Have you been struggling to stay awake at work? Has someone in your household been complaining that you are snoring more lately? Have you taken a sleep quiz that suggests you may have sleep apnea?
It’s certainly possible that you could have sleep apnea, which can cause snoring, headaches, fatigue, mood swings, and many other problems. At Central Connecticut Orofacial Pain & Sleep Medicine, we can relieve sleep apnea by opening your airway and allow you to breathe easily again.
What Do You Get in a FREE Consultation?
It’s important you get the information you need to make the best possible decision about your treatment. One of the main goals of your consultation is to help you understand your condition and your options.
We offer a consultation for free because our mission is to relieve pain and improve our patients’ quality of life. We don’t want people to avoid potentially very important services—which can be as simple as a mouthguard—because of money worries. At a free consultation, you can learn what you need to without being concerned about the cost.
Dr. Hollinger will have a friendly discussion with you about your history and symptoms. You’ll be able to tell him anything you’re concerned about so that you don’t have any unaddressed fears about the treatment. He’ll also examine your sleep history and/or medical history, if you have them.
Dr. Hollinger will also perform his own examination of your airway. This will give him information about possible obstructions there and help him determine what treatment should work for you. Of course, the doctor will also discuss treatment options with you, in the event that you do have obstructive sleep apnea.
Sleep Studies
Dr. Hollinger can recommend a sleep study or other tests and refer you to a sleep center or doctor. This is to make sure you get a formal diagnosis for sleep apnea, which will help you in several ways, including possibly getting support from your insurance.
You might just snore a little, and that is all right. However, we’d like to rule out obstructive sleep apnea—a condition in which your airway is partially blocked during the night and you temporarily stop breathing.
What happens during a sleep study? You will either:
Be given a home sleep monitoring device. This will record your nighttime breathing, heart rate, and some other vital signs. It will likely be a device approved by the FDA for this purpose. This information will be interpreted by a sleep doctor.
Go to a sleep study center. You will be monitored by specialists while you sleep there. Devices will gather even more information, which can be evaluated quickly for the patterns associated with sleep apnea.
Of course, we’ll refer you to professionals who we have worked with before and who we trust. Most cases are obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), which is caused by a physical partial blockage in the airway and is easily treated. Relatively few cases are central sleep apnea, in which the breathing signal from the brain is interrupted.
Treatment for Sleep Apnea
If you have a diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea, you can begin treatment with Dr. Hollinger as soon as possible. Our dental devices are excellent at opening the airway, relieving snoring, and increasing your oxygen and improving rest throughout each night.
A store-bought night guard is not customized enough to provide this relief. Dentists are the obvious choice for creating personalized dental appliances. We are experienced at taking accurate dental impressions, having custom appliances made, and making sure they fit correctly on your teeth.
These appliances can move your jaw in just the right way so that the tissues in your mouth, such as your tongue and soft palate, have more space between them. This prevents them from vibrating, which causes snoring, interruptions to airflow, and poor sleep quality.
Plus, many patients prefer these devices over a CPAP machine, which pushes air past obstructions using a mask placed on your face every night. An oral appliance is more comfortable and portable than a CPAP machine—plus it is silent compared to the whirring of the CPAP pump all night.
Call for a FREE Consultation and Snoring Relief
Sleep apnea can happen to anyone. It may be caused by ordinary changes in the body that occur over time. Patients of all ages can get it for many reasons, including genetics.
If you’re suffering from unrestful sleep, headaches, fatigue, mood swings, or other symptoms of sleep apnea, call Dr. Hollinger today for a free sleep apnea consultation. We’re excited to get to know you and offer our help for pain relief. Contact us today for an appointment.