Snoring Apnea: Treatment Options
Snoring is a common problem that affects nearly half of all adults at one time during their lives. Snoring, however, that is accompanied by a cessation of breath is known as snoring apnea or sleep apnea and can be a dangerous medical condition.
Snoring apnea occurs when the airway is blocked for a period of time, typically around ten seconds or even longer – in at least thirty episodes during a seven-hour period. Snoring apnea can be life-threatening and requires a consultation with a medical provider in order to be properly treated.
Undiagnosed and untreated snoring apnea can increase the incidence of heart attack, stroke, impotence, high blood pressure, and heart disease in those afflicted with the condition. We discuss snoring apnea in greater detail in our article, Snoring Apnea: an Overview.
Treatment Options
Before beginning treatment, your primary care physician or oral and maxillofacial surgeon will likely conduct sleep studies at a sleep clinic to diagnose the presence and severity of your snoring apnea. The treatment options that are available to you will be based on the severity of the condition.
Snoring apnea that is very mild can often be treated with simple behavioral modifications. These are non-medical treatments that you can carry out at home. Examples of behavioral modifications that can successfully treat mild cases of snoring apnea include:
- losing weight
- avoiding alcohol and caffeine
- refraining from heavy meals in the two hours preceding bedtime
- avoiding sedatives
- changing the position in which you sleep
Moderate snoring apnea may be treated through the use of oral appliances, which are molded devices that are placed in the mouth before retiring for the evening. An oral device holds the lower jaw and brings the tongue forward, and in doing so, elevating the soft palate or retaining the tongue to keep it from falling backward into the airway (which can block breathing).
Moderate snoring apnea may also be treated with the use of a C-PAP device. C-PAP is short for continuous positive airway pressure. C-PAP features a fitted mask that is placed over the nose of the snoring apnea sufferer; a specific, prescribed pressurized air flow is then constantly routed through the throat. When two different air pressures are required, a Bi-PAP device is used.
Snoring Apnea: Severe Cases
In severe cases of snoring apnea, the C-PAP or Bi-PAP machine is the first line of treatment that is offered – although in many instances, the patient finds that they are not able to use these devices for various reasons. When C-PAP or Bi-PAP devices are not used, surgical intervention may be the best alternative.
As most oral and maxillofacial surgeons will admit, no one surgical intervention is standard or successful with all snoring apnea patients because of the various shapes of patient’s noses and throats. The most common surgical procedures for correcting snoring apnea are:
- Hyoid suspension. Oftentimes, a collapse of the tongue at its base will be the root cause of an individual snoring apnea case. In this incidence, a hyoid suspension may be needed. This procedure works by securing the hyoid bone to the thyroid cartilage, which stabilizes this region of the airway and alleviates apnea episodes.
- Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty is also called a UPPP for simplicity. This type of snoring apnea intervention is used when the airway collapse is located at the soft palate. This is the most common type of surgical procedure that is performed on individuals who cannot tolerate the C-PAP device. A UPPP shortens and stiffens the soft palate. The uvula is partially removed during a UPPP in order to decrease the soft palate’s edge.
- Maxillomandibular advancement (MMA). This surgical treatment of snoring apnea involves surgically moving the upper and lower jaws and the tongue and palate forward to open the upper airway.
- Genioglossus advancement (GGA). A GGA opens the upper breathing passage by tightening the front tongue tendon. This surgery reduces the degree of displacement of the tongue into the throat. The GGA may be used alongside the UPPP or hyoid suspension for optimal results, during the same surgical visit.
