Snoring & Sleep Apnea

Lexington, KY Snoring and Sleep Apnea Solutions

Sleep Apnea is a disease that, when you’re sleeping, you stop breathing and it’s significant when you stop breathing over ten seconds at a time. I got into the Sleep Apnea field about eight years ago. There are oral appliances that are approved by medicine that can help treat Sleep Apnea.

What the appliance do is they allow the tongue not to fall back, which blocks the airway while you’re sleeping. The standard of care for Sleep Apnea, with people that understand it is CPAP, which is a machine and a mask that you wear that it helps keep the air flow going. A lot of patients don’t like the mask, so we’re in a position here that we can provide them with the oral appliance to treat the Sleep Apnea.

What we started doing, about two years ago, was every patient that comes in, they fill out a Sleep Apnea questionnaire, a sleep questionnaire, so we can get a feel for are you tired during the day? Do you snore at night? We put all that information together and we can come up with, you may have Sleep Apnea. What we do here, is part of my thorough exam is I look for signs that the patient may have Sleep Apnea, so we can provide them with a sleep screening that they can do at home.

If they have an indication they do have sleep disorder breathing, we’ll either refer them to their primary care physician for a sleep test, or we can actually send them to a sleep physician to have a consultation and then the sleep physician will order a sleep test in a sleep center.

Do you or your bed partner suffer from loud, regular snoring? Snoring can be the first indication that you may have a sleep breathing disorder or sleep apnea symptoms. Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder that commonly goes undiagnosed and can lead to high blood pressure, increased risk of a heart attack, daytime fatigue, and even death. Our office can offer a solution to your snoring or sleep apnea problem.

What is sleep apnea?

The word “apnea” originates from the Greek “without breathing.” Sleep apnea is a common but potentially dangerous sleep condition that is characterized by repeated pauses in your breathing during sleep. These pauses can last from a few seconds to minutes and can occur thirty or more times per hour, and hundreds of times throughout the night.

The most common form of sleep apnea is obstructive sleep apnea, a condition where the airways are blocked, causing breathing to be briefly interrupted multiple times during the night. This occurs when the soft tissue in a person’s throat repeatedly collapses and blocks the airway during sleep.

Episodes of sleep apnea usually stop with a loud snort, snore, or choking sound that can momentarily wake you up. The continuous pauses and jolting awake make for a light sleep rather than the necessary deep, restorative sleep, resulting in daytime sleepiness and poor concentration.
Chronic sleep deprivation can also contribute to serious health conditions, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and weight gain.

What do I do if I think I have sleep apnea?

If you are experiencing one or more of the following signs, contact our office immediately.

  • Snoring that disrupts your or your partner’s sleep
  • Shortness of breath during sleep, which may cause you to wake
  • Pauses in your breathing during sleep
  • Excessive daytime fatigue

If you think you have severe sleep apnea but are not sure, your first step is to visit our office for a consultation with Dr. Takacs and fill out a free questionnaire. If your questionnaire indicates a possibility that you are suffering from sleep apnea, Dr. Takacs will arrange for you to go to the trusted sleep clinic she partners with for a sleep test. In some cases, you will be able to do your sleep test at home. The sleep center will give you a definitive diagnosis and, if you have sleep apnea, determine its severity.

How can sleep apnea be treated?

Up until relatively recently, the standard of sleep apnea treatment or care has been the CPAP machine, where air pressure is applied through a nasal mask. In 2006 the American Academy of Sleep Medicine included oral appliances as a first line of therapy for mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea and studies have repeatedly validated their efficacy.

In oral appliance therapy, an oral appliance is placed in the mouth and worn much like a mouthguard. It acts to keep your airways open. Oral appliances are also used to control snoring.

Who can provide oral appliance therapy?

Dentists with advanced training in the field of dental sleep medicine are recommended for fitting and installing oral appliances.

Dr. Takacs is a member of the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine and has taken a residency on sleep medicine at Tufts University. We even have a special location where we examine and treat problems like sleep apnea and TMJ. It’s fittingly called the TMJ And Sleep Dentistry Center of Central Kentucky, LLC. You can schedule an appointment today by calling 859-721-2072. Once it is determined you have sleep apnea, and its severity, she can equip you with a custom-made oral appliance.

If you are suffering from excessive snoring or sleep apnea Lexington KY, we can help. Our dedicated team can help determine what form of treatment is right for you. To schedule an appointment, please call our office. You can also use our online form to send us a message. A member of our team will be happy to help you schedule a date and time that works best for you.



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