Surprising Conditions That Can Be Treated by a Dentist

Your dentist is the professional to visit when you need an exam and x-rays of your mouth, in order to fill cavities and note if you have the onset of gum disease. He or she will also give you a good cleaning and counsel you about your overall oral hygiene. However, a dentist can also treat other health conditions and concerns that are important for your oral health and for your health in general. Note a few of those conditions and how a dentist can treat them quickly and easily in their office.

1. Snoring

Snoring is more than just a nuisance; it's dangerous to your health and can also be dangerous to the health of any bedmate of yours. When you snore, you can dry up and damage the inside of your mouth and throat due to the rattling that causes this sound. Snoring can also interfere with your sleep and the sleep of those around you and this can have very serious health consequences.

Very often snoring is caused by excessive tissue in the soft palate, meaning the roof of the mouth near your throat. When air rushes over this tissue, it causes it to vibrate and make the sound of snoring. A dentist can usually remove this tissue in their office, either with a scalpel or with a laser. This opens the airways and allows a person to breathe more freely.

2. Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea refers to a cessation of breathing when you sleep. When a person has sleep apnea, usually they wake up just long enough to start breathing again and may not even realize that they awaken during the night. This interruption of a healthy sleep cycle can have many serious health consequences, as a person may get headaches and daytime fatigue, and suffer damage to all cells of the body due to this consistent lack of regular breathing.

As with snoring, sleep apnea may be caused by excessive fatty tissue in the upper palate, which covers the airways when a person lies down in bed. Having a dentist remove this tissue can restore breathing and allow a person a full night's sleep.

3. TMJ and Headaches

TMJ is a condition that affects the hinges of the jaw, and headaches may be caused by grinding your teeth at night as your muscles then tense up around your jaw line, neck, and shoulders. Both of these can be treated by a dentist (like those at Woodvale Dental Surgery)  with a dental appliance that supports the jaw while you sleep. If necessary, you may also need to have your teeth aligned so that your jaw has proper support on the top and bottom, and this can alleviate the pain you feel around your jaw.