Sleep Apnea and Jaw Surgery
If you read our cover article, you just learned a lot about sleep apnea, how it affects your life, and how an orthodontist can help. There are many different solutions to help with obstructive sleep apnea, but the one that often sees the most success is corrective jaw surgery. Obstructive sleep apnea can occur when face and neck muscles fail to work with jaw bones to support the tongue and airway. Corrective jaw surgery can be used to reposition the jaw and tongue and remove excess tissue from the back of the throat. The goal of the surgery is to increase the size of the airway and to prevent the collapse of the jaw and tongue during sleep. One of the most common types of jaw surgery used for this situation is genioglossus advancement, which is used to reposition the tongue and prevent it from blocking the airway.
will make incisions around the jaws and in the gums before using special tools to make cuts in the bone. They’ll likely reposition the bones using
splints and stabilize them with small plates and screws before closing the gums with dissolvable stitches. Patients are often told to be on a liquid diet for weeks after the procedure to ensure that everything heals properly. There may be limits on physical activities as well. You may be sore initially, but after that wears off,
you shouldn’t feel any pain or be able to notice the plates or screws in your mouth.
While corrective jaw surgery can help with issues caused by obstructive sleep apnea, it’s best to take precautions to prevent sleep apnea from occurring in the first place. Exercising regularly and eating a healthy and balanced diet will help you stay in shape and keep extra weight off, which in turn, will help prevent sleep apnea from occurring in the first place.
Jaw surgeries that help patients with obstructive sleep apnea are often invasive and performed under general anesthesia. The surgeon
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