Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a severe and life-threatening disorder that affects both adults and children. It is a breathing disorder characterised by brief interruptions of breathing during sleep as many as 5-80 times per hour. Each time you stop breathing in your sleep, the resulting lack of oxygen alerts your brain, which temporarily wakes you up to restart proper breathing.

Since the time spent awake is so brief, most people with sleep apnea don't remember it, and many feel like they are getting a good night's sleep when, in fact, they are not. The constant wake-sleep, wake-sleep cycle prevents those with sleep apnea from achieving deep sleep, resulting in a constant drowsy feeling during the day.

Symptoms:

Loud snoring

Witnessed gasping or choking

Long pauses in breathing while sleeping

Daytime sleepiness

Morning headache- hangover

Irritability

Difficulty concentrating

Consequences:

High blood pressure

Heart attacks

Heart failures

Strokes

Depression

Diabetes

Treatment:

Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machine

The gold standard treatment for OSA

Somnodent

Oral Appliance

Oral appliance therapy is recommended by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine as a comfortable and effective alternative to CPAP. It is a custom-made type of appliance that moves your lower jaw forward and opens your bite.

This in turn will hold your tongue forward and your throat muscles are then activated to open the airway, so your airway stays open and won’t relax and collapse when you’re asleep. It is is an effective, non-invasive and comfortable solution.

Experienced Sleep Apnea Orthodontist

Dr Chay has been working in the sleep apnea field for over 20 years. She was one of the pioneers in Singapore working with the sleep apnea team (consisting of a sleep physician, ENT surgeon, Oral and maxillofacial surgeon and speech therapist) in National University Hospital and Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

Since coming back to Malaysia, she has been actively spreading awareness of this disorder by giving talks and holding workshops. She is passionate in helping her patients to prevent the dire consequences of this “loud” killer.

If you suspect you may have OSA, please call us for an appointment and Dr Chay will evaluate you and if needed, a home sleep study will be ordered for you.