Sleep Apnea and You You sit in your meeting at work and begin to yawn. “Oh wow. I am so tired. What is going on?” you mumble to yourself as another powerpoint presentation drones on.
When you arrive home from the day at the office, you feel like you could fall face first into your mashed potatoes at dinner. “This has been happening more and more lately,” you mention to your wife. “I just feel so exhausted all of the time.”
Your wife looks over to you as she takes a bite of her chicken, “Well it is no surprise that you are so tired!” she says. “You have been waking up like a hundred times during the night!”
You might be suffering from the sleep disorder: sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a serious sleep disorder that occurs when a person’s breathing becomes interrupted during periods of sleep. These interruptions can occur hundreds of times over the course of a night!
So what can you do to treat sleep apnea? The answers lie in Dr. Roberto Monteagudo’s blog, so keep reading to learn more about sleep apnea and you!
Symptoms of Sleep Apnea
Sleep apnea can affect all areas of your life, especially when exhaustion sets in to interrupt your days. Some other symptoms of sleep apnea can include:
Waking with a sore throat
Loud snoring
Waking with a choking or gasping feeling
Sleepiness when driving
Headaches in the mornings
Mood changes
Less interest in sex
Forgetfulness
Insomnia or recurrent awakenings
Restless sleep
As you can see, these symptoms are aggravating, at the very least. They can affect all of your day to day functioning. So what can you do to alleviate the symptoms if you are suffering from sleep apnea? Keep reading!
Diagnosis and Treatment of Sleep Apnea
Believe it or not, but many people do not know that they are suffering from sleep apnea. It is usually a partner who identifies the sleeping issues and then reports them.
To diagnosis sleep apnea, a variety of sleeping tests are conducted to evaluate your sleeping patterns, nasal air flow, and snoring. These tests give doctors such as Dr. Roberto Monteagudo the tools to develop a proper diagnosis and create a treatment plan that is right for you.
Treatment protocol can be as basic as: losing weight, avoiding alcohol and sleeping pills, shifting sleeping positions, ceasing to smoke, or even avoiding sleeping on your back. All of those can be easy fixes that can help your overall health!
In addition, Dr. Monteagudo might recommend a dental device that can help keep your airways open during sleep. All of these treatments will be discussed with you during your consultation with Dr. Roberto Monteagudo.
If you think that you or someone that you know is suffering from sleep apnea, don’t wait, call Dr. Monteagudo today! We will make sure that you are on the path to restful sleep and active days!
Invisalign and Your Smile
You never liked your smile. You always looked in the mirror and saw your crooked teeth and wish that it all could be changed. But as a kid, you never had braces. It just never worked out that you could.
As an adult, you still are unsatisfied with your smile. Your teeth still are not straight, and you notice it every day before you head out the door. However, you think to yourself, “There is no way I am getting braces now! That would not fly at my work!” You are not alone in your sentiments. Many adults want to straighten their teeth, but do not want to be seen as the ‘adult with braces’ at their work.
But today, there is a solution. You do not have to have braces in order to enhance you smile. Today there is Invisalign, and it is changing smiles almost invisibly.
Sound too good to be possible? Keep reading more to discover how Invisalign could fit into your life, and give you the smile that you have always wanted!
What is Invisalign?
At an Invisalign consultation, Dr. Monteagudo will discuss Invisalign with you, and decide if the aligners can work for you. While it is rumored that Invisalign cannot be used for extreme dental issues, Invisalign has been able to help all sorts of different cases including: spaced teeth, overly crowded teeth, cross-bite, over-bite, and even under-bite cases.
If Invisalign can work for you, Dr. Monteagudo will chart a course of care that will detail the way that the teeth can shift into position. Every two to three weeks, you will receive a new aligner that you will wear 24 hours a day, and 7 days a week. You can take out the invisible aligner to eat, drink, brush your teeth, and drink. In-turn, you can take your aligners out to eat anything that you want. You don’t have any food restrictions—caramel apples, carrot sticks, and pears are all up for holds!
By also being able to remove the aligners when you brush your teeth, you are able to maintain regular brushing and flossing habits. You do not need to learn a completely new system of oral hygiene like you need with braces. Because you can maintain your dental hygiene, you can keep your teeth healthier and unstained even while your teeth become straighter!
But How Much Does It Cost?
So Invisalign sounds appealing, but there has to be a catch, right? The price has to be expensive, right?
In fact, the price of Invisalign is comparable to the price of traditional braces. Insurance plans typically cover the same amount towards Invisalign as they would braces, so you can have the freedom to change your smile without anyone seeing it, at an affordable price. http://www.invisalign.com/Cost/Pages/dental-insurance-options.aspx
To see an estimate of how much Invisalign might cost for you, plug into the monthly payment calculator!
Come Consult with Dr. Monteagudo
If you are considering Invisalign, call Dr. Monteagudo at our Wisconsin office at 414-383-5833! Dr. Monteagudo can answer all of your questions about Invisalign and discuss if Invisalign is right for you. Call us today so you can have the smile you always wanted in no time!
Fear and the Dentist
You look at the calendar and flip the page to a new month. “Another month gone, and no visit to the dentist,” you think to yourself as you cringe. Flashbacks of dentist visits from when you were a child come rushing back to you, and you can hear the drill, feel your teeth being aggressively inspected with latex gloves, and smell the scent of fluoride mixed with mint-flavored floss.
For many people, a negative experience with a dentist can cause them not to schedule appointments, allowing for their dental health to remain unattended. This might be your experience. You might feel butterflies when the very word ‘dentist’ is mentioned, and you cannot recall the last time you made a dentist check-up a regular part of your year.
But, you are not alone. Dental phobias keep an estimated 50 percent of Americans away from the dental chair, and away from dental treatment. However, someone who understands dental fears is here for you, right here in the West Allis, Wisconsin area.
Dr. Monteagudo knows how you feel. He knows about your fears, but he also knows how to handle those fears so that your dental care can be maintained. And Dr. Monteagudo has the tools to make you more comfortable during your visit. What tools are those? You have to keep reading to find out how your fears can be reduced, and you can have the smile that you always wanted!
Comfort and the Dentist? Tell Me More.
You might not think that ‘comfort’ and ‘dentist’ are two words that belong in the same category. But if you come in and see Dr. Monteagudo, you will understand the pairing.
Dr. Monteagudo specializes in sedation dentistry. This dentistry allows for an oral sedative and nitrous oxide to be administered to you. While you take a nap, Dr. Monteagudo can clean and repair your teeth. You can relax completely and wake up at ease, with few to no memories about the office visit.
Sedation dentistry allows for you to be comfortable the entire time you are in the dentist’s chair. You also know that you are getting the very best care, and can walk out of the office with a beautiful smile. No more butterflies, no more missed appointments, no more toothaches that never go away. You have the opportunity to make your smile healthy in the calm environment of Monteagudo Center for Smile Designs. Make it happen today!
Other Ways to Kick the Dental Phobia
You can now see how sedation dentistry can be useful if you are apprehensive towards dental office visits, but there are other ways to make your visit more enjoyable as well.
1. Think positively- the second you start associating every aspect of the dentist with something bad, then the more butterflies you are going to have fluttering all around you. So try this quick tip out. Think of all of the fears that you have about the dentist, and try to categorize them in a more positive light. For example, if you hate the sound of a drill, then try to think of the positive uses of the tool and how it is helping eradicate tooth decay. By spinning everything from more scary into happier, you’ll be amazed how much better a tooth-cleaning can look.
2. What’s happening? – some poor associations of the dentist can be related to having no idea what is going on during a visit or procedure. Dr. Monteagudo makes sure that you understand each step of every cleaning or procedure. He can use the ‘tell-show-do’ technique, to illustrate every step of the process in multiple ways. First, Dr. Monteagudo will tell you what he is about to do. Then he can show you what the procedure will entail, using models or drawings. Finally, and only when you are ready, Dr. Monteagudo will complete the procedure. And that’s it! You have a beautiful smile in no time!
3. Ask and ask and ask…- if you are anxious about any aspect of your dental care, then you should not feel embarrassed or limited to asking any of your questions. We are here for you, to make sure that you get the best dental care, period. Even if you have not been in to see a dentist for years, we will make certain that you feel at home and can have those pearly whites too. So call us at 414.383.5833 or stop by! Because dental fears shouldn’t last a lifetime, but your smile should!
Finding a quality dental provider is one of the top decisions that families soon make when moving into a new area, or if circumstances such as job changes and insurance policies require switching health providers. It can be difficult to choose an oral health professional from a list of providers whom you have never seen before. (more…)
Call the West Allis office of Dr. Monteagudo today and experience CEREC technology at its best. Patients across the greater Milwaukee area, including Brookfield, Wauwatosa, and Waukesha, have enjoyed our special treatment for over a decade.
