If you suffer from Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome (UARS) or sleep apnea, you may have symptoms that should never be ignored. Many patients have repeated interrupted sleep where they snore loudly or even gasp for air while breathing. Seeing professional help is always a good idea and highly recommended. Sleep apnea is a condition where breathing stops and starts during sleep. If you suffer from obstructive sleep apnea, the tissue in your throat relaxes and causes your airway to be blocked.
Upper airway resistance syndrome (UARS) is very similar to obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). With UARS, the soft tissue in the throat relaxes and reduces the size of the airway, causing problems with breathing. UARS is not as severe as obstructive sleep apnea, but still does affect a patient’s breathing and sleep.
Treatment for Sleep Apnea:
- A CPAP or continuous positive airway pressure device may be recommended. This device fits over the patient’s nose and mouth, and gently blows air into their airway. This helps keep the airway open during sleep. This method can be cumbersome, but it is effective.
- If your condition is severe, surgery may be recommended. The surgery would eliminate any extra tissue in the patient’s throat, and prevent the throat from collapsing during sleep.
- Changing your lifestyle habits including how often you exercise and what you eat can help alleviate sleep apnea symptoms. Also, we recommend avoiding smoking and alcohol as this can contribute to OSA.
- Changing the position while you sleep may be recommended, and can help with symptoms of sleep apnea.
Treatment for Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome (UARS):
- A CPAP machine can also be used to treat UARS and help patients sleep and breathe more easily at night.
- Treating allergies can help alleviate symptoms of UARS.
- Changing your lifestyle habits and losing weight can help treat UARS.
- If a child has been diagnosed with UARS, surgery may be recommended to remove the tonsils and/or adenoids. This helps with breathing and allows the child to sleep throughout the night.
If you are interested in finding out more about treatment for sleep apnea or UARS, contact Smile Design Modern Dentistry to schedule your appointment.
Oral Appliance Therapy: What a Dentist Provides
The dental contribution to sleep apnea care is oral appliance therapy. A custom-made device, often called a mandibular advancement device, is worn like a sports guard during sleep and holds the lower jaw slightly forward. That small change keeps the airway from collapsing, which is what causes the breathing pauses in the first place. Because the appliance is made from impressions or a scan of your own teeth, it fits precisely — which is what makes it tolerable enough to wear every night.
CPAP or an Oral Appliance?
CPAP remains the most effective treatment for moderate and severe obstructive sleep apnea, and it is the right first choice for many people. Its weakness is not effectiveness but tolerance: a machine that goes unused helps nobody. Oral appliances are generally considered for mild to moderate cases, and for patients who have tried CPAP and cannot stay with it. They are small, silent, need no power, and travel easily. The two are not rivals so much as different answers to different situations — and some patients use both.
When Surgery Is Considered
Surgery is generally reserved for cases where a clear anatomical obstruction is driving the problem, or where other treatments have genuinely failed. Options range from removing enlarged tonsils or adenoids — often the fix in children — through soft-tissue procedures in the throat, to jaw advancement surgery in selected adults. It is a later step, not a starting point.
Getting Diagnosed Comes First
One thing worth being direct about: a dentist cannot diagnose sleep apnea. Diagnosis comes from a sleep study, either in a lab or with a take-home test, interpreted by a physician. What a dental practice can do is recognise the signs, help you get properly assessed, and then build and manage the appliance once a diagnosis exists. If you are unsure where you stand, our related guide on mild sleep apnea and its warning signs is a good starting point.
Talk to a Durham, NC Dentist About Sleep Apnea
Smile Design Modern Dentistry serves Durham along with Chapel Hill, Cary, Brier Creek, and Raleigh. If snoring, gasping, or waking unrested is affecting you or your partner, call (919) 220-5505 to discuss whether an oral appliance could help.