Snore and Sleep Apnoea

Are you fed up with your partner’s snoring or have you been asked by your partner to sleep in another room because of your snoring?

Snore and Sleep Apnoea not only can cause devastating effects on your health and work but also your relationship.

Snore happens when air can still flow through to your lungs but with soft tissues resistance. Soft tissue vibration creates snoring.

How about Sleep Apnoea?

There are different kinds of Sleep Apnoea. Only Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA) in adult is mentioned in this post today.
When you have sleep apnoea, your airway partially or totally collapses during sleep. Air can not get to your lungs. When your breathing gets disrupted even for just a few moments, your sleep gets disturbed and your heart has to work harder. Sleep is necessary for your body healing and recharge from the daily activities. With snore and sleep apnoea present, your body strains harder when you sleep.

Common signs and symptoms of Sleep Apnoea:

Excessive snoring both in duration and loudness
Witnessed stop breathing
Waken up felt like being choked
Gasp for air
Frequent visits to the bathroom during the night
Lack of energy
Daytime tiredness, sleepiness
Poor concentration and memory

Studies have shown Snore and Sleep Apnoea can increase your risk of:

Heart attack
Stroke
Type 2 diabetes
High blood pressure
Depression and Anxiety
Motor vehicle and work place accidents

What kinds of treatment are there?

1. CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure): to date, this is still the gold standard of treatment for patients who suffer moderate to severe sleep apnoea. That is if patients can comply with using the machine every night. Many will find CPAP machine is so bulky and could not tolerate the face mask. These patients can consider the next option of treatment.

2. MAS (Mandibular Advancement Splint): those who simply snore or suffer mild to moderate sleep apnoea, those that want less pressure in their CPAP mask or those that have mild or no sleep apnoea but have high respiratory index (RDI) in their Sleep Study, the intra-oral MAS is their treatment of choice. However, not all MAS are made equal. Dentists at Kaleen Dental Care and Facial Aesthetics have chosen Somnodent to be their MAS of choice due to many long term clinical studies available. The physiologic bite technique KDCFA dentists use to construct the MAS has made it more comfortable to wear and quicker to adapt to.

3. LASER (Nightlase by Fotona Lightwalker ATS): this treatment aims at toning and reducing the volume of the soft tissues at the back of your throat, creating more space for airflow. LASER can be used in conjunction with MAS and/or CPAP to further improve the airway patency. Those who could not and will not tolerate CPAP or MAS will benefit greatly from this LASER technology.

In Canberra and the surrounding regions, Nightlase is only available at

Kaleen Dental Care and Facial Aesthetics.

Dr Linhlan Nguyen is the only trained dentist for this technology so far.

Where should I start?

Like most things in health, we should start with healthy diet, plenty of exercise, reduce the Body Mass Index (BMI) and decent number of hours for sleep.

You can make an appointment with Dr Linhlan Nguyen for a consultation and screening to see which treatment is best for you. She might need to refer you to an ENT specialist, a Sleep Physician or even an Orthodontist.

Remember, we may live for weeks without food, days without water but ONLY MINUTES WITHOUT AIR! It is not only your body get hurt when you suffer from Snore and Sleep Apnoea but it is also the people surrounding you, your loved ones. Please pass this post on to as many people you care as you can.

Please ring 6241 6718 for your consultation appointment. We look forward to working with you on your better “well being” journey.

BEFORE NIGHTLASE TREATMENTAIRWAYS MEASUREMENTS AT THE NARROWEST POINT IN THE ORO-PHARYNX WERE 3.6MM X 20.40MM

AFTER FOUR TREATMENTS OF NIGHTLASE AIRWAY MEASUREMENTS WERE 7MM X 23.80 MM