A healthy night’s sleep is the key to an active and vigorous life. There is no other way to “compete” with sleep in replenishing our body’s energy reserves because the processes of recovery and regeneration in the body in a state of sleep are truly unique.
Unfortunately, sometimes a good rest is not available. And the reason for this is not noisy neighbors or an abundance of work but annoying snoring. And if he returns with enviable regularity, then the treatment of snoring is a necessary measure.
Although snoring is usually considered an unpleasant but harmless sound phenomenon, it is far from being as harmless as it seems. And it’s not just that snoring disrupts the ordinary course of sleep, preventing you from thoroughly relaxing and resting. Treatment of snoring is necessary for other, more compelling reasons.
The feeling of weakness and fatigue that does not leave during the day after a restless night filled with snoring is already a problem, but the main danger is the so-called “night sleep apnea”. This disorder of respiratory function implies short-term pauses in breathing during sleep. A similar phenomenon is observed in many people around the planet.
The causes of snoring can be very different – functional changes in the muscles of the pharyngeal ring, chronic nasal congestion, and anatomical obstacles of a separate order.
The leading cause of sleep apnea is the collapse of the upper airways on inhalation. During the deep phase of sleep, the relaxation of the pharyngeal muscles is maximum. The patient suffering from OSAS cannot breathe for a while. At this time, adrenaline is released against hypoxia, and the brain micro-awakens. The brain resumes control over the respiratory muscles and the muscles of the pharynx, breathing normalizes, and the cycle can be repeated in the future.
At the same time, among the factors affecting the development of sleep apnea, there can be both endocrine disorders and hereditary diseases, age-related changes, smoking, overweight, and many other reasons. Therefore, no one is immune from snoring.
Sleep apnea is a bad ally. A violation of human sleep cycles impairs memory and intellectual abilities. It can cause impotence and the development of chronic ailments. Snoring attacks cause hypoxia and related disruptions in the normal functioning of various organs, and high blood pressure increases the risk of stroke or heart attack.
One of the directions in the treatment of snoring is the surgical correction of the altered anatomy of the nasal cavity, oropharynx, and laryngopharynx. And only the next step, as a rule, is an intervention on the soft palate. If necessary, these interventions can be performed simultaneously. This type of treatment is aimed at eliminating the cause of the disease.
So, conditionally, we can distinguish two directions in snoring and sleep apnea surgical treatment.
The first is soft palate correction using high-energy techniques – laser, radio wave exposure to the soft palate. This also includes techniques aimed at increasing the tone of the tissues of the soft palate – submucosal tunneling of the soft palate, including the use of silicone or polyethylene palatal implants, the installation of implants in the soft palate, etc.
The second direction is treatment aimed at eliminating nose, and pharynx pathologies, which can lead to snoring and obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. These are corrections of the nasal septum, turbinates, and sinuses and elimination of the nasopharynx, oropharynx, and larynx pathology.
A separate direction in treating snoring and sleep apnea can be considered simultaneous operations performed with maxillofacial surgeons and dentists.
These surgical interventions are performed under anesthesia, which is applied through a mask. The rehabilitation period lasts no more than two weeks. During this time, the patient must exclude certain foods from the diet and limit physical activity.
If, according to the diagnostic results, doctors detect a severe form of snoring with sleep apnea, the patient may be offered alternative methods to combat snoring using intraoral splints or CPAP therapy.
CPAP therapy is a positive pressure treatment during sleep using special devices. It helps restore airway patency if obstruction occurs. The patient puts on a small mask at night, attached to a machine that creates positive pressure.
In modern medicine, many techniques help, if not wholly, get rid of snoring, then at least alleviate the patient’s condition.
First, you should contact the doctors and specialists of Aesthetical Dental. To protect your health, you do not need to follow advice from the Internet, which is not based on the principles of evidence-based medicine.
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