While most of us have experienced occasional nightmares about 5% of adults have them frequently and those people have some things in common like PTSD or a sleep breathing disorder like sleep apnea. A Beverly Hills cosmetic dentist can’t help with PTSD but dental treatment for sleep apnea is highly effective and could end the dreams.
According to a Time Magazine article published this week 80% of patients with post-traumatic stress disorder and 75% of patients with sleep disordered breathing experience nightmares. With these statistics it is not surprising that the Department of Defense has spent millions studying dreams hoping to find a way to help returning war vets.
Sleep apnea and other sleep breathing disorders are linked to nightmares as well but doctors are still unsure of the cause. Sleep apnea is a disorder which causes a sleeper to stop breathing during sleep, depriving the body of oxygen. One theory is that nightmares are caused as the brain responds to the lack of oxygen caused by sleep apnea. Treat the sleep apnea and the nightmares should end.
The first treatment suggested by most physicians for obstructive sleep apnea is CPAP which Time describes as “A machine pushes air into the mouth and nose through a mask at night”. This is a pretty good description and it also explains why about 50% of patients can’t tolerate sleeping with CPAP. Often these patients don’t realize there is an alternative and instead stop treating their sleep apnea.
The alternative to CPAP, which the Time article also didn’t mention, is an oral appliance. Oral appliances look like a mouthguard and are worn during sleep and have been used for years to treat sleep apnea. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine prefers that dentists who treat sleep apnea patients with oral appliances also have experience in the field of neuromuscular dentistry.
For more information about oral appliance therapy for obstructive sleep apnea please contact your Beverly Hills sleep medicine dentist Dr. David Frey at 310-276-4537 today to schedule a consultation.
