If you are suffering from sleep apnea, your number one concern is getting treatment so that you can finally rest. What are your treatment options? How successful are they? Which one is best for you? Today, Dr. Jeff Rodgers is going to answer each of these questions by going over all of the possible treatment options for sleep apnea in Dunwoody.
1. CPAP Therapy
CPAP stands for Continuous Positive Airway Pressure, and it is usually the first recommended treatment option for people with moderate or severe sleep apnea. CPAP therapy involves a patient wearing a facemask that is connected to a machine that pumps air into their throat throughout the night, preventing it from becoming blocked. While many people benefit from CPAP therapy, it does not work for everyone, as some people find the machine to be very loud and uncomfortable.
2. Surgery
In some cases, your doctor may recommend surgery to correct your sleep apnea, especially in cases where it is being caused in part by large tonsils or adenoids. Many people find this approach a little too invasive, and it does not address many other causes of sleep apnea.
3. Oral Appliance Therapy
For oral appliance therapy, you would wear a customized mouthguard to bed that would gently position your jaw in such a way that your throat could not become obstructed. This is an ideal solution for people with moderate sleep apnea, or those who are CPAP intolerant. There are a variety of oral appliances that can be suited to fit anyone’s dental structure, and they have shown to be 90% effective in improving the sleep quality for people who use them consistently. They are quiet, easy to use, and often are the simplest way to help people finally rest.
4. Combined Therapy
This method combines CPAP therapy and oral appliance therapy. As opposed to wearing a mask that covers the nose and mouth like with traditional CPAP therapy, combined therapy only utilizes a nose mask, which is much more comfortable for many people. This is worn in tandem with an oral appliance, and is an ideal solution for people who do not get complete results from either treatment on their own. It offers the effectiveness of CPAP therapy with the comfort of oral appliance therapy, creating a solution that can be tailored to just about anyone.
Which One is Right For Me?
This will be entirely dependent on your particular situation and your doctor. Make sure that their office offers access to all of these methods, as some have preferred treatment plans despite there being no such thing as a “one-size-fits-all” approach to treating sleep apnea.
If you are seeking treatment for sleep apnea, Dr. Rodgers works with many qualified local sleep doctors who are familiar with all of these treatment methods, so you can trust that you will get the exact one that is right for you.
If you have any questions about any of these treatments, or want to know how you can get them, please give our office a call today.