According to a report from Reuters, for patients with severe sleep apnea, the risk of death is 46% greater than for those without sleep apnea. This statistic is not valid for patients wit
h mild to moderate sleep apnea. “Severe” assumes that the patient stops breathing about every two minutes, or 30 times per hour, while asleep. The study by Naresh Punjabi of John Hopkins University found that men in the 40-to-70 age range face the greatest risk.
For severe cases, dental appliances (sleep guards) are not listed in Dr. David Rapoport’s list of treatments. Dr. Rapoport, of New York University, worked on the John Hopkins research team. He suggests weight loss, CPAP, or surgery as treatment options. The Reuters article does, however, note a “small Canadian company, Victhom Human Biotics Inc.” is patenting a sleep apnea detection device outside of a sleep lab. It also notes Medtronic for sleep apnea appliances.
As the co-director for Dental Organization for Sleep Apnea and a course instructor for Sleep Breathing Disorders at LVI, Dr. Kent Smith recently spoke for SomnoMed in a Hawaii sleep apnea conference this month. Dr. Smith brought the point that because dentists see patients twice each year, there is a great opportunity to regularly screen for sleep apnea. As a member of Snoring Isn’t Sexy, Dr. Smith has a mission to promote sleep apnea care throughout the dental community. You can learn more about diagnosing and treating sleep apnea as a dentist by visiting these websites:
- Snoring Isn’t Sexy (www.snoringisntsexy.com)
- Dental Organization for Sleep Apnea (www.apneadocs.com)
- American Sleep Apnea Association (www.sleepapnea.org)
- American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine (www.aadsm.org)
- Dr. Kent’s Sleep Apnea Website (http://kentsmithdds.snoringisntsexy.com)
4 responses so far ↓
1 Cosmetic Dentistry // Aug 20, 2009 at 2:27 pm
It’s great to hear that a device of this kind is being engineered for those with sleep apnea, especially because of the severity of the condition (46% is a much higher probability). And, indeed, dentists should take this condition into account when seeing their patients biannually.
Great information.
2 Cosmetic Dentistry // Aug 20, 2009 at 2:27 pm
It’s great to hear that a device of this kind is being engineered for those with sleep apnea, especially because of the severity of the condition (46% is a much higher probability). And, indeed, dentists should take this condition into account when seeing their patients biannually.
Great information.
3 Cosmetic Dentistry Melbourne // Aug 21, 2009 at 10:27 pm
Sleep apnea happens more often in people who are overweight, but even thin people can have it. Most people don’t know they have sleep apnea. They don’t know that they are having problems breathing while they are sleeping.
4 Cosmetic Dentistry Melbourne // Aug 21, 2009 at 10:27 pm
Sleep apnea happens more often in people who are overweight, but even thin people can have it. Most people don’t know they have sleep apnea. They don’t know that they are having problems breathing while they are sleeping.
Leave a Comment