Snoring & Sleep
Disordered Breathing

At Azura we provide high quality dental services to compliment your overall health

Say Goodbye to Restless Nights With Dental Solutions for Sleep Apnoea and Snoring

At Azura Dental, we understand that sleep-disordered breathing can seriously impact your quality of life, leading to daytime fatigue, irritability, and long-term health issues if left untreated. Our team can help you find the right solution to reduce snoring, improve breathing, and help you feel your best.

What is Sleep
Disordered Breathing?

Understanding what happens during sleep can be challenging, and symptoms of sleep disordered breathing often go unnoticed. If you find yourself lacking the rest you need, experiencing snoring, waking up tired, struggling with sleep, or frequently feeling drained, it may be time to consider a sleep evaluation and possibly a sleep study.

Sleep disordered breathing encompasses a range of sleep-related issues, from feeling unrefreshed upon awakening to snoring and even obstructive sleep apnoea. While sleep disordered breathing conditions are more commonly diagnosed in males over 40, they can affect individuals of any age, including children. Interestingly, sleep disordered breathing often remains undiagnosed or overlooked in children, younger men, and women, despite displaying many signs and symptoms. Identifying sleep disordered breathing requires more than just recognising snoring or interrupted breathing; sometimes, the symptoms can be subtle and require specialised knowledge for accurate identification.

If left untreated, sleep disordered breathing can lead to various health complications and negatively impact your overall well-being. In children, it can hinder their learning abilities, potentially preventing them from reaching their full potential.

Thankfully, with the aid of dental practitioners trained to identify these signs and symptoms, as well as advancements in sleep study technology and treatment options, identifying and treating sleep-related breathing disorders has become convenient and straightforward. Nowadays, it is possible to undergo a sleep study from the comfort of your own home, while dental sleep devices offer a common, highly effective, and non-invasive treatment method. Ensuring a good night’s sleep is now easier than ever, allowing you to live a fulfilling life both for yourself and your loved ones.

How can Azura help with sleep disordered breathing?

Our team are passionate about your wellbeing. As part of your first check-up and clean appointment with us, our trained staff will assess your risk of sleep disordered breathing. This simple assessment involves some simple questions and comprehensive examination and evaluation. If you or your child are identified to be at risk of sleep disordered breathing, you may be referred to our Sleep Disordered Breathing Coordinator (SDBC) who will assess your suitability for a sleep study. On occasion where our practitioners identify possible physical or anatomical reasons for sleep disordered breathing, we may refer you to our Ear, Nose and Throat specialist to assess this first.

Our sleep studies are non-invasive and completed in your home. A sleep study gathers data to check how well you sleep and to diagnose sleep disorders such as sleep apnoea. The easy to use, sleep recording equipment captures a range of data while you’re sleeping, including heart rate, oxygen levels and body movement. Our SDBC and our practitioners will evaluate the data and advise you on the next steps and options available to you. Most importantly our team will support you throughout your journey from identification and diagnosis right through to improve to your ability to live life at your healthiest.

What are the Treatment Options?

Treating your sleep disordered breathing condition can help you to have a peaceful night’s sleep and wake with the energy you need to face the day. There is a range of options available depending on the severity of the condition and a patient’s circumstances.

The first and most simple solution for some patients is a small nasal appliance called a mute. This device can help open up the nasal airway alleviating mild sleep disordered breathing or as an adjunct to other treatment in some patients. Your dentist will assess your suitability for this device.

Snoring and mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnoea are often treated with a Mandibular Advancement Device (MAD). This is a custom fit mouthguard worn on the top and bottom teeth during sleep. It works by keeping the lower jaw in a forward position to maintain an open airway allowing for normal breathing patterns. Our team will ensure your custom-made MAD device fits correctly for maximum comfort and results Our qualified practitioners titrate (adjust) the level that your MAD device will move your jaw into place and allow an open airway to achieve the best result for you. For those with more severe sleep apnoea or those that would prefer, a C-PAP device is usually recommended. C-PAP stands for continuous positive airway pressure.

This device delivers a constant flow of air via a mask while you sleep. Our team can assist you to organise this and make it a smooth process to ensure you get the best outcome and live your best life.

In some cases, it may be necessary to refer you to an ENT Specialist. This is especially the case for patients who have an obstruction within their nose or airway that is causing a blockage. Many patients may not even realise that this exists or is causing them problems until an airway and sleep screening by our skilled practitioners identifies it. The best part is, that this is often able to be treated and this problem eliminated or substantially improved.

Sometimes, lifestyle changes can also help to reduce the symptoms of sleep apnoea, including giving up smoking, reducing your alcohol intake and losing weight if you are overweight. Our practitioners can talk to you about which of these may apply to you. Some people only experience sleep disordered breathing when sleeping on their backs, and changing their sleeping position can be helpful. Our sleep studies track what position you sleep in and for how long and whether you had any sleep apnoea events, allowing our practitioners to assess if this will assist in your case.

Why Azura Dental?

When you visit us, you will receive our highest quality dental treatment in a calm, tranquil environment. We take a comprehensive approach to helping you experience the benefits of restful sleep.

Our experienced team is well-versed in the latest treatments for snoring and sleep-disordered breathing. With personalised solutions tailored to your needs, we can help you get the restful sleep you need to feel your best.