National Stop Snoring Week

“The Tooth And Nothing But The Tooth”

By Chris “Dr Smile Maker” Branfield

National Stop Snoring Week

Hello again, I hope you are well.  This month we have National Stop Snoring Week.  It is actually 22nd – 28th April.  There seems to be a national week or national day for most things now and snoring has not escaped.  Snoring and lack of sleep is gaining more interest, as is sleep medicine as a subject.  Poor sleep can have serious health repercussions.

Snoring

The sound of snoring is irritating and annoying and can lead to sleep deprivation for the bed partner. But the noise of snoring can also cause a number of health problems.  The level of noise that starts to have an effect on sleep is around 40dB.  The noise of snoring can range from about 50dB to 100+dB.  Research has consistently found that when exposed to noise at these levels, it can have a negative effect on all areas of wellbeing.

Sleep disturbance, hearing impairment, daytime functioning, mental health problems, cognitive issues and negative social behaviour can be symptoms of being subjected to loud noise over an extended period of time.  Sleep deprivation can also have a negative impact on body systems such as hormonal release, glucose regulation and cardiovascular function.  Some bed partners who sleep with a snorer try to ignore the noise.

Although they may manage to sleep through the night, the quality of sleep is much reduced and they will not feel as refreshed in the morning as they should.  Noise tends to reduce deep refreshing sleep to more shallow sleep, and will reduce dreaming sleep.

Facts About Snoring:

• 15 million snorers in the UK.
• 10.5 million men 4.5 million women.
• 40-50% of patients do not comply with suggested treatment.
• Men are louder snorers than women.
• 58% of snorers are between 50-59 years of age.
• The average sound of snoring is around 50dB but can reach up to 100dB which is the equivalent to listening to a motorbike roaring in your ear.
• Napoleon Bonaparte, Winston Churchill, Teddy Roosevelt and even Queen Victoria were all snorers.
• Snorers have less sex than their non-snoring counterparts.

The Good News

So, why’s a dentist going on about snoring?  Well, a whole lot of snoring is caused by the soft palate on the tongue.  With a Non-Surgical Laser Therapy or a Mandibular Advancement Device we can successfully alleviate loud snoring.

There is an app that you can get for your smart phone called Snore Lab.  It’s a really good way to follow your snoring.  We advise using it before during and after treatment as a guide to how you are doing.  Here is an actual series a kind (and very happy) patient let me share during Nightlase Therapy.

Until next time. 

Take care and be good.

Here’s to making a difference.







Chris Branfield is Principal Dentist at Castle Park Dental Care, Castle Villa, 28 Castle Road, Cottingham, telephone 01482 772550. He has been in dental practice for 26 years and has a special interest in Life Changing, Pain Free Dentistry with Dental Implants, Teeth Straightening and Cosmetic Dentistry. And, not only that Chris is founder member and trustee of Dental Mavericks charity- ending the daily dental pain of Moroccan kids. For more patient success stories and Chris’ Humanitarian work go here now www.castleparkdental.co.uk

Snoring vs Grinding

“The Tooth And Nothing But The Tooth”

By Chris “Dr Smile Maker” Branfield

Snoring vs Grinding

Hello again. I hope that you are well.  Phew, it’s been hot for a good while.  So glad have the air conditioning at work as mines a South-facing window.  It’s nice to stay cool and confortable.  Looks like it’s going we hot a while longer as I write.

Snoring vs Grinding?

So what the heck has snoring got to do with grinding and vice versa?  Well, first of all we see lots of people who clench and grind.  This causes symptoms like jaw ache, earache, teeth sensitivity, migraine-like and even neck and shoulder pain as well as breaking teeth and fillings etc.  About 40% of the adult population snore.

Snoring is caused by a collapse of the airway causing vibration of the tongue against the soft palate.  This means that the further back the tongue is the greater the chance of snoring.  The tongue is attached to the jaw, so if the jaw drops back so does the tongue. With me so far??  Good.  Well, the most common way we treat clenching and grinding is to make an appliance that helps relax the muscles that make the jaw clench.  

However this always leads to the jaw moving backwards  o a more retruded position we call it.  So you can see the predicament.  If we help with the clenching and grinding then we can sometimes make the snoring worse.           
              
What’s The Solution Then?

A good way of trying to tackle both problems in one go is with a Sleepwell appliance.  It is a mandibular (lower jaw) advancement device.  So by definition, almost, it moves the lower jaw forwards.  

This brings the tongue forwards and helps open up the airway to help with snoring.  It also prevents grinding and clenching as the back teeth are separated (which is key with clenching).  

 Sleepwell Appliance

moves lower jaw forwards

Believe It Or Not

Well believe it or not I have a book coming out soon.  I felt it time to do it and, through a lifetime of searching for better and learning, try to give some hope to people who struggle with dentistry and related issues. Heart on my sleeve.  Here’s a sneaky preview of the cover.

A Return By Popular Request

Oh, I’m really pleased to get another invitation to speak to dental students at Sheffield University at a careers event.  Several of the students asked for me back after I gave a talk on dental mavericks in April.  

It’s so nice to make a connection and possibly make a difference for the better if even in a small way.  Anyway, I’m giving up a bit of time in September to do it.

I here Hull City have a made a few new signings gearing up for the new season.  Are we going up?  Hope so.  Come on the Tigers!!

Until next time.   

Have a great summer. Take care and be good.

Chris Branfield is Principal Dentist at Castle Park Dental Care, Castle Villa, 28 Castle Road, Cottingham, telephone 01482 772550.  He has been in dental practice for 25 years and has a special interest in life changing, pain free dentistry with dental implants, rapid teeth straightening and cosmetic dentistry. And, not only that Chris is founder member and trustee of Dental Mavericks charity- ending the daily dental pain of Moroccan kids. For more patient success stories and Chris’ humanitarian work go here now www.castleparkdental.co.uk

More To It Than Just Snoring…Hmm

The Tooth And Nothing But The Tooth”

By Chris “Dr Smile Maker” BRANFIELD

More To It Than Just Snoring…Hmm

Hello again. I hope that you are well.  Well some weather at last!! About time eh, May was good generally and May bank Holiday was superb. We caught the Tour de Yorkshire in Filey.

So, What’s More To It Than Snoring?         

  
               

In the last few articles I’ve been going on about snoring and how we can help with non-invasive measures using lasers and Mandibular Advancement Devices (more to follow on this).  Snoring has obvious problems associated with it as it causes a right row and can be anti-social and cause problems with sleeping partners. 

We have also touched on Obstructive Sleep Apnoea when breathing actually stops and then there are great gasps for air.  This is really not healthy and can put strain on the heart.  In this case a sleep study is needed and possibly CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) at bedtime.  However, the compliance with these things is generally poor even though it is the gold standard treatment for OSA.                                            

The Less Obvious Stuff

Sleep medicine and airway medicine is the up and coming thing.  It was highlighted on the TV just this week about how many more people are experiencing poor sleep and are constantly tired during the day.  I was horrified to see that loads of school kids had to have caffeine before school, as they were so tired.  Now this is a different thing to do with mobile phones taken to bed and blue light.


There is a condition called Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome. This is when the upper airway collapses causing resistance to airflow.  OSA is the extreme,  snoring we all know about, but it can be less obvious and affect many of us.  Some snorers sleep great.  Lucky so and so.  This is thought to be because the sensors at the back of the throat have been beaten up that much by vibration that they no longer fire and wake you up with a snore.  Now for people that do not snore or only really snore after alcohol these sensors can be stimulated when you get close to a snore and airway is about to collapse and you wake up for no apparent reason. 

This is a so-called arousal from sleep.  It can interrupt the normal cycle of sleep and disturb hormone balance.  This can cause tiredness as well a load of other stuff that will list in a bit.  When the airway collapses a bit it can create a negative pressure that can suck up fine droplets of acid from the stomach that can reach the throat and nose and even the sinus. 

This is different to heartburn or GastroEsophogeal Reflux Disease (GERD).  It is called Laryngo Pharyngeal Reflux Disease (LPRD) and can lead to symptoms of post-nasal drip, sore throat, cough, and even chronic sinusitis.  This can go hand in hand with a poor night’s sleep. If you are interested a great book is Sleep Interrupted by Steven Y. Park, M.D. (an ENT specialist who came across this paradigm shift in thinking how we treat some common ailments by getting to the cause, i.e. the airway). 

According to Dr. Park this is a list of some of the ailments/symptoms that UARS can be associated with but limited to: the nasal stuff mentioned above, hoarseness, throat clearing, teeth grinding/clenching and Tempero-Mandibular Dysfunction (TMD), heartburn (GERD), cold hands, postural hypotension (dizzy when stand up quickly), depression and anxiety, migraine headaches, chronic fatigue syndrome, and weight gain (which compounds the situation.  He even feels that ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyper-activity Disorder) is associated with UARS.  It’s all interesting stuff. Or is it just me?  Some top tips next time as run out of space today. I was on a role, eh?

Well Done

Hull City stayed up.  Onwards and upwards lads.

Final preparations this weekend for my presentation at an international laser medicine conference in Slovenia.  My colleague at the practice and gum expert, Ilay, is the first speaker at the Dental Programme.  Wish us luck.

Until next time.   Take care and be good. 

Here’s to a good night sleep

Chris Branfield is Principal Dentist at Castle Park Dental Care, Castle Villa, 28 Castle Road, Cottingham, telephone 01482 772550.  He has been in dental practice for 25 years and has a special interest in life changing, pain free dentistry with dental implants, rapid teeth straightening and cosmetic dentistry. And, not only that Chris is founder member and trustee of Dental Mavericks charity- ending the daily dental pain of Moroccan kids. For more patient success stories and Chris’ humanitarian work go here now www.castleparkdental.co.uk

Are You Fed Of Sleeping In The Spare Room?

“The Tooth And Nothing But The Tooth”

By Chris “Dr Smile Maker” Branfield

Are You Fed Of Sleeping In The Spare Room?

Hello again. I hope that you are well. It’s all go as usual. I was In Bury yesterday on a practice management/customer service course. It’s not only the clinical stuff that I have to keep up with and constantly look for better. This Friday/Saturday I’m at Cambridge University on a course looking at a way to speed up healing. It looks very interesting.

What Are You On About…The Spare Room

Well, there is actually a National Stop Snoring Week. It’s 23rd-29th April. Snoring is really quite common. It can be mild or severe. In very severe cases it becomes sleep apnoea when you actually stop breathing for several seconds at a time before a big gasp and this happens several times an hour. This can put a big strain on your heart.

The Big Yawn

One of the big drawbacks of snoring is lack of sleep. This can be for the snorer, but not always. Sometimes the snorer is blissfully unaware and sleeps well. The vibration or noise can interrupt sleep, sometimes you are not aware of it and it is more of an arousal from sleep rather than waking up but it still interrupts the normal cycle of sleep stages and leaves you really tired still in the morning. Obviously if the snoring is loud enough then it interrupts the sleep of a sleep partner and this is when the bed in the spare room comes in!

What Causes It

The cause is airway collapse and vibration. The main cause is the vibration of the tongue collapsed back against the soft palate.

Can You Treat It?

Well, yes you can. The aim is to stop the collapse. One way is to posture the lower jaw forwards which in turn brings the tongue forwards and opens up the airway using a mandibular advancement device. The one we use now is the Sleepwell device as there has been loads of research and great results out of Barts and the London Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry led by Professor Ama Johal. I did some training with him.

Another way is Non-surgical laser therapy. My Colleague Ilay and myself are trained in this using the Nightlase™ protocol with Nd:YAG and Er:YAG laser. The great thing with this is no numbing, no down time, no surgery and it starts to work from the first session and the airway is improved 24hrs a day and not just when a device is worn. It’s all clever stuff. I’ll expand on it next time.

It’s That Time Of Year Again

It’s coming to the end of the football season. Will Hull City stay up? It’s been a funny season. I really hope that they do. Come on lads, keep it together and push until the end.

Until next time. Take care and be good. 

Chris Branfield is Principal Dentist at Castle Park Dental Care, Castle Villa, 28 Castle Road, Cottingham, telephone 01482 772550. He has been in dental practice for 25 years and has a special interest in life changing, pain free dentistry with dental implants, rapid teeth straightening and cosmetic dentistry. And, not only that Chris is founder member and trustee of Dental Mavericks charity- ending the daily dental pain of Moroccan kids. For more patient success stories and Chris’s humanitarian work go here now www.castleparkdental.co.uk