Daniel Solin has written a detailed and quite useful tips titled as “Secrets your dentist doesn’t want you to know” and one of these extremely useful tip is about sleep apnea. Going to the dentist may seem like a mundane chore, but it can quickly become an expensive one. Here’s what you need to know to get the most for your money when shopping for dental care.

The most common form of sleep apnea is caused by a blockage of the airway during sleep. It is a pretty scary condition. The patient can stop breathing hundreds of times during the night.A common treatment for sleep apnea is Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP). CPAP involves blowing pressurized room air through the airway at high enough pressure to keep the airway open. Many patients find it difficult to adjust to this device and want to avoid surgery, which is another treatment option. As an alternative, your dentist, working with your physician, can custom make a device that guides the lower jaw forward, called a mandibular advancement device or MAD. MAD devices are more comfortable to wear and the compliance rates are much higher than using CPAP.

If you have (or suspect you have) sleep apnea, here are some questions to ask your dentist:

Are you a member of the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine?

Do you regularly attend the annual meeting of the Academy?

Do you work with Ear, Nose and Throat physicians and sleep physicians, where appropriate?

You can also call sleep centers and ask them what dentists they refer to in your area.

Sleep Apnea is potentially a very serious medical condition. It is important to do careful due diligence before you select a dentist to treat it. (Read the complete post…)