How Are You Staying Hydrated This Summer?

Summer may be coming to an end, but it won’t officially be over until September 21. That means that hot temperatures will be with us for at least another month. It also means that staying hydrated will still be a major concern.

But how are you choosing to stay hydrated? Is it by drinking plenty of water throughout the day, or is it with a can of soda or a glass of fruit juice?

There’s nothing wrong with enjoying a cold, sugar-filled drink from time to time, but relying on them for hydration comes with problems, both for your overall wellbeing and your smile.

The Dangers That Sugary Drinks Pose for Your Smile and Your Overall Health

One of the most obvious problems with sodas is that they often contain caffeine, a diuretic. Because diuretics decrease the amount of water in the body, consuming too many caffeinated drinks during the hot summer months can lead to dehydration.

What’s more, drinks loaded with sugar are also loaded with calories. Soft drinks in particular have been linked to rises in obesity in both children and adults, though fruit juices, sweetened teas, and sports drinks are also to blame.

But overall wellbeing is just one area we’d like to address. The other is in the arena of oral health.

The danger of sugary drinks is that sugar encourages the growth of bacteria, which in turn causes decay, or what you might know better as cavities. What’s more, the acid from sugary drinks can contribute to decay by wearing away the protective enamel that covers teeth. Both of these combine to leave teeth more vulnerable to serious oral health problems.

Do you have questions about sugary drinks and your overall/oral health? Call Stonebriar Smile Design with your questions. Dr. Jill Wade and the friendly team at her Frisco office are happy to answer any questions you might have about sugary drinks and staying hydrated.

SomnoMed—An Alternative Solution for Treating Sleep Apnea

 

SomnoMed—An Alternative Solution for Treating Sleep Apnea

Since June, we’ve been doing a series on sleep apnea, covering topics ranging from the symptoms of sleep apnea, its causes, and how it can be treated with a CPAP machine. Today we’re going to wrap up our series on sleep apnea by talking about a non-surgical alternative to CPAP that’s bringing relief to patients everywhere—an oral appliance from SomnoMed.

Why an Oral Appliance?

In our last post, we mentioned a few reasons for why patients might want to consider an oral appliance over treatment with CPAP. One common problem is that the noise a CPAP machine makes can keep patients or their partners awake, preventing sleep. Other problems include nasal congestion, sore throat, conjunctivitis, skin irritation, and nosebleeds.

All of which is reason enough to consider an oral appliance. An oral appliance is custom-made from an impression of your smile and is designed to fit unobtrusively over your upper and lower teeth. It’s works by repositioning your tongue or lower jawbone, preventing the blockage that commonly causes sleep apnea. As a result, patients are able to sleep easily throughout the night without waking up to take a breath.

Are you ready to make your sleep apnea a thing of the past with an oral appliance from SomnoMed? Dr. Jill Wade and her experienced team are ready to help. Call Stonebriar Smile Design today to schedule your appointment with us. Our office is conveniently located in Frisco and serves patients from Plano, McKinney, Allen, Dallas, The Colony, and beyond.

Treating Sleep Apnea with a CPAP Machine

 Treating Sleep Apnea with a CPAP Machine

In our last blog post, we began a series on sleep apnea by talking about its symptoms and what causes it. Over the next couple of posts, we’ll look at how doctors have treated sleep apnea, beginning today with CPAP.

What Is CPAP?

CPAP stands for continuous positive airway pressure. For patients who are receiving treatment with CPAP, this continuous flow of air is produced by a machine and is pumped through a delivery tube to a face mask, providing patients with a steady supply of air. As a result, patients who receive treatment with CPAP may finally be able to sleep comfortably, getting the much-needed rest they deserve.

And yet, as effective as treatment with CPAP can be, there are some downsides associated with it. For some, wearing a mask at night can be difficult, while others may have a hard time adjusting to the feeling of forced air. Still other problems include:

·         Nasal congestion

·         Sore throat

·         Conjunctivitis

·         Skin irritation

·         Nosebleeds

Still, despite the common problems associated with CPAP, for some it is an effective solution for combating sleep apnea and finally getting some well-deserved rest.

There is another solution for treating sleep apnea, though, and in our next post we’ll talk about how this simple, non-surgical approach is restoring hope for those who struggle to sleep at night.

Until then, if you have questions about sleep apnea or treatment with CPAP, we’d love to hear from you. Call Dr. Jill Wade’s Frisco office today to schedule an appointment. Our office provides great dental care to patients from Plano, McKinney, Allen, Dallas, The Colony, and beyond.

What Causes Sleep Apnea?

What Causes Sleep Apnea?

  

In our last post, we talked about some of the signs and symptoms of a common sleep disorder known as sleep apnea. In this post, we’ll talk more about what sleep apnea is and what causes it.

For patients with sleep apnea, getting the kind of restful night of sleep necessary for a healthy lifestyle is difficult. That’s because patients with sleep apnea experience interrupted sleep—that is, they actually stop breathing throughout the night. As a result, they are continually waking up so that they can breathe.

Why do sleep apnea patients stop breathing?

The most common reason is that their airways have become blocked by their tongue or their lower jaw. That’s why another name for sleep apnea is obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, or OSAS.

But the good news is that patients with sleep apnea don’t have to just live with their problem. With treatment, it’s possible to enjoy the kind of deep, peaceful sleep you’ve been missing.

How is sleep apnea treated?

By supplying your lungs with the air they desperately need. And that can happen in a couple of ways.

In our posts for next month, we’ll discuss those methods in greater detail. For now, if you suspect that you might suffer from sleep apnea, give Dr. Wade a call at Stonebriar Smile Design. Together her with smart, talented team, she can answer all your questions about sleep apnea, in addition to providing you with a treatment solution.

Call us today if you live in Frisco, Plano, McKinney, Allen, Dallas, The Colony, or a surround area. We look forward to helping you!

Symptoms and Side Effects of Sleep Apnea

Symptoms and Side Effects of Sleep Apnea

A quality night of sleep is important to a healthy lifestyle. But a common sleep disorder known as sleep apnea can prevent you from getting the restful sleep you need and deserve.

Side effects of sleep apnea include:

·          

•      Daytime drowsiness
•          Stress
•          Fatigue
•          Moodiness
•          Difficulty concentrating
•         Memory loss, and more…

Other more serious side effects of sleep apnea include accidents at work or while driving, high blood pressure, heart problems, and risk of premature. What’s more, untreated sleep apnea doesn’t just endanger your health. It can also endanger your partner’s health. Since one of the most common signs of sleep apnea is snoring, you could be preventing your partner from getting the kind of sleep they need, resulting in similar side effects for them. All of which means that if you regularly experience any of these symptoms, it’s time to find out if you have sleep apnea.

The reason that patients with sleep apnea experience all these symptoms is that they actually stop breathing while they sleep. This prompts the brain to send out a signal waking the patient up so they can breathe. Sometimes that just means moving from a deep stage of sleep to a lighter stage of sleep, but in other cases you may wake up completely. But even if you don’t, you still aren’t getting the kind of sleep you need to feel rested during the day.

So, what causes sleep apnea? We’ll talk more about that in our next post. For now, if any of these symptoms look familiar, give Dr. Wade’s Frisco office a call to schedule a consultation appointment. Dr. Wade and her team at Stonebriar Smile Design serve patients from Frisco, Plano, McKinney, Allen, Dallas, The Colony, and surrounding areas.

How Do Your Hormones Affect Your Smile?

How Do Your Hormones Affect Your Smile?

In our last post we talked about the surprising link between stress and your oral health. Today, we’ll look at another smile-body connection you may have never considered—the connection between your hormones and your oral health.

One primary example of this is pregnancy. During pregnancy, higher progesterone levels in the body make the soft tissues of the gums more prone to irritation from plaque, which can in turn lead to problems with gum disease. All of which means that regular brushing and flossing, plus regular dental visits, are vital if you’re currently pregnant or about to become pregnant.

But pregnancy isn’t the only time when a hormone imbalance can affect your oral health. During puberty, a similar surge of hormones can increase gum sensitivity. Teaching your teen to develop a strong oral health routine is one of the best ways to combat periodontal issues during this important time, in addition to keeping up with regular cleanings at Stonebriar Smile Design.

What do both of these examples prove, and our last post, prove?  It proves that while we tend to think of our smile as something separate from the rest of our body, the human body actually functions as a whole, with every aspect potentially having an impact on the other.

If you have questions about how a hormone imbalance can affect your smile, give Stonebriar Smile Design a call today. Our team would be happy to answer your questions, in addition to setting up your next appointment with Dr. Wade. Our office happily serves patients from Frisco, Plano, McKinney, Allen, Dallas, and The Colony and beyond.

Stress and Your Smile

How Does Stress Affect Your Smile and Your Overall Well-being?

If you’ve ever come through a stressful time at work or in your everyday life, you may already know how stress can affect the body. Emotional and physical exhaustion, weight gain, premature aging, and moodiness are all examples of how stress can change you. But did you know there’s also an oral health component to stress?

You may have never guessed it, but if you experience frequent headaches or have chronic pain in your jaw, shoulders, neck, and face, you could be reacting to the stress in your life by clenching your jaw or grinding your teeth.Both are a natural reaction to stress. In fact, clenching actually contributes to the release of stress hormones. But just because these may be natural reactions, that doesn’t mean they’re good for you. Consistent grinding and clenching can eventually lead to TMJ dysfunction and can do serious damage to your teeth and jaw.

At Stonebriar Smile Design, Dr. Jill Wade can help you relieve your painful and exhausting symptoms with a full arch occlusal guard or an NTI-tss device. With each of these custom-made oral devices, Dr. Wade can put a stop to the clenching and grinding that’s destroying your smile.

Have you been experiencing painful symptoms as a result of stress? Call Stonebriar Smile Design today to schedule an appointment with Dr. Wade. Our office is conveniently located in Frisco and serves patients from Plano, McKinney, Allen, Dallas, and The Colony.