Dental Sleep Medicine
Dental sleep medicine is a subspecialty of dentistry that focuses on treating respiratory conditions that affect sleep, like snoring and obstructive sleep apnea, through oral appliance therapy (OSA). About 25 million adults in the United States suffer from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), which can cause sufferers to stop breathing hundreds of times per night for anywhere between a few seconds and more than a minute. When your muscles unconsciously relax while you're sleeping, soft tissue collapses and obstructs your airway, resulting in the persistent illness known as sleep apnea.