Common Surgeries On Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is a rather common yet often undiagnosed condition wherein there are instances of shallow or infrequent breathing during sleep. This condition causes a trouble in your sleep, resulting in fatigue or even drowsiness during the day.

Managing Sleep Apnea

There are two primary goals of treating sleep apnea. The first is to bring back regular inhaling and exhaling during sleep, and the second is to avoid loud snoring (a common symptom of the disorder) and daytime sleepiness.

Exactly how Sleep Apnea Can Be Handled

Lifestyle Change

If you have a mild case of sleep apnea, a life-style change may be all that you will need to treat this problem.

Some of the lifestyle adjustments you can make include:

Staying away from alcohol and the intake of sleeping tablets
Stopping the nasty habit of cigarette smoking
Losing weight
Sleeping on your side instead of on your back as the latter can make it harder for your throat to stay open while you sleep

Mouthpieces

A mouthpiece, also known as an oral appliance, is another remedy for a mild case of sleep apnea. Doctors would also suggest you wear a mouthpiece if you snore loudly even if you dont have sleep apnea.

In the therapy of sleep apnea, you will be wearing a Custom-fit plastic mouthpiece that is specially designed to adjust your tongue and lower jaw to keep your breathing passages open while youre sleeping.

Continuous Positive Airway Pressure or CPAP

This sort of remedy arrives with the use of CPAP masks. The mask is used over the mouth or nose while you sleep. It is connected to a machine that supplies a steady flow of oxygen, which passes from the device to the mask through a tube.

CPAP is the one sleep apnea treatment that is most suggested by physicians.

Surgery

The more invasive alternative of surgery for sleep apnea is performed on patients with a deviated septum, smaller lower jaw with an overbite, or enlarged tonsils that narrow the inhaling and exhaling passages.

Surgery to correct the causes of sleep apnea involves shrinking, stiffening, or removing excess tissue, or resetting the lower jaw to widen air passages.

The three most common surgeries performed on sleep apnea patients are the following:

Nasal Surgery to correct a deviated septum
Mandibular maxillar advancement surgery to remove throat obstructions
Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty to remove extra tissue on the back of the palate and throat