BREATHING THROUGH APNEA DIAGNOSIS Treating obstructive sleep apnea with dental appliances
Shari Prommer thanks her lucky stars that she went on vacation with her family eight years ago. Shari’s daughter, who shared a room with her, said, “Mom, do you know that you sit up and gasp for air many times during the night?” Shari says, “And I did not! I had no idea! It had never woken me up.”
“I couldn’t do anything. I’d go to work, come home, eat dinner and crash. I hadn’t watched a full episode of a television show in years!” But the build was so gradual that she hadn’t noticed.
Thinking about it, Shari realized she had been exhausted all day, every day for a couple of years. She never felt rested.
Shari’s doctor diagnosed her with low thyroid function and moderate to severe sleep apnea.
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Dr. Ivonne Hernández, a professor at the School of Dentistry and a specialist in oral and facial pain at the TMD/Orofacial Pain and Sleep Disorders Clinic in Edmonton, says with available treatment options today, it’s much less scary than when she started treating people with apnea over ten years ago.
Sleep apnea is when you stop breathing for 10-30 seconds multiple times in a night.
