Many people suffer from sleep apnea without even knowing it. This sleeping disorder affects the quality of your sleep. In other words, sleep apnea is when your breathing is irregular while you sleep causing snoring, jolting awake, and even insomnia. 

Having a bad night’s sleep can affect your overall energy levels throughout the day and it can also lead to other health issues. In this article, we’ll talk about the connection between sleep apnea and oral health. Read on to find out more.

What’s sleep apnea?

Sleep apnea is a sleeping disorder characterized by short pauses in breathing during sleep. Snoring and even choking in your sleep are the common symptoms that people who have sleep apnea experience. Their sleep will be disrupted by this halt in breathing the vast majority of the time, jolting them awake. Sleep apnea is a serious condition.

A lack of oxygen to the brain may place a burden on other organs like the heart and lungs if it occurs often enough. Because of this, if you think you have issues with sleeping apnea try to get it diagnosed and dealt with. If you’re interested to find out more, visit this site. The top professionals in the field can help you get rid of sleep apnea for good.

The relationship between sleep apnea and oral health

Sleep apnea and oral health are well-connected. Their link is not one-sided. Poor oral health can cause sleep apnea, as well as the other way around.

Temporomandibular joint disorders

As a result of a collapse in the airway, those with obstructive sleep apnea often open their jaws while they sleep. Since TMJ or temporomandibular joint is used for this movement, it is no surprise that it gets stressed and strained from nightly mobility. 

That being said, there is a link between temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders and sleep apnea. The TMJ is a joint that connects your upper and lower jaw and there’s one joint on each side of the face. Teeth grinding, be it conscious or in your sleep, and difficulty eating are possible side effects of TMJ disease.

Sleep apnea sufferers are three times more likely to suffer from TMJ dysfunction, according to research published in the Journal of Dental Research in 2013. People with sleep apnea are seventy-three percent more likely to suffer from TMJ problems than those without the disorder. It is not known whether poor TMJ mobility causes sleep apnea or the other way around. 

Bruxism

Bruxism is teeth grinding or jaw clenching. Despite the fact that this behavior may take place at any moment, patients with sleep apnea are more likely to do it when they sleep. Bruxism disrupts sleep and may leave you drained, with headaches and jaw discomfort upon waking up. 

Bruxism is classified as a sleep disorder since it causes uncontrolled and involuntary jaw movement when you’re trying to sleep. Since this behavior happens in sleep, dentists are trained to look for the indicators of bruxism during the checkups. Bruxism may not sound serious at the first glance, but it can erode your enamel, cause serious jaw pain, and even chip your teeth!

Dry mouth

Depending on the severity of sleep apnea, breathing may be interrupted for anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes at a time. If you find yourself in this situation, your instinctive reaction is to gasp for air. Sleep apnea causes snoring even if you are not actively fighting for oxygen. Therefore, many sleep apnea sufferers keep their mouths open while they sleep. Sleeping with an open mouth causes the oral cavity to dry up. Your mouth is in general more likely to be drier at night since saliva production decreases. However, having your mouth too dry can cause tooth decay, gum disease, and bad breath.