Obstructive sleep apnoea in Richardson dental and craniofacial Hospital

Obstructive sleep apnoea management

Sleep apnoea is a condition in which the person suffers from episodes of shallow or cessation of breathing while sleeping which causes him to awaken suddenly with a gasp. This occurs multiple times during the night. Other signs and symptoms of sleep apnoea are day time sleepiness, fatigue, lack of concentration,snoring, headaches and some cardiac problems.

There can be various causes for sleep apnoea the most common being OBSTRUCTIVE SLEEP APNOEA. It occurs due to lapse of soft tissues of the airway causing obstruction to airflow. This can be a natural progress of ageing, due to extreme obesity, large tongue size or due to small size of the lower jaw/mandible.

Various treatment modalities exist such as medicines to improve the oxygenation, by Cpap which provides positive airway to the airway thereby preventing its collapse and lastly by surgical means.Soft tissue surgeries correct the symptoms of the OSA. However if the cause of the OSA is small size of mandible,then the root cause must be treated.

One of the most widely succesful techniques of treating small mandible to correct OSA is distraction osteogenesis of the mandible. This lenghtens the mandible and hence brings not only the lower jaw bone but also the attatched soft tissue in the front. Hence the collapse of airway gets resolved.

Not only is this treatment beneficial for the patient, it is almost essential as OSA creates an environment of low oxygen levels which are detrimental to the health of the patient. The earlier this is corrected,the lesser the chances of the consequences of OSA.

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