Sleep Apnoea is a sleep breathing disorder that is characterised by repetitive pauses in breathing during sleep. Pauses occur several times per hour and last for over 10 seconds. As the blood-oxygen levels decrease, the brain awakens the individual which often leads to a loud gasp or snort. Sleep apnoea is associated with snoring, witnessed pauses in breathing, and excessive daytime sleepiness.
Sleep apnoea is usually a chronic condition with most people having sleep apnoea for years before being diagnosed. When breathing appears to stop or becomes shallow, the sleeper comes out of a deep sleep and moves to a light sleep or awakens. This results in poor quality sleep, resulting in excessive daytime sleepiness.
Sleep Apnoea can be very serious when untreated because –
There’s an increased risk of heart attack, high blood pressure, obesity, stroke, and diabetes;
It makes irregular heartbeats, or arrhythmias, much more likely;
It increases the risk of heart failure; and
There’s a greater risk of having a driving incident, or work-related accident.
There are several treatment options for sleep apnoea. One of the options is the oral appliance. Currently, there are approximately 200 different oral appliances available worldwide. We concentrate on using 3 of these appliances to give an effective range of treatments at a level of cost to suit most patients.
Also called Mandibular Advancement Devices (MAD), these sleep apnoea mouth pieces are custom made by us to conform to the specific shape of the patient’s teeth and mouth. Not only do they work against sleep apnoea, they are also effective in treating snoring.
If you, or your partner, suffer from apnoea or snoring, give us a call on 051 421453 to arrange a consultation about your treatment options.
