at michael@todaysdental.com for more information.

Dr. Michael Glass

When there are times you are simply too tired during the day and there just aren't any good reasons for it you may be dealing with some type of sleep disorder. Over the next several entries I will be writing about Obstructive Sleep Apnea, the complications and what other things may ail you, some different treatment choices and what we can do together as a team to help our patients manage the disease with Oral Appliance Therapy.

Please visit the Today's Dental Website to see if some of the information on the Sleep Apnea page interests or pertains to you!

OSA is considered a medical problem so the initial diagnosis needs to be made by a licensed Medical Provider, usually a Physician with a specialty of sleep medicine. The process is similar to an orthopedic patient who may need a special brace to stabilize a limb or joint during healing, often the provider of the device is not the physician diagnosing the condition. Dentists help patients manage Sleep Apnea and if properly trained and conscientious during routine visits with patients, they can often recognize patients at risk and initiate the process of medical evaluation and diagnosis. Most medical providers can’t do Oral Appliances, sometimes they have specially trained dental personnel in their office but generally physicians need to refer patients to a Dentist trained in the fabrication and use of oral devices if that is the best therapy choice.

Patients at Today’s Dental; whether initially a patient of the practice or referred in specifically for Obstructive Sleep Apnea therapy, are treated with Oral Appliance Therapy for medically diagnosed OSA.

The process is as complete as any other procedure done in our office but the method is specific for the Sleep Apnea patient. First we have a full patient evaluation visit and compile all the information needed to decide that we may be dealing with OSA and not just annoying snoring. Often our patients have completed the Secure Patient Registration form prior to the initial visit. Normally, we would discuss the disease process and the complications patients experience when dealing with OSA. We discuss the diagnostic evaluation process what can happen if no treatment is done. A discussion is often entered into at this point in the consultation of the different options available for treatment. Only then do we discuss the options available for management of Obstructive Sleep Apnea with Oral Appliance Therapy. For the sake of today’s posting, all the topics above will be discussed in future blogs. For patients without a diagnosis an overnight sleep study needs to be ordered. Usually our office will help the patient decide the best way to get a sleep study done or we can refer the patient to his or her medical team for their advice.

So we started with the STOP questions, filled out an Epworth questionnaire, decided if the need to look into Sleep Apnea solutions is warranted and discussed different options. This is the beginning; next up let's talk about the diagnostic options, some of the co-morbidities (other diseases that patients with OSA are also managing) and consequences of not treating this serious medical problem.

By the way, don't wait for a blog to get you started. If you are experiencing any of the signs or symptoms of OSA and would like to know more right away call the office now!

Dr. Michael Glass

michael@todaysdental.com

Seems like a weird question coming from your Dental Office Team, but we are deadly serious!!

As Dental Practitioners we are in a unique position to both ask the questions and understand the implications of the answers.

This office proudly offers treatment to assist patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea to manage the disease by providing Dental Sleep Medicine Services.

According to PubMed Health and A.D.A.M Medical Encyclopedia Obstructive Sleep Apnea is a condition in which the flow of air pauses or decreases during breathing while you are asleep because the airway has become narrowed blocked, or floppy.

A pause in breathing is called an apnea episode. A decrease in airflow during breathing is called a hypopnea episode. Almost everyone has brief apnea episodes while they sleep. It gets messy when the episodes are frequent and last longer.

Dr. Michael Glass has spent considerable time studying treatment options for patients dealing with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). OSA is a medical problem not a dental problem so the treatment is a dental appliance used for managing a medical disorder. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine says an oral appliance is the primary approach for treatment of patients with mild to moderate OSA and is to be employed when patients with severe and very severe OSA have tried and are non-compliant with traditional CPAP therapy.

It has become my opinion that every dental patient should be screened for signs of OSA. A simple screening, consisting of four questions, starts the process. They are the easy questions of the STOP screening method: 1) Do you Snore? 2) Are you frequently Tired during the day? 3) Has anyone ever Observed that you stop breathing during sleep? 4) Is your blood Pressure elevated? Listen for the questions and try to answer accurately.

The screening process is not a test. There are lots of ways you can answer the questions. This is a tool that we can use to determine if further evaluation may be indicated.

So what?

Having and not treating OSA can be a life altering situation.

If you or someone you know is dealing with OSA or if you have any general questions, just ask us! You are also welcome to leave a comment below and I will get back to you.

Meanwhile stay tuned to this blog. Over the next several entries I will provide more information about OSA, the complications and co-morbidities, treatment modalities and what we can do together as a team to help our patients manage the disease. And by the way stay alert...the STOP screening is coming!

- Dr. Michael Glass