If you often experience facial soreness or occasionally have trouble opening and closing your mouth, you might have a problem with the TMJ (temporomandibular joint) that connects your lower jaw to the rest of your skull. A TMJ disorder can occur for any number of reasons, but you might be surprised to learn that in many cases, it’s connected to a sleep disorder. The following post explores the often-overlooked connection between TMJ and sleep apnea.
(more…)
Sleep apnea is a serious condition that causes you to lose sleep night after night. Over time, that sleep deficit can have seriously negative impacts on your overall health – like increasing your risk of heart disease and diabetes as well as making it more likely that you will experience a serious car accident. Treatment is available for sleep apnea, but do you really need to seek professional help? In most cases, the answer is yes – but keep reading to learn about some ways that you can lessen the effects of sleep apnea, and how to know when treatment is right.
Sleep apnea is a condition that is characterized by the collapse of soft tissues in the mouth and throat during sleep. The collapse blocks the proper flow of air, causing the sufferer to briefly wake in order to resume breathing. Loud, chronic snoring is also common. A person with this condition may wake up hundreds of times per night without realizing it. All that they may notice is a groggy, fatigued feeling the next day – and every day after that.
If you have sleep apnea, there are several things you can do to improve the condition. They include:
If you try the above tips and still can’t seem to regain your restful eight hours, then it may be time to reach out to a professional for diagnosis and treatment. Today’s solutions to sleep apnea, like oral appliance therapy, are more convenient and effective than ever.
You deserve to enjoy all the benefits of a great night’s sleep every night! Don’t wait for sleep apnea to go away on its own – get started with a professional today.
Dr. Keane Fedosky is a highly experienced general dentist and is also a member of the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine. As such, he is the expert to turn to for help with snoring and sleep apnea. Dr. Fedosky and his team offer a range of treatments, including oral appliance therapy. To learn more about your options, contact Sleep Rehab & TMJ Treatment by phone at (972) 753-3737.
Many people think of dentists as strictly experts in teeth and gums. However, they have specialized skills and knowledge to treat all sorts of problems involving the mouth, including jaw problems. If you are suffering from persistent jaw pain, you could have temporomandibular joint disorder, also known as TMJ. Your first instinct might be to contact a doctor. However, your dentist may actually be the professional best equipped to provide relief. Keep reading to learn why you should turn to a dentist for TMJ pain.
(more…)
Your temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is the most important joint in your whole body; it’s what allows you to move and control your jaw so you can bite, chew, speak, and more. Most people don’t think twice about these daily movements—that is, until they experience jaw pain! But did you know that if you have migraines, they might be the result of TMJ disorder? However, neither of these things are chronic issues that you should have to live with. Here’s more from your sleep dentist about the connection between migraines and TMJ dysfunction.
(more…)
If you’ve recently been diagnosed with sleep apnea, you’ve probably received some nifty new mouth gear as part of your treatment! But even though this solution is incredibly helpful for patients who struggle to get a good night’s rest, you might be having some difficulties with the adjustment process. There’s nothing to worry about, though—it can take time for your body to get used to a new oral appliance. But once it does, you’ll immediately notice a difference in the quality of your sleep. Here’s what you need to know about oral appliances so you can better adjust to yours.
(more…)
Your temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is located on either side of your face, connecting your jaw to your skull. It allows you to perform simple movements needed for everyday life, like chewing and speaking. You probably never spent too much time thinking about the joint until it started giving you problems. Clicking, popping, and recurring jaw pain are common signs of TMJ disorder. Although the symptoms may not seem too alarming, TMJ pain can turn into a big problem quickly. Here are 5 risks of not treating TMD.
It’s easy to write off a little bit of jaw pain. You may consider it mild and continually put seeking help lower and lower on your to-do list. Maybe you don’t think there is any valid treatment for your jaw pain. Whatever the reason, it’s important to seek assistance for your jaw pain sooner than later. TMJ is a serious disorder that can evolve into other issues over time.
What Symptoms to Look For
You may be experiencing one of these symptoms, or you may experience several of them. Either way, TMJ can get worse over time, so if you have even the slightest problem on the list below, it may be time to consult with a professional.
There are also signals that you may develop TMJ. It may be worth booking an appointment if you grind or clench your teeth, as this can lead to TMJ dysfunction. And not to worry – not every solution is surgical. At Sleep Rehab, all of our TMJ appliances are non-surgical and non-invasive.
Remember: It’s never too early to find solutions for TMJ, but it can be too late. Be ahead of the problem and schedule a visit with Sleep Rehab today.
Sleep is arguably the most important activity to allow our bodies to function at the highest ability, so it should be startling that 50 to 70 million adults in the U.S. are affected by a sleep disorder (American Sleep Association [ASA], 2021). Even more shocking, 25 million of those Americans are diagnosed with Obstructive Sleep Apnea, also known as OSA. Not receiving the proper amount of sleep is a nationwide issue.
Uncontrolled, there are a lot of health risks associated with Sleep Apnea including heart attacks, high blood pressure, and stroke, just to name a few. Aside from those, drowsiness during the day can affect your life in negative ways. When exhausted, you can’t work at your highest potential, you’re irritable around family and friends, and you put your physical health on the backburner. Shouldn’t there be a magic pill to make all of this go away?
Medication is generally used to treat issues that can change physiologically in your body like high blood pressure, cholesterol, and infection. Unfortunately, you can’t anatomically alter your existing body parts with medication. In the case of Sleep Apnea, your narrow airway is the problem, and only devices and surgery can assist with opening up this passageway.
We wish there was a magic pill for Sleep Apnea as much as everyone else. But until that happens (if ever!) we’re going to have to rely on the cutting edge techniques at Sleep Rehab. We offer a variety of products that we tailor to you to make sleeping as effortless as possible, without requiring invasive surgery or heavy machinery. Contact us today for a consultation and start sleeping better.
The temporomandibular joints (TMJ) are defined by Johns Hopkins Medicine as “the 2 joints that connect your lower jaw to your skull. More specifically, they are the joints that slide and rotate in front of each ear, and consist of the mandible (the lower jaw) and the temporal bone (the side and base of the skull).”
As you can tell, these are complex joints that can cause complex issues, which we call Temporomandibular disorders (TMD). These disorders of the jaw and muscle can cause intense facial pain. And usually, this doesn’t just happen overnight. These issues can appear as a result of activities and changes over time, beginning as early as our teens.
Teens and TMJ
Any stressor on the jaw can contribute to TMD. This can be processed foods, high-impact sports like football or cheerleading, and chewing on pen caps or gum. These activities push our jaw backward, which puts stress on the joint, causing tension until our late teens or 20s when the jaw reaches adult size.
Adults and TMJ
Between demanding jobs and daily obligations, adult life can be stressful. For the people that didn’t begin to develop TMD as a teen, the start of TMD can happen from teeth grinding and clenching, causing the jaw to misalign. Car accidents, falls and facial trauma can all be causes of TMD development as well.
Environmental Evolution
Another interesting consideration is that TMD is likely a cause of the industrial revolution. Our teeth and jaws have shifted and changed as a result of how our diets and accents have evolved over time.
Whether you started developing TMD in your early life or as an adult, there are solutions. Contact Sleep Rehab today to request an appointment to help relieve your facial pain!
In the last few decades, scientists have concluded that there is a relationship between having Sleep Apnea (with the most common being Obstructive Sleep Apnea or OSA) and having Hypertension. But before we get into what that is, let’s talk about what each disease is.
According to the definition from the Mayo Clinic, “Sleep apnea is a potentially serious sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts.”
The definition of hypertension, also from the Mayo Clinic, “High blood pressure (hypertension) is a common condition in which the long-term force of the blood against your artery walls is high enough that it may eventually cause health problems, such as heart disease.”
So how does a disorder that has to do with breathing affect high blood pressure? Research indicates that patients who have sleep apnea are more likely to develop high blood pressure at some point in the future.
Research done by Johns Hopkins Hospital School of Public Health studied more than 6,000 adult men and women age 40 or older. Sleep Apnea was confirmed in participants by using polysomnography, which records brain waves, heart waves, blood oxygen levels, and breathing rate while a person sleeps. Participants were connected to a sleep monitor, and the average number of breathing pauses per hour of sleep was used to measure the severity of Sleep Apnea.
The results of the study showed that people with more than 30 pauses per hour of sleep were more than twice as likely to suffer from high blood pressure than those with no breathing pauses. An increased risk of high blood pressure was found even at moderate levels of sleep apnea. Since sleep apnea is more common in overweight individuals–who are already at a higher risk of high blood pressure–additional statistical analyses were conducted to control for body weight and waist circumference. Even after controlling for these variables, however, sleep apnea was associated with an increased frequency of high blood pressure.
When you come to Sleep Rehab, we’ll give you a sleep test to determine whether or not you have Sleep Apnea through studying your breathing patterns. Once we determine your sleep issues, we can create a customized oral appliance for you, which will eliminate or reduce the effects of your sleep apnea and may help you avoid the life-threatening consequences of hypertension and other conditions. Book an appointment today!
