Sleep apnoea: successful ‘de-snoring’
What could be more disruptive than being kept awake night after night by a pneumatic drill in the bedroom? But snoring is not just a problem for the snorer’s partner, family and all the ‘involuntary listeners’.
The most severe form of snoring, known as sleep apnoea, can be extremely harmful to the snorer’s own health and can even be fatal. Orthodontist Dr. Maija Eltz has specialised in the most successful anti-snoring methods.
“Sleep apnoea is the dangerous form of snoring,” explains orthodontist Dr. Maija Eltz. “Because breathing repeatedly stops during sleep, each time followed by an arousal reaction, the sleeper never reaches the deep sleep phases. This lack of sleep can lead to daytime tiredness, lack of energy and listlessness, high blood pressure and impotence, and in severe cases the risk of heart attack and stroke rises rapidly. The link between car accidents and daytime tiredness caused by sleep apnoea is well established.”
Dr. Eltz, however, draws a clear distinction between ‘harmless’ snoring and ‘dangerous’ snoring. While harmless snoring usually only disturbs the relationship, sleep apnoea is potentially fatal if left untreated.
- Primary snoring: There are no pauses in breathing and no drop in blood oxygen saturation. Sleep is not disturbed and there are no arousal reactions. If, however, the throat area is somewhat narrower, the resulting effort needed to breathe can already trigger arousal reactions, even though the snorer is still getting enough air. The snorer may even be woken by the sound of their own snoring.
- Obstructive snoring: The upper airways become partially blocked, often together with hypercapnia (a rise in the carbon dioxide level in the blood), hypoxaemia (a fall in the oxygen level in the blood) and arousal reactions. Daytime sleepiness can occur.
- Obstructive sleep apnoea: Phases of shallow breathing (hypopnoeas) and pauses in breathing occur again and again. A hypopnoea is present when the tidal volume falls below 30% of the normal value and the oxygen level in the blood then drops as well. If the throat is completely closed and the snorer can no longer breathe, this is an apnoea. The respiratory centre in the brain keeps working and sends signals to the breathing muscles, but the snorer’s breathing movements come to nothing: the airways are closed.
Dr. Eltz’s practice has particular experience in treatment with special anti-snoring devices. The splint, which resembles a brace, is worn at night and moves the lower jaw and tongue forward. This opens up the throat and allows breathing to return to normal and flow freely. More than 90% of patients with a ‘snoring splint’ stop snoring. For the dangerous problem of sleep apnoea, the success rate is approx. 65%. “Our splints are made of a special plastic and are particularly comfortable to wear. What matters, however, is that each splint is individually fitted to the wearer’s jaw. Prefabricated standard solutions have not proved successful,” stresses Dr. Eltz.
In selected cases or in severe forms of sleep apnoea, maxillofacial surgery combined with orthodontics has proved very effective. The surgical procedure moves the upper and lower jaw forward, with the aim of preventing the airways from closing mechanically during sleep.
Snoring therapy at the Eltz Institut
Snoring therapy at Dr. Eltz’s practice includes the initial consultation, referral to a sleep laboratory, the making of models, the construction of the snoring splint by specially trained dental technicians, and instruction on how to use the splint correctly. Our doctors are members of the Austrian Society for Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research and of the German Society of Dental Sleep Medicine.