Airway Orthodontics: Breathe Easy and Improve Your Smile
Ever been woken by your alarm only to feel like you haven’t slept at all, with brain fog or a headache? What if I told you may have an airway sleep disorder (ASD) – like sleep apnea?
Ever been woken by your alarm only to feel like you haven’t slept at all, with brain fog or a headache? What if I told you may have an airway sleep disorder (ASD) – like sleep apnea?
You had a dental x-ray years ago but during your last check-up, your dentist recommended a cone beam CT scan (CBCT). So why the change?
The American Dental Association recently came out with a Statement on Breathing Related Sleep Disorders (BRSD) recommending that dentists monitor the effectiveness of oral appliance therapy (OAT) with home sleep testing.
Clenching or bruxism have recently been linked to sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea. Because of these new findings, The American College of Prosthodontics recommends that dentists screen for Sleep Related Breathing Disorder (SRBD) in all patients who clench or will undergo restorative dentistry.
As a result of the retracted narrow face of the human today, over 50% of the population has airway pathology.
Impacting between 50 to 70 million Americans, sleep-disordered breathing is proving to be a silent health crisis. Dentists are a patient’s best hope for catching sleep-disordered breathing early and preventing chronic illnesses later in life.