Sleep Apnea Treatments in Plano, TX

Have you recently been diagnosed with sleep apnea (or think you might be developing the symptoms of sleep apnea like loud snoring)? At Miller & Miller Dentistry, we offer alternative snoring and sleep apnea treatments with oral appliance therapy rather than invasive surgery like a tonsillectomy, adenoidectomy, or maxillofacial surgery or wearing a nightly mask with a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine. Our general and cosmetic dentists, Dr. Chris and Dr. Matt provide oral appliance fittings for patients who would like other solutions. At Miller & Miller Dentistry in Plano, TX, we focus on creating customized appliances to help our sleep apnea patients.

Sleep apnea, also known as obstructive sleep apnea, is recognized as continued pauses in breathing during sleep. This is the result of your muscles relaxing and gravity pulling your airway closed. The brief suffocation that happens produces excessive stress on the body, which can cause cardiovascular conditions such as mood change, weight gain, fatigue, hypertension, and memory loss. Patients with sleep apnea or snoring problems regularly turn to the Miller & Miller team to create an alternative therapy to help them (and their loved ones) get a restful sleep each night. We create custom oral appliance therapies through SomnoMed Labs and Airway Labs and are proud to offer this service to patients in the DFW and Plano, TX area.

To qualify for a dental-based sleep apnea solution, you must not have severe sleep apnea. In such scenarios, a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine may be one of the best options for you and your health. However, if you have a mild-to-moderate snoring problem, a dental alternative may be just what you need. Sleep apnea can be dangerous and hazardous to your health because it keeps you from breathing naturally hundreds of times each night when the tissues in your throat and soft palate collapse. When this happens, your airway is blocked, preventing oxygen from reaching your organs or brain. So needless to say, it is essential to get it properly diagnosed and treated with the best solution through our practice and/or your medical practitioner.

Sleep apnea treatment at Miller & Miller Dentistry utilizes oral appliance therapy (OAT) — a night guard, which can be an extremely effective therapy for sleep apnea and snoring. It is a custom-made oral device which fits in your mouth at night. It can be compared to a mouth guard for athletics or a retainer. The principal difference is that instead of guarding your teeth against trauma, it gently pulls the jaw into a forward position to keep your airway open. There are more than a hundred unique models on the market, so Dr. Chris Miller or Dr. Matt Miller will work with you to make sure that you get the right one for you. This can be determined after an evaluation of your tongue, airway, teeth, and jaw. You will also have digital scans taken so that we can make impressions of your teeth for your oral appliance.

Once your sleep apnea oral device has been made by a certified sleep lab, like Somnomed or Airway Lab, and delivered back to our office, we will call you to set up a fitting. Dr. Chris or Dr. Matt will adjust your new oral appliance accordingly to make it as comfortable as possible to wear. Our team will also help you learn about your new snoring and/or sleep apnea device including how to maintain, store, and clean it. Dr. Chris Miller or Dr. Matt Miller will want you to bring your appliance to check-ups or come back every year so we can examine it for wear and tear. Your quality of life should dramatically improve if you follow our instructions properly.

If your breathing was interrupted hundreds of times every day from a blocked airway, or your snoring is interrupting everyone's night sleep, you would seek out medical advice right away. But when the same thing happens in your sleep, it might be all too easy to put it off if it does not seem to be an immediate threat to your health. Sleep apnea is a serious medical condition that is harmful to your health. A sleep apnea oral appliance therapy fitted by Plano, TX general and cosmetic dentists Dr. Chris Miller or Dr. Matt Miller may save your life with this custom device designed to help you sleep. We urge you to set up a consultation at Miller & Miller Dentistry at your earliest convenience.