Hello Everyone
I hope this blog finds everyone well. Today I had the distinct pleasure of speaking with the wonderful marketing team at 1st Class Sleep Diagnostics. Bawa Dentistry is so fortunate to have them right upstairs from us because we share a common goal. That is, we hope to have our patients breathing adequately while sleeping. You may ask why is this important. Well, sleep apnea and other sleep related breathing disorders can be associated with health issues like cardiovascular disease and diabetes. For children with sleep-related breathing disorders, one might see attention deficit disorder, bed-wetting and teeth grinding.
Now the marketing group at 1st Class visited the office and wanted an overview on our philosophy re dentistry and it’s relationship to sleep. The other Dr. Bawa (Dr. Bobby Bawa) and I described what we typically see upon patient presentation that leads us to believe that perhaps a patient is suffering from a sleep-related breathing disorder. Patients indicate snoring, sleep apnea, low energy, difficulty concentrating, headaches etc. There are several dental signs as well like teeth grinding, enlarged tonsils, and bite issues just to name a few. When we note things such as these, we typically refer patients to the Ear. Nose and Throat Doctor (Otolaryngologist) or directly to Sleep Study. From here, we, along with the other practitioners determine which is the best route to help our patient. Dental appliances and CPAP type machines usually are the first line as they are not so invasive compared to surgery.
Although, dental appliances are helpful in improving airway, we did share with the folks at 1st Class that we are Neuromuscular Dentists and sometimes Neuromuscular intervention can be helpful especially for those patients who have a collapsed bite and need their bite to be reopened so as to allow for better airway hence better sleep quality. How do we do this you ask? We relax the muscles of the face and neck using a TENS machine. Here’s Davith from 1st Class being hooked up to a TENS machine by Dr. Bobby
After being relaxed for about an hour – we find the patient’s ideal bite and fabricate an appliance to the new bite. Finally after wearing the appliance for several months, we can either construct your teeth to the new bite or do braces to move your teeth into this new relaxed position.
If you need to find out more information about this, just call or email. If you think you may be suffering from poor quality sleep, let us know – we can get you the help you need.
Until next time