Sleep apnea is a serious medical condition that can damage your overall health severely. There are two primary forms of sleep apnea, which both can lead to deadly effects. To help you understand more about sleep apnea and why you should treat it, our dentist, Dr. Brett M. Barney with Desert Dental Group in Tucson, Arizona, is happy to provide you with some necessary information on the two types of sleep apnea and why it should be treated.
Here are the types of sleep apnea:
Obstructive sleep apnea:
Obstructive sleep apnea is the most common type of sleep apnea. Basically, it limits the airflow as you sleep because of the soft tissues in the back of your throat collapse. Usually, obesity can be the cause of this form of sleep apnea.
Central sleep apnea:
Central sleep apnea happens when there is a problem with your brain physically sending the right signals to breathe correctly as you sleep. This condition is less typical than obstructive sleep apnea. While the physical airway is not blocked as you sleep, the brain does fail to send the correct messages to breathe, which often happens when other medical issues are happening such as brain infections, brain tumors, heart failure, and stroke.
Without a healthy airflow to your body, while you sleep, you are placing your body at risk for other severe medical conditions like heart attack, heart failure, diabetes, stroke, depression, and high blood pressure. While you sleep, your body is working hard at keeping your body healthy and operating correctly, which needs proper airflow to thrive. That is why this condition is critical to treat.
As you can see, sleep apnea is serious and needs to be addressed as soon as possible. If you have questions about your snoring or would like to have treatment for your sleep apnea, then please call us right away at (520) 663.0419 to make an appointment. We look forward to working with you.