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Health & Fitness

Blog: A-Not-So-Silent Killer

Who knew snoring might be a 9-1-1 call for a sleep apnea screening and maybe eight more years of life?

Okay, so last weekend I hung out with a bunch of DDS-types up in beautiful Monterey. And now you know the trip was no vacation.

Actually, my quality time spent near the Sardine Factory and the Aquarium beat the phantom Pebble Beach experience by a mile (I’ve never understood how golf is a social game when I only need 2-3 holes to start despising the four slow losers playing in front of me.)

Anyway, I might sound like a total geek but I can’t even begin to tell ya how psyched I get by the prospect of traveling for continuing education; sometimes the adventure even gives me goose bumps (and yeah, it happened again.)

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The course was all about sleep medicine and I’m not sure it was coincidental that the seals barking away by the harbor seemed like close cousins to some of the hotel weekenders projecting some serious nocturnal rumblings of their own. 

Docs John Bixby and Mark Abramson delivered the content with expertise, experience, and passion and maybe that’s why the learning struck a personal chord. 

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If there were a Michael Jordan of sleep medicine, it would probably be Dr. Abramson. Abramson is a diplomat in TMJ/TMD orofacial pain management, dental sleep medicine, and mindfulness stress reduction; he also teaches at the Stanford School of Medicine and practices meditation, acupuncture, and kinesiology…in his spare time, he’s martial arts black belt.

But Mark’s also a creative guy and he developed the most effective oral appliance offered up to sleep apnea patients who don’t need or can’t tolerate the Continuous Positive Airway Pressure apparatus, aka the CPAP.

20,000,000 Americans suffer from Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA); that’s one in five adults (undiagnosed cases of OSA could possibly double the number.)

OSA is a condition where the airway is restricted; a blockage behind the tongue and soft palate effectively stops breathing during sleep. 

Folks with OSA are prone to heart disease, type II diabetes, hypertension, impotence, depression, weight gain, and acid reflux. 75% of stroke victims also have OSA. Drivers suffering from OSA are seven times more likely to have automobile accidents. Untreated OSA can reduce life expectancy by some eight years.

Signs and symptoms include snoring, daytime drowsiness, morning headaches and dry mouth, jaw and facial pain, teeth clenching and grinding, and many more indicators that can be screened by dentists.

After screening for the disease, dentists can refer patients to sleep clinics for testing, evaluation, and diagnosis by a sleep physician. Light and moderate OSA can be effectively treated with oral appliances and sleep hygiene; the treatment for severe OSA is the CPAP and/or an oral appliance for those who have difficulty tolerating the CPAP. 

The 2-day  course was “Reaching the Full Potential of Your Practice Treating Snoring, Sleep Apnea, TMJ, & the New Field of Dental Sleep Therapy.” And yeah, I offered to edit the title and I will. Let’s roll with “Keeping Your Friends and Family Alive and Breathing.” 

During the weekend, as I listened to the material, several patients and even a few team members came to mind. But it was the memory of someone even closer that really struck home.

In a few weeks, March 6 will come along again and this time around it will mark 37 years to the day I saw my Dad die of a heart attack in our living room at 6:30PM on a Saturday I’ll never forget.

Dad was a type II diabetic, had an 18” neck (men are at risk at 17” and greater), was prone to falling asleep in front of the TV, and snored like nobody’s business. After his diabetes diagnosis at age 50, Dad ate right, stopped drinking (went cold turkey), and dropped about 40lbs; he was only 66 years old that Saturday night. And now I’m wondering if obstructive sleep apnea got away with murder.

What used to be a virtual nocturnal call of the wild is really the sound of someone desperately trying to breathe. These days, for me, snoring is a patient, a team member, or my Dad dialing 9-1-1 in their sleep. And a simple screening could be the appropriate rapid response…and a pathway leading to a longer more beautiful life. 

Ask your dentist about Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

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