Living with sleep apnea can feel like you’re sleepwalking through life. Even after eight hours in bed, you wake up feeling foggy and drained. Your energy fades by mid-morning. You struggle to concentrate at work or feel short-tempered with the people you love. You tell yourself it’s just stress or getting older, but deep down you know something’s not right.
According to the American Medical Association, sleep apnea affects about 30 million Americans, yet the vast majority go undiagnosed. Left untreated, this condition doesn’t just steal your sleep. It can quietly sabotage your long-term health, relationships, and overall well-being.
At Oak Tree Dental, we’re committed to supporting your health in every way we can, including laser sleep apnea treatments near Santa Rosa. If you have mild to moderate sleep apnea, we may be able to help you breathe better, sleep deeper, and feel more like yourself every day.
What Causes Sleep Apnea?
Snoring may seem harmless (or just annoying to your bed partner), but it can be a red flag. Loud, persistent snoring is one of the most common symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a condition where the airway becomes partially or fully blocked during sleep.
These blockages can happen dozens or even hundreds of times per night, cutting off airflow and waking the brain repeatedly. You might not even realize it’s happening, but your body feels it.
Other warning signs of sleep apnea include:
- Gasping or choking during sleep
- Morning headaches
- Daytime fatigue or irritability
- Difficulty focusing
- Night sweats
- Nighttime teeth grinding (bruxism)
- Waking up frequently to urinate
- Restless sleep (tossing and turning)
- Low energy, fatigue, anxiety and depression
- Waking up with a dry mouth or sore throat
These issues can be incredibly disruptive to your daily life and make it hard to feel alert and focused enough to perform well at work or enjoy time with your loved ones. Disrupted sleep can also increase your risk for car and work accidents due to drowsiness and strain on your relationships. However, the risks of going without sleep apnea treatment can also take a serious toll on your physical health.
How Can Sleep Apnea Treatment Protect Your Health?
Because sleep apnea disrupts your breathing, it causes the oxygen levels in your body to drop repeatedly throughout the night. This puts strain on your heart and other organs, increasing your risks for:
- High blood pressure
- Cardiovascular disease
- Stroke
- Heart failure
- Heart attack
- Irregular heartbeat
- Metabolic issues
- Type 2 diabetes
- Glaucoma
- Certain types of cancer
- Worsening of other health problems
Seeing our team at Oak Tree Dental for sleep apnea treatment near Santa Rosa can significantly improve not just the quality of your sleep, but your long-term health. Next, let’s take a look at a few common sleep apnea treatments.
How to Treat Sleep Apnea
If you know you have sleep apnea, or think you might, it’s important to talk to your doctor to find out for sure, and learn how severe your condition is. There are several ways to treat sleep apnea, including machines to help you breathe (CPAP or BPAP), oral appliances that pull the jaw forward to open the airway, and surgery. Losing weight, quitting smoking, and avoiding sedatives and alcohol can also help.
There’s one newer approach to improving sleep apnea symptoms without the need for surgery: laser snoring treatment in the dental office!
A New Approach: Laser Sleep Apnea Treatment
For decades, the most common treatment for OSA has been the CPAP machine. While effective, it’s not for everyone. Many patients find it bulky, noisy, or uncomfortable, and studies show that nearly half of CPAP users don’t keep up with using their machine.
That’s why many people are turning to sleep apnea dentists for an alternative.
Our team at Oak Tree Dental offers laser sleep apnea treatment, a gentle, non-invasive procedure that can significantly reduce snoring and improve your sleep. Using a specialized dental laser, we stimulate collagen production and tighten the soft palate and airway tissues. This helps reduce vibration (snoring) and improves airflow during sleep.
Each treatment takes only about 30 minutes and requires no downtime. Most patients begin to notice improvement after just a few sessions, with full results developing over several weeks.
Laser sleep apnea treatment is effective for many cases of mild to moderate sleep apnea, but isn’t necessarily a replacement for CPAP or other treatments. However, even if you have severe sleep apnea, laser treatment can improve your airway, allowing you to use your machine on a lower, more comfortable setting so it’s easier to tolerate.
Why Treating Sleep Apnea Can Change Your Life
When your body gets the deep, uninterrupted sleep it needs, everything improves:
- Your brain can focus again
- Your mood stabilizes
- You feel more present with loved ones
- You wake up refreshed and energized
- Your heart and immune system get a real break
It’s not just about preventing long-term health problems, it’s about showing up for your life fully, every day.
Whether you’ve already been diagnosed with sleep apnea or you’re simply concerned about your symptoms, our sleep apnea treatments near Santa Rosa can help guide you through the next steps. From helping you schedule a sleep study to offering cutting-edge treatments, we’re with you at every stage.
How Do I Know If I Have Sleep Apnea?
The gold standard for diagnosing sleep apnea is a sleep study, either done in a lab or with a home sleep test. These tests monitor your breathing, oxygen levels, and sleep patterns to identify disruptions.
If you’re not sure whether your symptoms warrant a test, talk to your doctor or give our office a call. Many patients start with simple online questionnaires or risk assessments to determine if a study is necessary.
And if you’ve already been diagnosed but can’t tolerate CPAP therapy, don’t give up. Laser sleep apnea treatment might be a better fit for your lifestyle.
Take the First Step Toward Restful Sleep
If you’re tired of being tired, you’re not alone. Sleep apnea is incredibly common, and treatable.
At our practice, we’re proud to offer compassionate, personalized sleep apnea treatments in Santa Rosa that help you get the rest you need to feel like yourself again. Our sleep apnea dentist will listen to your concerns, help you understand your options, and guide you toward better sleep without pressure or judgment.
