What is Sleep Apnea?

Sleep apnea interferes with your sleep cycles by causing lapses in your breathing. Each time your breathing gets interrupted, your body is forced out of deep sleep and into a lighter sleep cycle in order to breathe. This can happen hundreds of times a night without you even realizing it is occurring and can lead to serious, even deadly health risks, such as heart attack, stroke, and deadly car accidents. Fortunately, with proper treatment most of the risks can be avoided.

Treating Sleep Apnea

The gold standard for sleep apnea treatment is CPAP, continuous positive airway pressure. Another option for treating sleep apnea is to simply open the airway, which is where we come in.

How does Bite Solutions Dentist handle a sleep patient?

1. Patients are referred by physicians, dentists, or are self referred.
2. We then perform a basic screening history and exam to determine whether they have problems that could be addressed in our office.
3. We then order a home sleep study.
4. The results of the sleep study are read by us and a board certified sleep physician.
5. If we determine that a sleep appliance will be of benefit, the sleep doctor prescribes a sleep appliance as part of the patient’s treatment.
6. We then make impressions and find a patient’s bite with TENS and electronic jaw tracking.
7. A laboratory makes an appliance for us to our specifications.
8. We then deliver the appliance and adjust it.
9. We make necessary changes to the appliance over the next few months.
10. Not uncommonly, a titration (follow-up) sleep study is performed to determine the effectiveness of the sleep appliance and is read by us and the sleep doctor.

What Treatment Is Right for Your Sleep Apnea?

If you are trying to find the best treatments for you, we can help. Please call (479) 774-6900 or email for an appointment with Dr. Fisher at Bite Solutions Dentist.