Orthodontic Strategies to Improve Sleep
Sleep is one of the functions, which humans need without any compromise. Most of the people believe that good sleep is about the number of hours you get to sleep, but that’s not important. Hours don’t matter if you can’t get quality sleep. Sleep issues that lead to poor quality of sleep can be much worse than lack of sleep.
What are Sleep Problems?
- Mouth Breathing
Breathing through your mouth than nose can lead to several health issues. It can lead to dry mouth and put your teeth at risk of cavities as bacteria aren’t washed out from your mouth. The soft tissue in the mouth is dry, which can lead to red and inflame gums. Mouth breathing can also lead to chronic bad breath.
- Sleep Bruxism (Teeth Grinding)
Clenching your grinding teeth while sleeping is can make you suffer from a sleep disorder known as nocturnal grinding. It can be caused because of stress, snoring, fatigue, sleep apnea or coffee/ alcohol consumption.
- TMD
The TMJ is the joint, which enables you to open and close your mouth and connects the jaw to the skull. Symptoms include aching pain in ear, locked jaw, clicking noise when opening mouth or chewing food as well as pain in the jaw.
- The Health Effects of Poor Sleep
Poor sleep can make it difficult to concentrate and you will feel irritated. It will affect your mood as well as performance at school and work.
How Surgery can Improve Sleep
In worst cases, a surgeon may need to work in association with an orthodontist for treating the issues. The surgeries are meant for treating sleep apnea and can improve other sleep disorders.
- Surgery for mouth breathing
- Surgery for Sleep Bruxism
- Surgery for Temporomandibular Joint Disorder (TMD)
How Orthodontics Can Improve Sleep
Some of the orthodontics can significantly improve sleep problems by addressing the underlying issue. They can treat mouth breathing with the help of braces while sleep bruxism can be treated by wearing a night guard. Even TMD can be treated by fixing the bite.
