How are you sleeping these days? While we hope you’re sleeping well and waking feeling refreshed and ready to face the day, we’re asking a slightly different question. How are you sleeping these days? Maybe it’s not a fair question. Here’s a tip. If you sleep with a partner, ask them.
Ask them if they’ve ever noticed that you stop breathing as you sleep, or if they think you’re grinding your teeth or clenching your jaw. As many 5,400,000Canadians suffer from sleep apnea that causes them to intermittently stop breathing. Approximately eight percent of Canadian adults and 14% of Canadian kids experience sleep bruxism, a condition where you clench your jaw and grind your teeth. Many, many of those Canadians with sleep apnea and sleep bruxism don’t even realize they have these conditions until it’s pointed out to them by a sleeping partner or until the mystifying (to them) symptoms become so debilitating that they mention them to a doctor or dentist.
Symptoms of sleep apnea and sleep
bruxism in adults
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Untreated and persistent sleep apnea can contribute to serious health consequences that include diabetes, acid reflux, immune system dysfunction, mental health and emotional issues, memory loss, and even an increased risk of suffering strokes and heart failure.
Sleep bruxism, too, can cause problems beyond tired and painful teeth, jaw, face, and neck. The issues that contribute to sleep bruxism can also contribute to debilitating temporomandibular joint (TMJ) dysfunction and cause significant damage to your teeth and dental work that may require significant treatment and expense to address.
Your dentist can provide and support sleep bruxism and sleep apnea treatment in Grande Prairie by screening you for the conditions, by providing mouth guards to align your teeth and jaw to allow you to breathe properly and to protect your teeth as you sleep, and even by modifying the biting surfaces of your teeth to prevent both conditions or to minimize symptoms. If those treatments aren’t effective, a dentist near you can refer you to specialists for additional sleep bruxism and sleep apnea treatment near you.
Tips for alleviating the symptoms
of sleep bruxism and sleep apnea
- Explore and adopt stress reduction techniques — meditation and yoga are two common options — especially before sleeping
- If you’re overweight, lose excess weight and maintain a healthy weight since obesity increases the risk of airway obstruction
- Limit your consumption of alcohol, since alcohol relaxes your throat muscles and contributes to snoring and interrupted sleep. Alcohol also contributes to inflammation of your airways that can block airflow
- Quit smoking, since tobacco contributes like alcohol to inflammation in your throat
- Avoid sleep on your back, since doing so tends to relax your throat muscles to allow airway obstruction and can even let your tongue fall back into your throat
- Use a humidifier in dry climates and times of the year
- Avoid screen use for an hour before going to bed, and avoid eating for two the three hours before going to bed
- Exercise daily
- Keep your bedroom dark and cool
- Try to establish and maintain a consistent sleeping routine, including going to bed and getting up at approximately the same time daily
While sleep apnea and sleep bruxism may not seem like issues a dentist would be concerned about, they really are. You should always tell your dentist about any symptoms affecting your sleep, breathing, head, face, neck, throat, and shoulders. Your dentist will investigate any potential health issues and ensure you receive the treatment and support you need to get and stay healthy.
Address: 10014 102 Ave Unit 201, Grande Prairie, AB T8V 0Z7, Canada