Sleep Quality, Snoring, and Sleep Apnea
If you clench, grind, or feel tired or stressed out, understanding and improving airway issues can be life-changing.
It's well-known that snoring and sleep apnea are signs of compromised airflow. But did you know that most people who don't snore have a constricted airway too and don't even know it? This may be UARS, or upper airway resistance syndrome, which has a similar set of health consequences such as silent GERD, stress, and more.
67% of people snore. And 80% of snorers have some degree of sleep apnea.
If you don't snore, the topic of nighttime breathing and "airway" may be new. But the consequences of a constricted airway can be dire and include fatigue, anxiety, and can even escalate to cancer. Proper consideration given to airway and sleep is a critical component of your biological health journey.
The Signs of a Constricted Airway
In dentistry, many common signs too often get ignored or explained away. For example, gum recession and tooth erosion — are they really caused by brushing too hard? The truth is they're probably caused by a constricted airway. How about worn or chipped teeth — is the cause really just stress, and is the solution either a yoga mat or a dental nightguard? No, it's usually airway.
Do you wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom? Is it just because you "drank a lot of water" that day? Or is that because of a constricted airway too?
You may have heard that cancer prefers an acidic body, and tends to shy away from an alkaline body. So is the solution to drink alkaline water? Doubtful. The solution is, you guessed it, opening up the airway. Oxygen helps keep you alkaline.
The Modern Face
Over the last 400 years, the shape of our face has changed quite a bit. Sure it's been changing for thousands of years, but only in the last 400 years did our jaws shrink at record speed. This happened because of diet, cooking, nutrition, and pollution which all caused epigenetic changes. Epigenetics results in fast, generation-to-generation changes in our form and function without the DNA changes caused by long-term evolution.
Tongue ties, and retruded jaws, narrow arches... these all impact oxygen intake. The current position of our jaws gives us our modern esthetics, but it causes our nose to protrude beyond our jaws and results in a position of the tongue which is too far back and too close to the back of the throat. The tongue then blocks or obstructs airway space. This decreases airflow and compromises our breathing efficiency, especially at nighttime when we're relaxed. During restful sleep, our peripheral muscles go limp, including the jaw. The jaw and tongue fall back, restricting airflow.
Jaw size also determines the quality of the nasal sinus. Often, this condition of inadequate jaw size is exacerbated by unaware conventional dentistry that often shrinks the jaws and tongue space even more by retruding teeth with braces, headgear, or worse, by removing teeth to make space for a cosmetic result. The result is potentially catastrophic for health both in children and adults.
Health Effects
When airflow is restricted, oxygen levels dip down, and carbon dioxide rises. The body responds to help keep us breathing using hormonal arousal. After all, if oxygen levels are steadily decreasing, we're slowly suffocating! The response is the release of adrenaline to help us breathe. The adrenaline brings us out of deep sleep, tenses up the muscles and tissues, and moves the tongue away from the throat. The muscle tension usually results in clenching / grinding / bruxism. The feeling of "panic" often occurs during sleep from the adrenaline. Some will stay asleep, but some will wake up feeling startled.
Imagine feeling the panic of seeing a grizzly bear approach you over and over all night long while you're sleeping. Of course you're going to wake up feeling unrested and anxious. Furthermore, because your adrenal glands have been working all night instead of resting, they become depleted. With adrenal fatigue, your body struggles to support you the next day when cortisol, the coping and energy hormone, is needed. This results in chronic stress and anxiety and destroys our circadian rhythm.
Also consider that relaxed sleep is meant to be a parasympathetic state ("rest and digest"). During deep sleep, our body is restoring, cleaning, digesting, and preparing for the next day. It makes digestive enzymes and stomach acid. In REM sleep, we store the day's meaningful experiences as memories and delete the ones that aren't important. Without restful sleep, the body won't be able to restore itself. All these important "rest and digest" tasks will never get done! And we end up stuck in "fight or flight," AKA sympathetic dominance. This leads to:
- Poor sleep, poor memory
- Weight gain
- Stress / anxiety
- Headaches
- Acid reflux (GERD)
- Adult acne
- Morning / chronic fatigue
- Adrenal fatigue, irritability
- Hypothyroidism, low energy
- Poor circulation (cold fingers / toes)
- High blood pressure
- Weak nails
- Nighttime urination (waking up to go)
- Autoimmune diseases
- Acidosis and metabolic problems
- Cancer
- Clenching / grinding
- Gum recession
- Cavities and gum disease
- Tooth sensitivity
- Gumline erosions ("abfraction")
- Chipped, broken, or worn teeth
- TMJ disorder / pain / tension
- Bloating
- Burping immediately after eating
- Feeling overfull after eating
- Digestive problems
- Iron deficiency
- Gut microbiome imbalance
- Chronic intestinal infections
- Food sensitivities
- Allergies, asthma
These are examples of conditions typically caused by a constricted airway. I hope it's clear how important this problem can be. During your biological consultation we can run a quick saliva pH test to check your acid / alkaline balance and discuss solutions to help expand or open your airway and improve any of the above symptoms.
Myofunctional Therapy
The tongue is all muscle. It's also the primary culprit in restricted airflow.
Just like working out any muscle changes its tone, simple oral (tongue) exercises can change the resting position of the tongue and allow better airflow.
Are you familiar with AHI? It's a measure determined by a sleep test which tells us about breathing disturbances at night. An AHI of 5 or less is pretty good. An AHI of 5-15 results in a disgnosis of mild sleep apnea. An AHI of 15-30 is moderate. And over 30 is considered severe sleep apnea.
Did you know that simply training the tongue with myofunctional therapy can reduce your AHI by a whopping 50-62%!
Myofunctional Therapy can sometimes get complex, or costly. But we make it easy and affordable.
Lasers
NightLase® therapy is a non-invasive, patient-friendly laser treatment for airway and snoring. NightLase increases the quality of sleep and decreases or eliminates snoring through the use of two laser wavelengths. In about 20-30 minutes, the laser enhances the tone and elasticity of the tissues surrounding the airway, immediately increasing the volume of airflow.
The wavelengths are infrared, so there is a warming and toning effect which induces the conversion of aged collagen into youthful, elastic collagen. There is no cutting or pain, and no anesthetic is needed. The lasers are applied to specific points on the palate, tongue, and floor of the mouth. The result is an instant improvement in tone and resistance to collapsibility of the airway tissues and muscles.
One of the best secondary effects of NightLase is stimulation of the vagus nerve, boosting the relaxation side of our nervous system, taking you out of "fight or flight," and allowing you to re-establish nervous system balance! This is key to restorative sleep.
The NightLase procedure is usually repeated a few times with 3 weeks in between sessions. Results show a 74% average reduction in AHI, matching the results of a CPAP! Traditionally, the CPAP has been considered the gold standard in conventional sleep medicine, but with equivalent results, NightLase can be a worthy and much more pleasant and health-promoting alternative!
The initial application of lasers in snoring reduction began in 2010. Since then, this specific use for lasers has been extensively studied and refined into today's NightLase C3 procedure. The same lasers can also be used to tone collapsible nostrils just as easily.
Often we'll use NightLase in combination with other approaches such as palatal expansion to solve sleep and breathing-related disorders.
Before
30 minutes later
Above you can see the results of just one short session of NightLase with:
- No anesthetic
- No pain
- No downtime
The Homeoblock
The Homeoblock™ is a revolutionary patented device that looks like a traditional retainer, but functions very differently.
Too often, our jawbone development is hindered by epigenetic, soft diet, lifestyle and other factors. This jaw-size deficiency is the primary cause of many jaw joint problems and most sleep and breathing disorders.
The Homeoblock works with the body so that physiological changes occur naturally. The appliance sends a cyclical intermittent light force signal to the ligament surrounding teeth, mimicking the effects of a hard-food diet. Stem cells are generated and epigenetic signaling generates new bone growth and positional changes in the facial bone structure.
The Homeoblock is worn at night, typically for about a year. The results typically include a wider smile and greater facial symmetry. Since the development of the face and airway are linked, we see improvements in airway size and toning.
The Homeoblock is an orthopedic device that encourages skeletal growth. It's not an orthodontic (tooth moving) device. When airway or skeletal issues are present, the Homeoblock should be used to correct skeletal structures prior to orthodontics.
When combined with NightLase, the results are spectacular and synergistic!
The Modern Nightguard
If you're already aware that you clench or grind, you may have had a custom nightguard made by your dentist. A nightguard protects your teeth from wear and chips caused by the unnatural forces of clenching or grinding. However, a nightguard doesn't address the root cause and has no beneficial effects on airway. In fact, a traditional nightguard can even have a detrimental effect on the airway, increasing clenching / grinding and all the other airway symptoms listed above. Some people feel nightguards are too bulky and uncomfortable. This is often because it is taking away tongue space, thereby exacerbating the airway problem, or altering the bite dimension unnaturally.
A dental appliance with an airway-focused purpose can make all the difference between "sleep disordered breathing" and restful, healthful sleep. The airVata is designed as a TMJ splint and jaw-positioning device to address snoring and sleep apnea and serves to relax the jaw muscles, depressurize the jaw joint, and keep the tongue away from the back of the throat. This enhances focus, energy, memory, and general health in so many ways, including helping to protect teeth, reduce or eliminate clenching and grinding, and helping to reduce the severity of the symptoms listed above. And it's comfortable!
A comprehensive biological approach addresses airway issues. This can be achieved with the help of some simple, over-the-counter remedies such as nasal sprays, breathe strips, and mouth tape, combined with professional solutions such as laser treatment, orthopedic devices, epigenetic devices, dental devices, orthodontics, oral surgery, or dental modification. The result is health, happiness, peace, and beauty.