Snoring and sleep apnea are caused by a collapsed tongue blocking the airway during sleep, and is usually associated with small jaws.
This tongue collapse occurs when you enter a state of deep sleep and your body and tongue loses muscle tone, with the collapsed tongue falling back and obstructing the airway.
This airway obstruction prevents normal breathing and continuously wakes you during the night, often without you realising. These continuous disruptions are what lead to poor quality sleep.
The complete stoppages in breathing can last from seconds to minutes, and can occur over thirty times an hour to well over hundreds of times every night.
There are other factors that can contribute to snoring and sleep apnea, the most common of which are excess weight or obesity, but can also include allergies or chronic upper airway infection.
But any or all of these only increase of your sleep apnea, with the primary cause almost always being small jaws that produce the tongue collapse that causes airway obstruction.
Snoring and sleep apnea can lead to many serious medical conditions if left untreated.
These serious medical conditions may include a person being:
- 3 times more likely to suffer a stroke
- 2 times more likely to develop depression
- 7 times more likely to have a motor vehicle accident
- 3 times more likely to suffer a work-related injury or fatality
- At greater risk of suffering heart attack
- Likely to already have high blood pressure
- More likely to develop Type 2 Diabetes
- Almost certain to progress to obesity
The most common health issues are heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure. Extreme drowsiness through the day is common which makes you less alert and prone to injury.
Experiencing breathing difficulties through the day, particularly after exercising, indicates you likely experience some degree of airway obstruction, which only becomes more profound during sleep.
The best treatment for snoring and sleep apnea is a permanent one.
There are a variety of different treatments that can improve the symptoms of OSA and alleviate the risk of associated illnesses, including CPAP, MAS and soft tissue ENT surgeries.
However, the most effective way of permanently curing OSA is by correcting the primary cause of sleep apnea, which is almost always small jaw and facial structures.
BiMax surgery permanently opens your airway to enable normal breathing when awake and during sleep, eliminating the tongue collapse that produces airway obstruction.
Jaw surgery is a scientifically proven and a research backed means of correcting sleep apnea, with hundreds of successfully treated patients now experiencing a life free of sleep apnea.
How does CPAP therapy work?
The effectiveness of CPAP therapy is measured by the AHI score through repeat sleep studies. An AHI score is the number of times you stop breathing for periods of longer than 10 seconds during sleep.
The goal of CPAP is to reduce the AHI score by reducing the average number of apnea episodes experienced bt a person per hour while they are sleeping
However, CPAP does NOT reverse hypertension, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, or stroke risk. And, more importantly, CPAP does not cure a person of OSA.
CPAP will never give anyone a permanent AHI of 0 because a sleep study does not acknowledge or eliminate the reasons why OSA is happening in the first place.
How does MAD therapy work?
The mandibular advancement device (MAD) is offered by sleep dentists for the treatment of mild OSA . The MAD helps to push the lower and tongue forward and may help with breathing at night.
Like CPAP, the effect of the MAD can be measured by an AHI score, and a sleep physician may suggest a MAD if CPAP is unable to be tolerated in their patient.
Just like CPAP, the MAD isn't a permanent cure for OSA and may not assist in addressing daytime symptoms and complaints. Unlike CPAP, a MAD can only enable oral breathing and not nasal breathing.
And, unlike CPAP use, which doesn't have any major side effects apart from intolerance, the MAD can lead to significant jaw joint (TMJ) issues such as pain, joint clicking, and jaw muscle discomfort.
Because the MAD holds the whole bite and mandible forward, chronically it can also lead to permanent negative effects on a person’s bite and normal chewing patterns.
How does CPAP compare with MAS?
