If you suffer from sleep apnea, it is likely that the condition is having a negative impact upon your health, your work, and your personal life. The ongoing pauses in breathing over your hours of sleep leave a person feeling dull and tired. Many people are unaware that they suffer from sleep apnea unless they share a bed with a partner, who is often awakened by the snoring, coughs, and snorts as the breath starts and stops, which can occur many times every hour.

Types of Sleep Apnea

There are two common types of sleep apnea:

Obstructive Sleep Apnea: In this form of the condition, the breathing airway collapses or becomes blocked while sleeping, leading to shallow breathing or pauses in breathing, with a sudden intake of breath. When sucking in air through the blocked airway, the vibration creates the snoring sound. While this type of sleep apnea is more common in those with excess weight, it can affect any person of any age, including children.
Central Sleep Apnea: This is a less common form of the condition, and related to the brain signals that trigger breathing. This condition can occur in people taking certain medications, or occur in combination with obstructive sleep apnea.

Treatments for Sleep Apnea

If you suspect you have sleep apnea, your first step is a full examination to determine the correct treatment for the condition. Sleep breathing masks that push air into the airways were once the standard treatment, but are uncomfortable and unwieldy.

Dental Devices to Resolve Sleep Apnea

Dental devices are now available to treat sleep apnea, and are far more gentle, easy to wear, comfortable, and can resolve the condition without the need for invasive surgery. In some cases, surgery may be necessary for cases in which the lower jaw is misaligned. At our practice, we seek out the most effective, non-invasive treatments for sleep apnea. If you have any questions or would like to schedule a consultation, contact our Pasadena dentist today.

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Practice Policy Update Regarding COVID-19

May 2020

Dear Valued Patient:

We hope this letter finds you and your family in good health. Our community has been through a lot over the last few months, and all of us are looking forward to resuming our normal habits and routines. While many things have changed, one thing has remained the same: our commitment to your safety.

Infection control has always been a top priority for our practice and you may have seen this during your visits to our office. Our infection control processes are made so that when you receive care, it’s both safe and comfortable. We want to tell you about the infection control procedures we follow in our practice to keep patients and staff safe.

Our office follows infection control recommendations made by the American Dental Association (ADA), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). We follow the activities of these agencies so that we are up-to-date on any new rulings or guidance that may be issued.

You may see some changes when it is time for your next appointment. We made these changes to help protect our patients and staff. For example:

All patients must wear a mask when entering the office.

Anyone accompanying you will be asked to wait in their vehicle.

Our office will communicate with you beforehand to ask some screening questions. You’ll be asked those same questions again when you are in the office.

Upon arrival at your appointment your temperature will be taken for the safety of all staff and patients.

Prior to receiving treatment you will be asked to rinse with an antimicrobial for a minimum of 30 seconds

We have hand sanitizer that we will ask you to use when you enter the office. You will also find some in the reception area and other places in the office for you to use as needed.

You may see that our waiting room will no longer offer magazines, and so forth, since those items are difficult to clean and disinfect.

UV Air purifiers have been placed throughout the office.

Appointments will be managed to allow for social distancing between patients. That might mean that you’re offered fewer options for scheduling your appointment.

We will do our best to allow greater time between patients to reduce waiting times for you, as well as to reduce the number of patients in the reception area at any one time, so we ask that you do your best to be on time.

We look forward to seeing you again and are happy to answer any questions you may have about the steps we take to keep you, and every patient, safe in our practice. To make an appointment, please call our office at (626)798-7834 or visit our website at pasadenasmilecenter@yahoo.com.

Thank you for being our patient. We value your trust and loyalty and look forward to welcoming back our patients, neighbors and friends.

Sincerely, Niloufar Molayem, D.D.S. & Team