Royal Oak and Birmingham, MI

Sleep apnea is a serious condition that disrupts your rest and overall health. While CPAP machines are commonly associated with sleep apnea treatment, they aren’t the only solution available. At Dr. Nancy Hartrick’s office, we offer alternative treatments to help you manage sleep apnea in a way that suits your lifestyle and comfort.

Expert Care for Sleep Apnea at Dr. Nancy Hartrick’s Office

With over a decade of experience in treating sleep disorders, Dr. Nancy Hartrick brings her expertise and knowledge to sleep apnea care. A recognized professional by the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine (AADSM), Dr. Hartrick takes a personalized and comprehensive approach to treating sleep apnea. We don’t just treat symptoms; we delve into the root causes of the condition to offer tailored treatment options.

Our office is equipped with state-of-the-art dental sleep technology, enabling us to provide non-invasive, effective treatments. Our team is dedicated to making sure that each patient receives the best possible care and support throughout their treatment journey.

At-Home Positional Therapy Guidance

For patients with positional sleep apnea, which worsens in specific sleeping positions, Dr. Hartrick provides guidance on managing symptoms through positional therapy.

While we don’t offer positional therapy devices, we can provide valuable advice on implementing this method effectively at home:

• Understanding Positional Therapy: We educate patients on techniques to avoid sleeping on their backs, a position that can aggravate symptoms.
• Personalized Tips: We recommend ways to encourage side-sleeping, such as using supportive pillows or sleepwear.
• Success Framework: Our team shares proven strategies that have helped many patients improve their sleep quality through positional therapy.

Supporting Weight Management

Weight plays a crucial role in the severity of sleep apnea. While Dr. Hartrick doesn’t offer a formal weight management program, we do provide advice on managing your weight effectively at home.

Here’s how we help:

• Initial Assessment: We guide you in understanding how your weight may contribute to your sleep apnea.
• Goal Setting: We assist you in setting practical weight loss goals to help alleviate sleep apnea symptoms.

By following our guidance and adopting healthy lifestyle changes, many patients have successfully improved their sleep apnea symptoms and overall health.

Lifestyle Adjustments for Better Sleep

Managing sleep apnea often requires making changes beyond just dental treatments. At Dr. Nancy Hartrick’s office, we offer guidance on simple lifestyle adjustments that can improve your symptoms:

• Smoking: Smoking can worsen sleep apnea by causing inflammation and fluid retention in the airway. We connect patients with local resources to help them quit smoking.
• Alcohol: Alcohol relaxes the throat muscles and can exacerbate sleep apnea. We provide tips for moderating alcohol consumption, particularly before bed.
• Allergen Management: To reduce symptoms, we recommend improving air quality in your bedroom by using air purifiers and hypoallergenic bedding.
• Sleep Routine: Establishing a consistent sleep schedule can improve overall sleep quality. We offer strategies to help patients stick to a regular bedtime routine.

Custom-Fitted Dental Appliances for Sleep Apnea

Dr. Hartrick specializes in providing custom-fitted dental appliances that serve as an effective alternative to CPAP machines.

These appliances help keep the airway open during sleep, offering a comfortable and personalized solution for sleep apnea:

• Tailored Fit: Each appliance is custom-fitted to ensure maximum comfort and effectiveness.
• Personalized Adjustments: The appliance is adjusted to meet the specific needs of your diagnosis, optimizing relief from sleep apnea symptoms.

Home Care for Your Dental Appliance:
To ensure your dental appliance continues to function well, we provide clear instructions on how to clean it daily, store it properly, and maintain it to maximize its lifespan.

• Routine Checks: We educate you on how to inspect your appliance for wear and tear and when to seek professional adjustments.
• Scheduled Follow-Ups: Regular visits are scheduled to ensure your appliance remains comfortable and effective.

With custom-fitted dental appliances, our patients find a more comfortable, less intrusive option for managing sleep apnea.

Streamlined At-Home Sleep Apnea Monitoring

At Dr. Nancy Hartrick’s office, we offer an advanced at-home sleep monitoring service to enhance the treatment process. Using BRAEBON™ biosensors, this convenient service allows you to record vital sleep data right from your bed.

Once we assess your sleep data, we can recommend treatments such as a custom-fitted dental appliance to improve your nighttime breathing. This quick turnaround allows us to begin your treatment plan in just a few days.

Over-the-Counter Sleep Apnea Devices

While Dr. Hartrick specializes in custom solutions, we also inform our patients about over-the-counter (OTC) devices. OTC options such as anti-snore pillows and nasal strips may offer temporary relief for mild sleep apnea, but they are not typically effective for moderate or severe cases. Always consult with Dr. Hartrick before relying on OTC devices as your primary treatment.

Your Path to Better Sleep Starts Here

Adhering to a personalized treatment plan is key to overcoming sleep apnea. At Dr. Nancy Hartrick’s office, we are committed to guiding you toward better sleep and improved overall well-being.

Take the first step toward better sleep today. Call (248) 712-1149 or complete our online contact form to schedule a consultation. Together, we’ll find the right solution to help you achieve restful nights and healthier days.

Royal Oak and Birmingham, MI

Do you have trouble focusing? Are you often forgetting even simple things? These are symptoms of brain fog. In the past this condition has been associated with depression or stress. Cancer patients have experienced it as a side effect of treatment, and it’s even been linked as a consequence of COVID-19. You may not realize that, depending on the cause of brain fog, your dentist can help treat this problem. Find out how, today on the blog.

Brain fog can stem from obstructive sleep apnea

Foggy thinking and diminished cognitive function are both possible consequences of untreated sleep apnea. You may experience memory problems, have difficulty concentrating or are experiencing poor performance at work or school. If this sounds like something that you or a loved one is living with, then your mind is not functioning as it should—and poor sleep could be the real culprit.

How does sleep affect the brain?

Getting quality sleep is crucial to the overall performance of the body as well as the mind. When you sleep, your brain can perform certain functions that it can’t manage while you are awake. This includes the creation of new brain cells, and essentially cleaning itself using the glymphatic system—which eliminates excess proteins and metabolites from the central nervous system. One of the proteins eliminated by the glymphatic system is amyloid beta, which has been linked to degenerative neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Sleep is also crucial to the function of the prefrontal cortex. This area of the brain controls decision making and cognitive function, and during sleep it solidifies memories and retains any new information you learned that day.

Sleep apnea destroys the quality of your sleep

Good sleep is about quality more so than quantity. It’s better to get six hours of deep, restful sleep than seven or more hours of fitful sleep. Sleep apnea makes it basically impossible for someone to get the quality sleep they need and be at their best. For someone with obstructive sleep apnea, the airway becomes impeded or totally blocked during sleep. These blockages may occur hundreds of times each night. Every time this happens, your brain becomes aware you are not getting enough oxygen and goes into crisis mode—bringing you out of the sleep cycle and sending chemical signals that trigger a stress response in the body to resume normal breathing. Often, someone with sleep apnea never wakes up consciously, but the constant series of alerts throughout the night, every single night, ruins your ability to get quality sleep. This is because someone with sleep apnea does not spend enough time in the deepest stage of the sleep cycle, which is the most crucial from a recuperative standpoint.

Long-term, the effects of sleep deprivation can have a devastating impact on your mental health.

The potential brain-related issues linked to living with sleep loss include:

• Alzheimer’s
• Brain damage
• Learning disabilities
• PTSD
• Anxiety

Depression

Offering non-invasive treatment for sleep apnea

If sleep apnea is causing your brain fog, Dr. Nancy Hartrick and the team at Hartrick Dentistry are here to help. Although an official diagnosis of sleep apnea only can be made by a qualified sleep specialist, Dr. Cook can treat your sleep apnea through the use of customized oral appliances. This oral appliance is worn as a night guard, bringing the lower jaw forward and serving to maintain an open airway throughout the night – thus preventing the airway blockages that cause apneic events. Let Hartrick Dentistry help you get the deep, restful sleep you deserve. To schedule an appointment, please call (248) 549-0950.

Royal Oak and Birmingham, MI

Snoring is common, although that doesn’t mean it is harmless. One of the most significant warning signs of obstructive sleep apnea is snoring, which means that your body struggles to breathe while sleeping due to an airway obstruction. Certain health and lifestyle factors can impact your risk of developing sleep apnea. For instance, consuming alcohol or being overweight makes a person more likely to be a snorer. However, did you know that certain medications can also affect your breathing patterns while you sleep? Today on the blog, find out how certain medications could cause snoring and what you can do about it.

What is sleep apnea?

Obstructive sleep apnea is a sleep-breathing disorder in which the airway is partially or fully blocked. This means that the body isn’t getting enough oxygen when you breathe. As a result, the brain automatically signals the body to resume breathing again, which disrupts the sleep cycle. Often times, untreated sleep apnea leads to chronic fatigue, frequent headaches, low sex drive, irritability, and depression with snoring being one of (but not always) the primary symptom.

What’s the connection between certain medications and sleep apnea?

Some medications are known to increase one’s susceptibility to develop sleep apnea associated with weight gain.

Below are five medications that could worsen a case of sleep apnea or increase your risk of developing this sleep-breathing disorder.

• Antidepressants – Specifically, tricyclic antidepressants are known to stimulate the appetite, leading to greater caloric intake, snacking, or overeating that may result in weight gain. Another type of antidepressant known as SSRIs may impact the sleep cycle by interrupting the REM stage or rapid eye movement that occurs when you’re in the deepest sleep stage.
• Depakote – This medication is also known as a valproic acid, which is a mood stabilizer used to treat seizures and bipolar disorders, and in some cases, migraines that could impact one’s ability to fall asleep or stay asleep.
• Steroids – A common medication that is prescribed for inflammation and other ailments and disorders, steroids may cause weight gain in as many as 70% of users that take the medication long-term. You may recognize this medication by the name prednisone, which is a corticosteroid that is often prescribed to treat disorders or diseases related to inflammation in the body. Since this medication may lead to weight gain, the risk of obstructive sleep apnea increases.
• Antihistamines – According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, as many as 100 million Americans suffer from allergies. Most of these sufferers rely on antihistamines like Allegra or Zyrtec to reduce their allergic reactions. Unfortunately, antihistamines may cause weight gain that could increase one’s risk of excess fat around the neck that restricts the airways and causes obstructive sleep apnea.
• Insulin – It’s estimated that 8.4 million people take insulin to manage their blood sugar levels related to diabetes. A potential side effect of insulin use is weight gain, especially if you do not follow the dietary protocol set forth by your doctor. If you have diabetes and take insulin, consider scheduling a sleep apnea screening with Dr. Hartrick to rule out a serious sleep-breathing disorder.

Sleep Apnea Screening in Royal Oak and Birmingham, Michigan

Sleep apnea has been dubbed the “silent killer” because many of its sufferers are unaware that they snore or have this condition. Additionally, ignoring sleep apnea and not managing it properly increases the risk of comorbidities like an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, and even dementia. If you snore or would like to schedule a sleep apnea screening, contact Hartrick Dentistry by calling (248) 549-0950.