There are three types of sleep apnea: Obstructive, Central and Mixed. The word apnea comes from the Greek roots a and pnea. " a " means without and " pnea " means breathing. A patient with a lung infection has pnemonia. Apnea means without breathing. A patient with any kind of sleep apnea stops breathing a number of times while sleeping. It's like dying several times a night and can sometimes occur hundreds of time each night for as long as a minute. Each time thepatient stops breathing, the patient's brain gets alarmed and arouses the patient so as to start breathing again. The patient does not wake up but these constant alarms ruin the sleep apnea patient's sleep quality.

          The three types of sleep apnea are different but they have many of the same symptoms. They include loud snoring, obesity, morning headaches, gasping for air while asleep, not breathing while asleep, anxiety, irritability & short temper, lack of concentration, forgetfulness, disorientation at awakening, loss of sexual interest, waking up gasping for air, sleep sweating, dry mouth upon awakening, heartburn, frequent urination at night, insomnia, depression, mood and/or behavioral changes, and finally, trouble staying awake during the day.

          Of the different types of sleep apnea, Obstructive is the most successfully treated by a sleep apnea dentist. Since the most common cause of this disorder is the tongue falling back into the throat, a dental sleep apnea device can usually be effective in preventing this problem. The dentist should work closely with the patient's physician to confirm OSA with a sleep study. Once confirmed, there is a good chance that the appliance can help. However, making an appliance for a patient with Central Sleep Apnea would probably be ineffective.

          If the dental sleep apnea device is successful, the patient feels much better. Interestingly, the OSA patient's sleeping partner often feels better because the appliance often also eliminates the snoring associated with so many of these patient's problems. If you have a sleep apnea problem and are interested in how the different types of sleep apnea can be treated, consider scheduling a consultation with Dr. Padolsky, our sleep apnea dentist, by calling 404-874-7428.