Stop snoring now
How often do you wish you could block out your partner’s snoring? Or do you wake up in the middle of the night by a nudge or pinch on the nose and have to look into the annoyed and fatigued face of your loved one? Jokes aside, snoring is not just a problem for couples. It can also affect your own health. It can cause halting or shallow breath: an ailment called sleep apnea, which raises the risk of disease and other disorders. This is enough reason to put an end to the problem. But don’t feel bad, you are not the only one. As people get older about 60 % of men and 40 % of women tend to snore.
What are the causes of snoring?
When is it necessary to do something about it?
During sleep not only the mind, but also the muscles relax. The origin of snoring lies mostly in the muscles of the soft palate, throat and tongue. A relaxation of the muscles leads to a narrowing of the airways, thus creating a snoring noise at different volume levels. Values of up to 90 decibels have been measured. This is equivalent to a busy highway.
The sounds come from the airflow at inhalation and exhalation, which causes the soft palate at the back of the throat to vibrate. As the muscles in the throat slacken the airways narrow causing air to flow through faster and the relaxed muscle starts to vibrate.
Other causes of snoring are obesity, alcohol consumption, sleeping on one’s back and taking medications such as tranquilizers and sleeping pills, psychotropic drugs or tranquilizers.
Während “normales” Schnarchen lästig ist und daher sinnvollerweise auch schon behandelt werden sollte, muss die weit gefährlichere Schlafapnoe direkt mittels einer Anti-Schnarchtherapie angegangen werden.
We speak of sleep apnea, when breathing is paused or halted completely. One can recognize this when a sleeper’s snoring is repeatedly interrupted by prolonged moments of absolute silence, which then usually go from wheezing to noisy breathing to snoring again. The silent phase can last between 15 to 60 seconds. Since the brain receives too little oxygen during these dropouts, every time this happens the brain triggers the body to wake up, although in this phase of sleep the affected person doesn’t notice it. This is also why 95% of sleep apnea sufferers are unaware of their acute problem. Yet this must not be taken lightly as there are severe risk factors and consequences associated with this condition.
The possible consequences of non-treatment
Combined treatment with snoring splints
In addition to fatigue, listlessness and depression, decreased performance and even sexual disorders can occur. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Serious illnesses caused by sleep apnea include:
- Depression
- High blood pressure
- Cardiac arrhythmias
- Stroke
- Diabetes
- Impotence
- Heart disease – including heart attack and sudden cardiac death
Untreated sleep apnea actually shortens not only sleep, but even life by several years. These are enough reasons to act as quickly as possible.
Snoring typically has several causes. In addition to the relaxed palate tissue the position of the lower jaw during sleep is of significance. Especially when sleeping on one’s back, as this causes a constriction of the airways.
If this appears to be the case, a combination therapy has proved to work well. In addition to the treatment of the mucous membranes with the laser, the patient can wear a tailor-made snoring splint at night. The splint allows the lower jaw to be held in the correct position enabling unobstructed breathing. The splints are well tolerated and have a lightweight design for comfortable, easy wear.
If the diagnosis for apnea is provided by a doctor, your insurance will even cover some of the costs. Therefore important: check before with your doctor or dentist!
How does the snoring treatment of Dentanova work?
We treat snoring with a patented therapy called Fotona NightLase®. It is a non-invasive, patient-friendly laser treatment which significantly improves sleep quality. Snoring and the effects of sleep apnea are reduced by gently tightening the collagen fibers in the oral mucous membrane. It is simple, safe and effective.
The patented Erbium YAG Laser has an optimized laser pulse length, which allows the safe penetration of heat into the oral mucosa. The heat is kept at the right temperature so that it is risk-free for the sensitive membranes. At the same time, it is strong enough to achieve the necessary results on the target tissue.
NightLase® is easy to use and has a high success rate for making changes in sleep patterns. Research has shown that this method significantly reduces snoring. It provides an effective, non-invasive way to minimize the consequences of sleep apnea.
A complete treatment with NightLase® consists of three separate sessions over a period of 6 weeks. If needed the treatment can be repeated.
Patients find this snoring treatment very pleasant and a satisfactory solution to their snoring problems.
The therapy does not require a worn device while sleeping and does not involve any adjunctive medication. It's a gentle and easy way to regain your precious night's sleep, and it's inexpensive too, as the cost is just 400 CHF per session.
