Using Snore Guards to Stop Snoring

Snoring is not exactly a big deal or something to worry about. Still, if you snore regularly at night, it can disrupt the quality of your sleep and then lead to problems like daytime fatigue, irritability, and increased health problems. It can create major relationship problems, too, if your snoring keeps your partner, or roommate, or children awake.

Snoring occurs when you cannot move air freely through your nose and your throat during sleep, causing the surrounding tissues to vibrate, which then produces the snoring sound.

Although a quick remedy for snoring could involve the affected person sleeping in a separate room or getting to crash on the couch at night, many other practical solutions can help both you and your partner sleep better at night. They would be discussed as you read through.

However, to get Snoring treatment and improved sleep services near you, book a consultation with us at Concord Woods Dental Group, as our dental office is always readily available to help you.

Causes Of Snoring:

Snoring is caused commonly by the following:

Age: As you grow towards your middle age and beyond that, your throat becomes narrower and causes your throat’s muscle tone to decrease. Lifestyle changes, new bedtime routines, and throat exercises can all help to prevent snoring.

Overweight: Fatty tissue and poor muscle tone contribute to snoring.

Nasal problems: Sinus and nasal problems result in blocked airways or stuffy nose, making inhalation difficult and creating a vacuum in the throat, leading to snoring.

Taking alcohol, smoking, and using particular medication such as tranquilizers like lorazepam (Ativan) and diazepam (Valium), can increase muscle relaxation, leading to more snoring.

Sleeping flat on your back causes the flesh of your throat to relax and block the airway.

How Do I Stop Snoring?

Several snoring treatments are available, ranging from do-it-yourself home remedies, the use of options like snore guards, medical therapies, and then surgery.

Some bedtime remedies that work include changing sleeping position, sleeping on your side instead of your back, clearing nasal passages, and keeping the bedroom air moist.

Lifestyle changes that can help stop snoring include losing weight, quitting smoking, avoiding alcohol and other medications that interfere with sleep, maintaining healthy habits before bed, and lots of exercises.

Proven medical therapies include Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP), Laser-assisted uvulopalatoplasty (LAUP), use of Palatal implants, Somnoplasty, and surgical procedures such as Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP), Thermal Ablation Palatoplasty (TAP), Tonsillectomy, and Adenoidectomy.

Snore guards or Mandibular Advancement Options can help with tongue-based snoring. They work by moving the lower jaw or mandible forward and holding it there during sleep, thus pulling the tongue away from the back of the throat and soft palate, helping to maintain a more open airway. These snore guards are of many different types, aiming to do the same essential thing, but some are better made, better fitting, and more effective than others. They are made out of a variety of vacuum-formed plastics, which could either be rigid or semi-rigid.

Snore guards can either be fixed or adjustable, with the adjustable ones having the apparent advantage of the user being able to try out different levels of advancement to see what works for them. In terms of comfortability, they are inevitably something of a mouthful and would take time to adapt to, and hence compliance with wearing them can sometimes be challenging. However, the benefits make it worthwhile persevering.

Side effects of snore guards have been reported as sometimes lead to some jaw joint discomfort, although they can also help reduce nighttime tooth grinding (bruxism). Increased salivation can occur, and they can also lead to the biting position being altered first thing in the morning. The bite normally settles back into its usual place in a rapid manner.

That you sleep soundly at night and have good relationships with your loved ones is a priority to us, hence don’t hesitate to make that call to us at Concord Woods Dental Group, and we’d be ready to listen to you and help you in whatever means you need.