Sleep Apnea

If you're exhausted no matter how many hours you spend in bed — or if a partner has told you that you snore, gasp, or stop breathing at night — it's worth taking seriously. Sleep apnea doesn't just leave you tired; left unaddressed, it can affect your heart, your mood, and your long-term health. The good news: it's a treatable condition, and diagnosis is the first step.

Sleep apnea is a disorder marked by repeated pauses in breathing during sleep — sometimes dozens of times a night — that fragment sleep even when you don't fully wake up. It often goes undiagnosed for years simply because the person experiencing it is asleep when it happens; it's frequently a partner who notices first.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), the most common form, occurs when the upper airway becomes partially or fully blocked during sleep. Central Sleep Apnea (CSA) is different — it results from the brain not sending proper signals to the muscles that control breathing, rather than a physical blockage. A note on treatment: oral appliance therapy, the approach we offer, is effective for OSA; CSA generally requires a different kind of medical management, and we'll help direct you appropriately if that's what an evaluation points to.

Signs to watch for

• Loud, regular snoring — especially with pauses, gasping, or choking sounds
• Excessive daytime sleepiness
• Frequent morning headaches
• Dry or sore throat on waking
• Trouble falling or staying asleep
• Fatigue, low energy, or difficulty concentrating during the day
• Mood swings or irritability
• Waking frequently to urinate

Not everyone experiences every symptom, and some — like snoring — can happen without sleep apnea at all. But if a combination of these is persistently affecting your quality of life, it's worth having evaluated.

What contributes to sleep apnea

Risk factors include excess weight, a larger neck circumference, a naturally narrow airway (from tongue, tonsil, or adenoid size), being male or over 40, family history, and certain conditions like hypertension, type 2 diabetes, or cardiovascular disease. Some medications — particularly sedatives and opioids — can contribute as well.

Why it's worth treating

Beyond disrupted sleep, untreated sleep apnea is linked to higher long-term risk of cardiovascular problems, type 2 diabetes, mood disorders, weight gain, and cognitive changes over time — which is part of why we recommend evaluation sooner rather than living with it indefinitely.

Snoring happens when tissue in the throat and nasal passages vibrates during sleep. It becomes worth addressing when it's disruptive — to your sleep, a partner's, or your daytime energy — or when it comes with other symptoms that suggest sleep apnea rather than simple snoring.

If lifestyle changes (sleep position, weight management) and over-the-counter approaches haven't helped, a custom oral appliance can often reduce or eliminate snoring.

Sleep apnea and TMJ disorder frequently overlap — nighttime teeth grinding is now understood to often be the brain's response to a partially blocked airway, which means jaw pain and sleep-disordered breathing can be two symptoms of the same underlying problem. As a board-certified orofacial pain specialist trained in dental sleep medicine, Dr. Kruman can evaluate both together, and offers custom oral appliance therapy as an alternative for patients who can't tolerate CPAP. If teeth grinding is part of your picture, it's worth reviewing our page on bruxism as well.