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Sleep Apnea Management for the Dentist

Course Number: 578

Introduction

Approximately one-fourth to one-third of life is spent sleeping or in bed. Sleep has been a mysterious black box that has only recently been extensively studied within the past two decades. While intuitive, sleep has been identified as being important for both physical and mental well-being.1,2 Disrupted sleep has been implicated in pain syndromes in general and even in temporomandibular disorders.3 The hypothalamus regulates sleep and circadian rhythms with the ventrolateral preoptic (VLPO) nucleus playing a key role.4 Sleep disorders can be divided into different categories:5

  • Insomnia

  • Sleep breathing disorders

  • Sleep movement disorders

  • Parasomnias

  • Circadian rhythm disorders

  • Hypersomnia