Jack Hanna uses CPAP

[Emilia]

@Roooooooster Thanks for that quote from your earlier post. It is very interesting information! I have a very small jaw, and back in the Dark Ages of orthodontia, I had braces, but the orthodontist removed 4 perfectly good teeth and allowed my 4 Wisdom teeth to come in on their own. The all came in just fine, but boy, do they get in the way back there! I also have some TMJ issues that flare up from time to time. So, the puzzle pieces are falling into place as I go down this new road in life!

[LoQ]

Wow, this is very interesting. I've had my teeth straightened--twice. I had to have 8 permanent teeth removed so that the remaining 24 would fit in my jaws. I have no chin; it's so slight that even a full-face mask can't stay connected to my chin. I have to use a chin-up strip. Without it I could literally eat a sandwich through the space between my face and my mask at the bottom when I just relax my jaw.

I think I had sleep apnea for 25 years before I was diagnosed. I went to the doctor way back then asking for help, and the doctor I saw didn't think it was anything. I wasn't overweight, in fact, I was pretty skinny. I am overweight now, though. I just wonder about cause and effect thing. If you looked in the back of my throat, you'd see huge tonsils, low-hanging large uvula, etc., not much room having nothing to do with being overweight. My throat was always like this, even when I was skinny. Even today my neck size is even too small to qualify for the diagnostic criterion for OSA, so it's not fat causing my breathing difficulties, it's architecture. I even had one doctor, not exactly known for his compassion, look in my throat and say, "you have the classic architecture for OSA, and there is nothing you could have done about it." It was a kind thing to say. Somebody ought to start a thread about guilt. I feel a little "at fault" sometimes for having OSA.

[roster]

Check the sides of your tongues for scalloping:

One past study showed that having tongue scalloping can positively predict the presence of apneas or hypopneas and oxygen desaturation in 89% of cases. Overall, having scalloping is about 70 sensitive in picking up obstructive sleep apnea.

See: http://doctorstevenpark.com/tongue-scal ... leep-apnea

and http://drkam.files.wordpress.com/2009/0 ... 0teeth.jpg

Orthodontists and dentists need to become the front line for lifetime prevention of sleep-disordered breathing. They can use palatal expanders in children to make jaws wider permanently. I just recently found out palatal expanders are also effective on adults but it takes up to three years of wearing them to get significant expansion.

[chunkyfrog]

Maybe the reason that so many people think obesity causes apnea is because of diagnosis--or lack thereof. Take a roomful of random people: Any one with eyesight can pick out most of the obese people; Now tell us who has apnea. . .

[echo]

If only MY orthodontist had picked up on this 20 years ago. Narrow arched palate, small/receding jaw.... and i was a skinny little bugger too, but sure didn't sleep well! I had the palatal expander, hated it!

Actually something has always bugged me - how exactly does the palate expander help - by making more room in the back of the throat? And excuse my lack of anatomy here, but I always had the nagging suspicion that palatal expansion would actually make OSA worse by causing the uvula to hang lower in the throat. I don't know exactly how that would happen, but that's the scenario I have in my head. In my case the sleep doc said that my uvula was lower than normal, combined with the narrow palate small mouth etc, it was obvious I had sleep apnea, even before I had the PSG. Wish they had figured that out when I was younger!

[Fredman]

Check the sides of your tongues for scalloping:

One past study showed that having tongue scalloping can positively predict the presence of apneas or hypopneas and oxygen desaturation in 89% of cases. Overall, having scalloping is about 70 sensitive in picking up obstructive sleep apnea.

See: http://doctorstevenpark.com/tongue-scal ... leep-apnea

and http://drkam.files.wordpress.com/2009/0 ... 0teeth.jpg

Orthodontists and dentists need to become the front line for lifetime prevention of sleep-disordered breathing. They can use palatal expanders in children to make jaws wider permanently. I just recently found out palatal expanders are also effective on adults but it takes up to three years of wearing them to get significant expansion.

My Dentist suspected I had sleep apnea and told me to see my doctor for further referral. She was right!

[Janknitz]

I have Noonan's Syndrome--an autosomal dominant genetic disorder that causes multi-system symptoms (most commonly heart problems) including a narrow and high arched palate, micrognathia (very small lower jaw), enlarged tonsils and adenoids, and a wide, webbed neck. That all spells S-L-E-E-P A-P-N-E-A!

I even had one doctor, not exactly known for his compassion, look in my throat and say, "you have the classic architecture for OSA, and there is nothing you could have done about it." It was a kind thing to say. Somebody ought to start a thread about guilt. I feel a little "at fault" sometimes for having OSA.

Yep, I've heard the same thing from doctors, dentists, and other sorts of rude people not just about my facial dysmorphisms, but also about all the other symptoms that are part of Noonan's Syndrome. And I always felt exactly that way--guilty as if these were somehow my fault.

In a strange sort of way, it's been cathartic for me to have a daughter with Noonan's as well. Thankfully her expression of Noonan's syndrome is mild and she has none of the serious medical complications, but I can love in her all the things I hated about myself and felt guilty about--as a result I've been able to forgive myself for a lot of it. Including the OSA. I'm obese now, but I had the OSA long before I was overweight--it is almost a given considering the Noonan's features.

She has had the palate expander--not the medieval torture device on the roof of her mouth, but a single wire across the front of her teeth with EXCELLENT results. Future orthodontia will work on bringing the lower jaw forward and I plan to really push the orthodontist to give her as much room in the oropharynx as possible without surgery.

[LoQ]

Janknitz, thank you for your response. I am sorry for your woes and hope that your struggles have made you a stronger person. Kudos to you for accepting your daughter so freely.

I did want to clarify that the doctor I mentioned was being kind, not rude. He was saying it was not my fault. I thought it was exceedingly kind of him, because he didn't have to try to make me feel better in order to give me a dianosis, but he did.

[DoriC]

My husband is at a good weight for his height, a rather short, muscular guy about 5'7", 170lbs but with a 17" neck size. The Drs all seem to concur that a large neck and OSA go together. We never went any further with exams of his throat architecture. It seems to me that all his serious apnea symptoms began as he slowly began to lose his upper teeth and began to wear a full denture. Any thoughts on this?

[roster]

I started a new thread on "Small Jaws as Cause of Sleep Apnea" --> viewtopic.php?f=1&t=53983.

Now we can get out of Jack Hanna's cage.