Snoring & CPAP Solutions offers an alternative to sleep apnea that could literally save your life
By Mimi Vanderhaven
While snoring can be a disruption in the bedroom, new research indicates that there’s a lot more to snoring that could keep you up at night.
Sleep-related dental problems such as GERD (heartburn/acid reflux) and bruxism (teeth grinding) may be signs of more serious health risks, including stroke, heart disease, arrhythmias and esophageal cancer. Plus, there are proven links between lack of sleep and many other issues, such as chronic sleepiness, depression, impotence, memory loss, morning headaches, high blood pressure, and weight gain.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea
We Americans are more sleep-deprived than ever, and for one in five people, it’s because of obstructive sleep apnea, which causes you to stop breathing intermittently during sleep. Unfortunately, the commonly prescribed treatment—a CPAP machine—can actually make sleep more difficult.
Dr. Michael Stern, the founder of Snoring & CPAP Solutions, offers patients an alternative: custom-made oral appliances.
Dr. Stern, who earned his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from The Ohio State University, was himself diagnosed with sleep apnea and couldn’t tolerate the CPAP.
“When I did a sleep test, it found that on the Apnea Hypoxia Index, I was an eight, with the normal being below five,” he says. “As a medical professional, I could see the writing on the wall. I had to do something.”
He underwent vigorous training with the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine in Chicago to become one of only a few certified practitioners to fit oral appliances.
He says the majority of the patients who come to him have already tried a CPAP machine and were unhappy with it. The rest are looking for help and need to undergo a sleep test.
“After we meet with patients and take impressions of their mouth, it takes about three weeks for the appliances to be fabricated in an FDA-approved lab of FDA design,” he says.
The appliances resemble a mouthguard, with the top and bottom pieces either snapping together or hinging together to stabilize the lower jaw so it doesn’t fall open and back, collapsing the airway. There are no machines, tubes or masks.
Snoring and Obesity
Besides daytime sleepiness and irritability, sleep apnea is linked to heart attack and stroke risk as well as Alzheimer’s disease.
“And since the lack of restorative sleep causes the body to inhibit the release of satiation hormones that make you feel full, sleep apnea is also linked to obesity,” says Dr. Stern. “It’s something of a medical catch-22. Snoring can make you gain weight, and gaining weight contributes to snoring.”
One of Dr. Stern’s patients had this to say: “It felt surprisingly comfortable, just like a mouthguard, and I could talk with it in. For the first time in years, I actually slept through the night. I used to get up five or six times per night to go to the bathroom, now I don’t get up at all.”
Dr. Stern explains that apnea also releases a hormone that causes the body to produce more urine.
That’s another catch-22.
Snoring and CPAP Solutions is located at 34500 Chardon Road, Suite #1, in Willoughby Hills. Oral appliances are usually covered by insurance as long as there is a written medical necessity letter from a primary physician. Call 440-833-6008 or visit SnoringandCPAPSolutions.com for more information and take an online survey to see how your sleep shapes up.