Sleep Dentistry Epping

If snoring has been causing sleepless nights to you (or your partner), a visit to the dentist could be in order. Snoring and sleeplessness are often signs of sleep apnoea, and the problem could actually be your oral health.

The good news is the solution is in your oral health too. The experienced team at Serenity Smiles Dental offers the option of sleep dentistry in Epping, and can assist you with a treatment plan.

Sleep Dentistry Epping

If snoring has been causing sleepless nights to you (or your partner), a visit to the dentist could be in order. Snoring and sleeplessness are often signs of sleep apnoea, and the problem could actually be your oral health.

The good news is the solution is in your oral health too. The experienced team at Serenity Smiles Dental offers the option of sleep dentistry in Epping, and can assist you with a treatment plan.

What Is Sleep Apnoea?

Sleep apnoea causes your breathing to be interrupted during your sleep. This manifests in pauses in your breathing and the pauses can vary in duration, and can occur repeatedly throughout the night.

The breathing interruptions can be caused by a number of different reasons

● Your tongue is too big for your mouth
● The muscles in the back of your throat obstruct breathing
● Your jaw is too small

Ultimately, though, the breathing interruptions happen when your airways are blocked, and this restricts oxygen flow to the rest of your body. The interruption causes you to wake up, even if it’s just momentarily and you aren’t always even aware of being woken. The end result is poor quality sleep and the fatigue, irritability and memory loss that usually accompany it.

What’s The Connection With Oral Health?

One of the earliest signs you have sleep apnoea is tooth grinding, and it’s often your dentist who picks it up first. Constant grinding can result in damage to your teeth, as they wear each other away. It can also cause receding and swollen gums. Sometimes this can even cause an increase in cavities in your mouth, as the damage from grinding makes them more susceptible to decay.

The grinding in turn, can lead to more sleeplessness because when your jaw tenses and you grind your teeth your brain tries to wake you up in order to breathe.

Your dentist will probably be able to see other evidence of sleep apnoea in your mouth. If your tongue is scalloped around the edges or you have redness or inflammation in your throat, these are indications that you are grinding in your sleep.

Other Signs Of Sleep Apnoea

If you snore and experience some of these symptoms you may have sleep apnoea:

● Daytime fatigue
● Poor memory
● Obesity
● Night sweats
● Headaches in the morning
● High blood pressure

If your dentist is not satisfied making a diagnosis on your symptoms alone he or she might request you to have a sleep study done.

How Can Sleep Apnoea Be Treated?

At Serenity Smiles Dental we can assist you with an oral appliance that repositions your jaw so that your tongue is not pushed against the back of your throat when you sleep.

We will take a cast of your mouth and bite, and then create an appliance for your unique shape. When you visit again you can try it out and we will adjust it to your comfort.

There’s no reason that sleeplessness or snoring should be keeping you awake at night. There is an efficient solution. Contact our friendly team in Epping to find out more about sleep dentistry: (02) 9158 6753