It might sound amusing and unusual yet there is a very crucial link or relation between dentists and sleeping. Sleep dentistry, the branch of dentistry, is there to help people with sleep problems as well facilitate patients undergoing complex and more painful dental procedures.
Often patients suffering from dental caries, experience mild to severe toothache, pain in the roots as well as radiating pain in the jaws, palate or even the tongue. Massive throbbing pain in mouth and head may also be there in cases of tooth extraction and root canal procedures.
The pain due to dental procedures often causes problems in sleep and requires specific treatment. It is therefore, prudent to pass-on the benefits of sleep dentistry solutions to help patients endure pain and relax during dental procedures.
Sleep dentistry has primarily two main forms that include:
- General anesthesia
- IV sedation
During general anesthesia involves the patient being completely unconscious and is meant for extremely painful and tedious surgical procedures such as wisdom teeth extraction. On the contrary with IV sedation the patient is not kept in an unconscious state.
IV sedation induces a sleep like state patient remains conscious and responds the dentist well but later on usually does not remember the treatment.
Who are the patients that may require sleep dentistry?
Sleep dentistry also plays a vital role in alleviating fear and anxiety in patients who come to dentists for dental injuries due to trauma or accidents as well as pain due to wisdom teeth extraction.
Many patients feel suffocated due to gag reflux or clinic phobia due to previous traumatic painful past experience during dental procedures.
Dental patients with pre-existing Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases (COPD) like Asthma or suffering from cold and flu may also need sleep dentistry solutions. It is therefore imperative for them to have consultation with dentists beforehand to help dentists to determined whether sleep dentistry can be suitable for them or not.
Other conditions for use of sleep dentistry
Sleep Apnea and snoring have also been identified as sleep disturbing troubles that involves mouth parts like tongue, palate and throat and may also need sleep dentistry procedures. It has been observed that obese individuals are more prone to snoring and sleep apnea.
Ever since a definite relationship between sleep apnea and snoring has been established, sleep specialists and dentists are working together to provide a respite from these troubles to the patients.
In patients with sleep apnea and snoring symptoms, the tissue at the back of throat collapses and leads to blockage of airways during sleep. As a result, oxygen supply to the body gets reduce and as a consequent patient is momentarily awake.
As a part of sleep dentistry solution, dentists use plastic devices that pull the jaw forward and advances tongue forward which opens the airways. These plastic devices that serve as night guards, are to be worn in mouth while sleeping to prevent OSA causing tissue collapse in throat and also reduce snoring.
Sleep dentistry solutions are available at few dental clinics in Australia such as East Bentleigh Dental Group where most sophisticated sleep dentistry is performed with appropriate sleep sedation medication and procedures at a reasonable expense.
East Bentleigh Dental Group has most qualified dentists who are professionally qualified and have enough experience to provide most efficient sleep dentistry to provide comfortable and anxiety-free experience to the patients.