Dental Sleep Medicine Q&A

Dental sleep medicine can improve your breathing as you sleep to preserve your energy, focus, and mental functioning during the day. Jeffery Hodges, DDS, a diplomate of the American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine and a member of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, is among the team practicing at Albemarle Dental Associates. To book your dental sleep medicine consultation, call the office in Charlottesville, Virginia, or request one online today.


What is dental sleep medicine?

Dental sleep medicine is a branch of dentistry that improves your sleep and can treat insomnia. It does so by repositioning your jaw at night to alleviate sleep-related breathing disorders. 

The team at Albemarle Dental Associates has a background in dental sleep medicine and collaborates with numerous other physicians to provide excellent care. They also provide in-depth assessments to evaluate your sleep patterns and determine if dental sleep medicine can help you.

Can I benefit from dental sleep medicine?

Many people experience poor sleep quality and for a number of reasons. Sleep-related breathing disorders like sleep apnea are a major cause of insomnia, snoring, and lots of other symptoms indicative of poor sleep. 

You should consider scheduling a consultation and assessment for dental sleep medicine at Albemarle Dental Associates if you experience symptoms like:

  • Morning headaches
  • Daytime fatigue
  • Loud snoring
  • Morning dry mouth
  • Irritability
  • Trouble concentrating
  • Trouble staying asleep at night 

Even though loud snoring is perhaps the most well-known symptom of sleep-related breathing disorders, not everyone with a sleep-related breathing disorder snores. 

However, obstructive sleep apnea causes breathing disruptions and pauses in many cases. The disorder causes you to have trouble getting the volume of oxygen your body needs to function at its best during the day and at night. 

How does dental sleep medicine work?

Sleep-related breathing disorders, specifically obstructive sleep apnea, are treatable with help from the expert team at Albemarle Dental Associates. You can experience nighttime relief, satisfying sleep, and improved oxygen levels by treating your disorder with a custom oral appliance.

Oral appliance therapy works by preventing your airway from collapsing when you relax. This widens the passage so that air can get through, and you can breathe clearly as you sleep. Your oral appliance fits similarly to a nighttime retainer and is custom-made to fit your mouth comfortably. 

The team at Albemarle Dental Associates can help you try a few types of oral appliances to find the one that works best in your case. These appliances are an alternative to treatment with a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine, which you might find to be loud, bulky, or impractical.

If you struggle to get a good night’s sleep because of sleep-related breathing disorders, call Albemarle Dental Associates for a dental sleep medicine consultation or book online today.