Snoring Treatments At Fairfax

It is estimated that more than 90 million North Americans snore. Taking into account the snorer’s spouse and children, as many as 160 million people are negatively impacted, and snoring doesn’t just interrupt your sleep cycle. The struggle for breath can result in soaring blood pressure, which can damage the walls of the carotid arteries and increase the risk of a stroke. At certain levels of severity, complete blockage of the airway space by soft tissues and the tongue can occur. If this period of asphyxiation lasts more than 10 seconds, it is called Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), a medical condition with severe long-term effects.

During sleep, muscles and soft tissue in the throat relax, shrinking the airway. This increases the velocity of airflow during breathing. As the velocity of required air is increased, soft tissues like the soft palate and uvula vibrate. The vibrations of these tissues results in “noisy breathing” or snoring.

Surgical techniques used to remove respiration-impairing structures have shown only moderate success rates of 20% to 40%. For the majority of snorers, however, the most affordable, noninvasive, comfortable and effective snoring solution remains a dentist-prescribed snore prevention device, such as Silent Nite sl.

Silent Nite sl is a custom-fabricated dental device that moves the lower jaw into a forward position, increasing space in the airway tube and reducing air velocity and soft tissue vibration. Special Slide-Link connectors are attached to transparent flexible upper and lower splints. The splints are custom laminated with heat and pressure to the dentist’s model of the mouth. The fit is excellent and comfortable, permitting small movements of the jaw (TMJ) and allowing uninhibited oral breathing.