When you fall into slumber each night, you are resting up your body and giving it the relaxation it needs to function at full capacity the following day. If your night is filled with tossing, turning and waking up due to snoring, whether from yourself or your partner, this process of rejuvenating your body can be interrupted, causing you both short and potentially long-term health distress. While not all snoring is dangerous, in severe and frequent cases it may be a sign of sleep apnea.

This is a condition that still remains significantly underdiagnosed and therefore undertreated because many people consider their snoring habits normal. However, when snoring actually causes an obstruction of your airways, you leave your body without oxygen for a significant period of time, which can put undue stress on your system and cause you to gag and gasp for air. This gagging and gasping can exhaust your body, even if you do not wake up from it, and cause you to awake the following morning feeling tired, groggy and tense. As these symptoms progress over the long term, they can lead to hypertension and behavioral changes, which can directly impact your quality of life.

Sleep apnea dentistry is the solution. By seeing a specialized dentist, patients can be treated and ultimately get a better night’s rest while breathing normally. Here are a few ways this form of dentistry can help.

• Specialized appliances – Once you have seen a specialist and they have determined that you do suffer from this condition, you will likely receive an oral splint or appliance. These devices work by bringing the jaw forward, which ultimately lowers the tongue, reducing the possibility for an obstruction of breathing. Patients who wear these tend to adjust very quickly and experience very little, if any, discomfort at night.

• Continuous Positive Airflow Pressure (CPAP) – In moderate or severe cases, a breathing machine is used to help deliver a continuous airflow throughout the night. Air is typically sent through the nose and works as a splint to keep passageways clear and patients breathing normally. However, because of the pressure from the air, many patients find this device uncomfortable and difficult to wear. In these cases, this treatment may be used in conjunction with others.

• Surgical intervention – Very severe cases sometimes require surgery to improve the patient’s ability to breathe normally while they rest. Various types of surgeries are available to help clear the passageways and allow the patient to sleep without an appliance.

This disorder is one that should not go ignored. While it may initially appear not to be dangerous, it has the potential to cause long-term effects that can be harmful to a person’s health if left untreated.