How Can Snoring Ruin A Person's Teeth?

Snoring happens when the airway is moderately or entirely restricted when sleeping. If this happens, your breathing will become labored and the mouth will open so you can get more extra air flowing. Snoring might cause a variety of oral problems that our team at Made Ya Smile can happily treat. Men and women in Houston, TX who worry they snore or have sleep issues can come by our practice for information about snoring solutions that will benefit their oral well-being and hygine.

The significance of snoring on teeth

If your mouth is left open while sleeping, your mouth will dry out. If this continues, your salivary glands will no longer work and you may not have an adequate amount saliva for your mouth stay wet. This is known as xerostomia, a lack of salivary flow. Saliva is important in order to coat your oral tissues.

Dry mouth is one of the most common causes of gum disease and tooth loss in adults. Saliva is necessary in order to maintain the health of the mouth by cleaning the tongue, your cheeks, and gums of dead cells. If these bacteria aren’t removed routinely, they cause a smell and can cause bad breath. Furthermore, when there is inadequate saliva, a burning sensation might occur, which can lead to burning mouth syndrome.

When the mouth is not wet, there could be a pH imbalance that encourages acid and plaque to build up and weaken tooth enamel. This can also generate pits in the teeth that can lead to cavities. If left without treatment, bacteria might even affect your nerves and tooth roots, eventually requiring root canal therapy in Houston, TX. Bacteria also further increases your chances of infection.

If your mouth is sticky, bad breath, a dry tongue, or thick saliva, these are each signs that your mouth is not producing an adequate amount of saliva. In more extreme cases of xerostomia, your taste could become impacted. If you snore or you suffer from sleep apnea, these dry-mouth symptoms are the first sign that you might want to schedule an appointment with our team for dental assistance soon.

Sleep apnea and snoring

Sleep apnea is a sleeping affliction that develops when regular breathing is disrupted while you sleep. Therefore, snoring is frequent with most people with sleep apnea, but not everyone who snores has the disorder. Individuals who have oversized tonsils and/or tongues, small jaws, or a nasal obstruction such as a deviated septum may be at risk for having sleep apnea.

You could have one of two types of sleep apnea:

1. Obstructive sleep apnea: This is the more common type and is the result of restricted airflow. This occurs when the soft tissue toward the back of the throat caves in when you’re sleeping.
2. Central sleep apnea: This forms when the brain signals an issue with the breathing muscles. The airway isn’t always interrupted, but your brain doesn’t correctly signal the muscles to breath.

Your oral health and snoring

Even though snoring doesn’t actually mean you will experience tooth loss, it can indicate that you will need to be better about your oral hygiene. A common way to combat the dry-mouth symptoms of sleep apnea is to brush your teeth at least two times each day for at least two minutes. This will block bacteria overgrowth. Flossing daily is equally important as this will eliminate bacteria that will occur at your gumline or in between your teeth.

Bi-annual dental visits at Made Ya Smile permits our team to look for cavities and if found, to treat them as early as possible. These appointments will help take care of any oral issues prior to expensive restorative procedures are needed, like a crown.

Address your snoring

Men and women who have severe sleep apnea aren’t always the best contender for a solution from the dentist. A Continuous Positive Air Pressure (CPAP) will likely be a better choice. Keep in mind, some patients are not good candidates due to separate health issues. Our team efficiently examines you and learns about your health history before we establish whether or not you could have a CPAP.

Made Ya Smile provides sleep apnea testing to determine if you need an oral appliance. This device is performed at your house as you sleep and the results are forwarded to your doctor who then gives authorization for the use of dental appliance therapy from our team in Houston, TX. Dental appliance therapy is a unique tool that goes in the mouth while you sleep. It is a lot like a mouth guard. However, this device isn’t used to preserve the teeth from injury, instead it pushes the jaw into a forward arrangement to keep the airway properly placed. Digital x-rays allow our dentists to see your jaw, teeth, tongue, and airway very clearly prior to producing your dental appliance.

Treating snoring with oral appliance therapy

Our team at Made Ya Smile is here to help determine if snoring and sleep issues may be impacting your oral wellness. If you believe your sleep issues are developing into a problem and you want to learn about all of the snoring treatments offered in Houston, TX, arrange an appointment at our dentist office as soon as possible!