Sleep Dentistry

Symptoms of Sleep Apnea

Part of the reason why so many sleep apnea sufferers go undiagnosed is that the symptoms appear to be associated with many different conditions, or may be dismissed by people altogether. Symptoms may include:

• Snoring
• Morning headaches
• Dry mouth and throat irritation
• Daytime sleepiness
• Chronic fatigue
• Loss of motivation
• Difficulty concentrating
• Memory problems
• Weight gain or difficulty losing weight

Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder that causes a person to periodically stop breathing while you sleep. This condition can lead to several serious health problems if left untreated. Dr. Mark Musso and the Airway Dynamics team can provide appliances and devices which treat sleep apnea and allow you to rest better at night.

For more information about sleep apnea therapy in Dallas, Texas, and to make your appointment with our experienced dentists, please call Airway Dynamics at 214-329-0675.

Sleep is currently a hot topic and at the forefront of medical research. At Airway Dynamics, we strive to stay on top of the latest advances and continue to learn about sleep apnea. It is now widely accepted that there are many important biological processes that occur during healthy, restful sleep.

Proper Brain Function

Brain plasticity theory reveals how sleep contributes to proper brain function. Healthy sleep allows neurons to reorganize.

When you sleep properly, your brain’s glymphatic system clears out waste from your central nervous system. It removes toxic byproducts, which build up throughout the day, from your brain. This allows your brain to work well when you wake up.

Do you often wake up with a “foggy” brain? This might be because your brain's glymphatic system is not able to clear out the “waste” which needs removal.

Research suggests that sleep contributes to memory function by converting short-term memories into long-term memories. Further, it erases - forgets - unneeded information that might otherwise clutter the nervous system.

Sleep can affect many areas of brain function, including learning, memory, problem solving skills, creativity, decision making, focus, and concentration.

Emotional Well-being

Healthy sleep is necessary for emotional health. When you get restful and restorative sleep, regions of the brain work hard to regulate emotion while supporting healthy brain function and emotional stability.

Cellular Restoration

Your body is made to heal and restore itself. This cannot happen without healthy, restful sleep. Sleep enables cells to repair and regrow, muscles to repair, protein synthesis, tissue growth and hormone release.

Many adolescent children in treatment with us will have a sudden growth spurt due to restorative sleep initiating growth hormone release and cell restoration.

Energy Conservation

Do you feel like you have zero energy throughout the day? Your metabolic rate might not be dropping like it should while you sleep.

Energy Conservation Theory reveals how our body conserves energy during a healthy night’s sleep. This enables our body to reduce daily calorie intake. Current research indicates that eight hours of healthy sleep for adults can produce a daily energy savings of up to 35%. By getting restorative, healthy sleep, you will regain vitality, feel like exercising, reduce inflammation, see better brain function, and improve overall wellness.

Weight Regulation

Did you know that sleep and hunger hormones are connected? The hormone ghrelin, which increases appetite, and leptin, which increases the feeling of being full after eating, are regulated during sleep!

During healthy sleep, your body will decrease the amount of ghrelin that is produced, because your body needs less calories to function while you sleep. Poor or unhealthy sleep elevates the production of ghrelin and suppresses leptin. This makes you hungrier, which can cause you to eat more calories and gain weight.

We have had patients that wake up hungry, or find their children sleepwalking or eating at night. Lack of restorative sleep can contribute to this behavior.

Immunity

Are you helping your body create cytokines? Cytokines are proteins that fight infection and inflammation. Certain antibodies and immune cells are also created during healthy sleep. If you are not getting healthy sleep you are not producing the proper cytokines, or antibodies. Without these molecules to help defend against illness, your body becomes more prone to getting sick.

When you get restorative sleep, your body produces cytokines to help your body heal. This is why healthy sleep is so important while you’re experiencing an illness. During these times, the body needs even more immune cells and proteins.

We believe that healthy, restorative sleep promotes a strong immune system which enables your body to fight infections.

Heart and Cardiovascular Health

Fragmented and unhealthy sleep has been linked to risk factors for overall heart health. Unhealthy sleep can lead to increased levels of cortisol and stress hormones, hypertension (high blood pressure), increased inflammation, insulin resistance, weight gain, and an overactive sympathetic nervous system.

Many other chronic health conditions have been connected to fragmented and unhealthy sleep, such as:

• Attention deficit in adults and children
• Depression
• Chronic pain
• Bed-wetting in children, teens and adults
• Headaches
• Jaw pain
• Fatigue
• Snoring

...and much more!