GET YOUR (NIGHT) LIFE BACK!

We can’t say it enough: sleep apnea is a killer at worst and a buzz kill at best. Despite our cultural tendency to make fun of snoring – and to be irritated by it – the truth is that more likely than not, your snoring honey is on the path that leads so often to the old obituary: “he died in his sleep...” Haven’t you ever wondered what exactly is going on during the night that ends up in such a commonly accepted fatality? The answer is that heart attacks and strokes happen – are triggered, finally – by sleep apnea.

 

You probably think we’re exaggerating – if so, try this quick and easy test. Hold your breath for the count of 20. We’ll wait, don’t worry.

 

Now, that wasn’t too hard, but slightly uncomfortable to say the least. Now, do the same thing, but exhale first and then hold your breath for another 20 seconds. Can you even do it before you give in to the need for oxygen? It turns out that those suffering from sleep apnea (and it is estimated that there are at least 44 million Americans who fall under this category) play this game with their life over and over, every single night, triggering fatal events.

​

But wait! There’s more to the dangers of sleep apnea! For example, how many deaths occur each year due to fatigued driving? Thousands. How many work days lost? Millions. How many otherwise healthy people develop colds and flus in response the stress of chronic fatigue? Type 2 diabetes? Develop depression, anxiety, and more? Loss of energy, loss of a sex life, increase in appetite? General stress? The answers are staggering and yet we continue to label snoring a joke.

​

But don't take our word for it, even though we've successfully delivered hundreds of our dental sleep apnea devices. Read the abstracts from these studies finally done (against the lobbying efforts of traditional sleep medicine) at our own National Institutes of Health, but only if delivered by a "qualified" dentist. Well, guess what? We're lucky to have one of the best and most qualified dentists in the world right here in Lane County.

 

And, of the dozens of dental sleep apnea devices out there, the one we deliver - the one we've always delivered - is the only has been proven many times over to treat obstructive sleep apnea, even severe, as well as a traditional cpap. Better, in fact, given the extremely high compliance. You see, we do this not just because it's our reputation on the line: it's your life on the line, and so we guarantee that if we all agree and create one for you that you will find relief.

 

GET YOUR BODY BACK!

Now let’s consider is the issue of weight gain and retention. Perhaps you’ve heard that obesity can lead to sleep apnea because it becomes more difficult to breathe, but you probably didn’t know that it also is a major cause of weight gain and retention. You see, during normal sleep your metabolism naturally resets itself, getting ready for the next day and your normal routine's caloric requirements. But when you have sleep apnea this resetting process simply doesn’t happen. The result is an out-of-balance metabolism leading to unexplained weight gain and stubborn weight retention. Plus, each sleep apnea episode not only spikes your heart rate and adrenaline, but your cortisol as well, which is the "famine" hormone that engages to keep weight on in light of the extreme danger you may be facing. And if you haven't realized yet, sleep apnea isn't only dangerous, untreated it is ultimately fatal.

​

SECONDHAND SLEEP APNEA. Secondhand sleep apnea? What is that, you say? It's quite serious. If you're the partner of a sufferer, you know what we're talking about. You see, each time your partner stops breathing, twitches him/herself awake enough to take a breath, and finally breaths, the exact same physiological experiences are happening to you, the partner: an adrenaline dump, increased heart rate (and blood pressure) and a spike in cortisol. All leading to the same dangers over time to your own physical health. Not to mention you suffer during the day from an inadequate rest.  

We joke that having sleep apnea is like having a newborn - FOREVER. So you can see why depression and anxiety are so closely linked to it.​ And to the health of BOTH partners as well as the health of the relationship. So, when you treat your sleep apnea with our device - even if you end up simply paying out of pocket - you're really getting a "buy one get one" solution to a systemic and ultimately fatal problem in your relationship.

​

WOMEN: THE FORGOTTEN VICTIMS OF SLEEP APNEA. 

As we - and especially Nancy - have become experts on sleep apnea we have started to see a pattern: women are by far more effected by obstructive sleep apnea and they don't even realize it.

 

Mary came in to see us for dentistry, but Nancy could tell just by looking at her that there was a high likelihood that she was suffering from at least mild sleep apnea (and don't let that "mild" fool you - even mild sleep apnea is devastating to your quality of life). Mary's eyes were sort of dark - shadowed, not bright and full of life. She was carrying about 20 or 30 pounds around her middle. Her jaw was set back somewhat - what we think of as a more feminine or "weak" jaw, just like Nancy has, by the way. Mary was clearly exhausted and bewildered.

 

But, like most women, with kids, a job, a husband and a home, feeling "hit by a truck" was just how life was supposed to be, right? And when she dared to talk about how she felt with her doctor, the first response (and we hear this all the time) was "just lose weight and you'll feel better". But (and we hear this all the time, too) no matter how well Mary ate or properly worked out, she simply couldn't get rid of the weight. And nothing made her feel better. Despite the feelings of shame, when she went back to her doctor, and after the usual blood, hormone and thyroid testing, everything came back fine, just some depression and anxiety and "doing too much", like she has a choice, and so she was put on meds.... hmmmmm. Sounding familiar? 

​

After first talking with Nancy and ultimately buying the device out of pocket (deciding not to have a diagnosis of sleep apnea in her permanent medical records as it is considered a fatal and pre-existing condition) she woke up the very next morning finally feeling like "herself" for the first time in a dozen years. Frankly, she was filled with wonder as to who her "self" really was without the daily, disabling exhaustion taking her "self" right out of her.

​

Here's what is so sad, what drives us nuts. The disconnect between the medical and dental community has left a huge population of mostly women feeling invisible, ashamed, and certain that life will never get better or more joyful or enjoyable because - UNTIL NOW - no one, not even our colleagues in dentistry, have put it all together. 

​

You see, it's that "weak" jaw, or what dental nerds call a "class two occlusion" that has structurally led to a lifetime of a long slow decline into the horrors of "mild" sleep apnea. So simple, and yet missed 99% of the time, even by dentists. Even by those NIH "qualified" dentists. Especially by physicians.

​

Women are used to being the victims of medical disregard: old information combined with a lack of curiosity. Luckily, they are also the human beings suffering from sleep apnea that we consciously watch for and end up helping the most. Even men with those "class 2" jaws are on our hit list so we can spare them from a lifetime of suffering, as well. So if this sounds like you, PLEASE do yourself a favor and give Nancy a call at 541-225-4866 to talk through what's going on with you and whether indeed the solution may be so very simple.

​

SO HOW DOES THIS THING WORK?

The short answer to how it works is literally stupidly simple - of the "keep it simple, stupid” variety - a solution which one would think the medical community would've already thought of (but clearly they didn’t!).  To explain how it works Nancy likes to use the example of CPR training, which, even if you haven’t necessarily gone through you can still imagine how it would go. 

So, imagine if you will that you’ve got a dummy to rescue who is lying on floor, not breathing.  It turns out that the instructor does not, in fact, hand you a hose, tell you to jam it down his throat and blow real hard in an attempt to force air through his obstructed airway the way you’d try to force water through a kinked hose. Nope, that’s just not ever what they recommend. What they do show you, though, is how to ever so gently open the airway by moving the dummy's jaw down and out a bit. Or, they might instruct you to use gravity to help open that jaw by turning him on his side (which explains why snoring abates somewhat when we’re more upright or turned on our sides). In other words, they teach you how to advance the mandibular (jaw) in order to unobstruct an airway. Huh...

You can see how and why our “mandibular advancement device” is the simple and correct solution by opening up your airway and keeping it open throughout the night. No fuss, no muss. No electricity, no parts, no sterilizing, no sound, no cords, no more making close new friends when going through TSA. No high electric bills. No claustrophobia, no dry mouth, no dry eyes, no dry nose, no respiratory infections. And when delivered by a "qualified” dentist, there are also no side effects.  

NO NEGATIVES, TONS OF POSITIVES.

Our dental sleep apnea device - unlike a cpap - cleans up with water and toothpaste or maybe a dunk in hydrogen peroxide if you’re feeling like it. It keeps your teeth and jaw safe from further expensive dental damage. It acts as a retainer. It allows you to get up and use the restroom if and when you like without having to first untangle yourself. It is quiet and unobtrusive. It allows you to still drink, to talk, to sleep on your side or your tummy or your back or however is most comfortable for you. It allows you to travel unhindered. You never have to go back to your sleep doc for another billed office visit just to get a prescription so that you can reorder supplies. Oh, and it also treats your sleep apnea, as well as the secondhand sleep apnea of your partner.  So there’s that. It just changes the whole dynamic and gives you back your quality of life.

OUR GUARANTEE AND WARRANTY.

We stand by our work 100% and will accept nothing less than success for our clients, so we guarantee that we won’t deliver it unless we believe wholeheartedly that it will work for you. Once we send it home with you, you are part of our family, no matter what - it is your life on the line and well as our reputation, and we take both extremely seriously.  In fact, if you check our reviews across all platforms (Yelp, Google, Facebook, etc.) you’ll find why we have and maintain a 100% 5-star rating. Plus, by reading reviews from our happy clients you can learn more about us from our their individual perspectives. 

 

IT'S EVEN UNBREAKABLE DENTAL INSURANCE that will protect you from expensive future dental treatment: the device will not only treat your sleep apnea, but will also act as a retainer and a mouth guard, meaning that as long as you are using it you’ll be protecting yourself from most, if not all, further issues with your teeth while protecting the work you’ve already had done over the years (so no more broken crowns, etc.), which makes it a sort of unbreakable insurance against further dental treatment, in many/most cases.  Also, the laboratory that we use guarantees their work for 3 years, but as it is made from extremely hard acrylic plastic, it will last much longer than that. So, if you consider that a single small filling runs about $300-$500, that a root canal can be in the $1600 range, a crown between $1200-1500, and an implant as much as $6000 - per tooth! - you can see why saving your life and quality of life with our sleep apnea device is also saving you thousands of dollars down the line from very expensive dental work.

​

​