Gift Guide to Better Sleep
December 4, 2023 No Comments
Quality sleep is critical for maintaining overall health and well-being. The benefits of good quality sleep extend beyond simply feeling rested, it plays a fundamental
Our Technology
We utilize state of the art technology to help us
diagnose and treat our patients.
HOME SLEEP TEST
At the Breathing and Sleep Center, we offer a home sleep test to diagnose sleep apnea and its severity. A home sleep test allows you to test yourself for sleep apnea in the comfort of your own home.
With only 3 points of contact our home sleep test measures 7 channels: Heart Rate, Chest Movement Snoring, Body Position, Oxygen Saturation and Peripheral Arterial (PAT) Signal. The measurements from these channels give us insight into sleep efficiency, sleep latency and REM latency.
Find out if you have sleep apnea with four easy steps. Learn More.
ITERO SCANNER
The iTero scanner provides 3-D visualizations of your mouth and teeth so we can show you exactly what we are seeing. To capture your 3-D scan, we use a small wand and scan each and every area and have a full scan complete it under 3-minutes.
iTero Scanner seamlessly places images together in the correct order and adjusts to changes in positioning as we adjust or shift our position. We keep 3-D scans on file for easy, future reference.
I-CAT 3D IMAGING
This state-of-the-art technology allows for thorough evaluation and treatment planning for your specific needs. It will do a 3D rendering of your airway with volume and surface area measurements. This imaging will clue the doctors into your TMJ health, analyze any restrictions in your airway — from the tip of your nose past the base of your tongue, evaluate your sinuses, and visualize the hard and soft tissues of your head.
We utilize this technology to not only help diagnose, but we use this technology for an objective measurement to track your progress and see how your airway and nasal passages improve throughout treatment.
FOTONA LASER
The Fotona Lightwalker laser is the do-it-all Cadillac laser. This wavelength uses two wavelengths to maximize its capabilities (Nd:YAG and Er:YAG). At the Breathing and Sleep Center, we utilize the Fotona laser for our Nightlase soft palate therapy, TMJ disorders, headache alleviation and frenectomies.
Due to the amazing capacity of this laser, HollowBrook Dental also utilizes this laser in their practice. This laser is utilized to do anesthesia-free fillings, alternative treatments to gum surgery, root sensitivity treatment, cold and canker sore treatment, along with many other applications.
Very few practices throughout the country have access to this type of technology, and the ones that do rarely use it to its full capacity. Our doctors have undergone extensive training with this laser and its capabilities. Due to Dr. Goles expertise and experience, he has been invited to educate other doctors on the applications and use of this laser. You won’t find more capable and experienced providers with this technology than you will at this office.
THERAPEUTIC LASER
The Breathing and Sleep Center is fortunate enough to have two of the most trusted lasers in the industry to help with pain and wound healing. This type of treatment has many names such as Photobiomodulation, Biostimulation and Low-Level Laser Therapy. This treatment is used to assist our patients struggling with TMJ disorders of muscles and tendons, stimulate faster wound healing and provide anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects.
The two lasers we use are the Fotona Lightwalker and Multiwave Locked System (MLS) therapy laser. The processes of these lasers result in accelerated tissue regeneration, stimulation of cell metabolism, increased lymphatic flow and stimulates increased circulation. This technology simultaneously stimulates cells to naturally heal, relieve pain and reduce inflammation and edema.
Nightlase
Nightlase is a non-invasive laser treatment used to increase a patient’s airway, resulting in better sleep and reduced snoring. The treatment induces tightening of the soft tissues in the back of the throat and airway, contracting these tissues and expanding the airway. A Nightlase treatment consists of 3-4 treatments over 9-12 weeks. Each appointment is approximately 45 minutes long. The final results often last up to a year and treatments may be repeated as needed.
If you snore or have mild to moderate sleep apnea, you are likely a candidate for Nightlase.
Nightlase therapy is effective because it makes use of laser energy, and after soft tissue is exposed to laser energy, it regenerates and tightens up. The Nightlase treatment at the Breathing and Sleep Center of Colorado Springs is a package of 3-4 treatments, which provides our patients the opportunity for maximum results.
ORAL APPLIANCES
While we can provide treatments that address the root cause of Obstructive Sleep Apnea by growing the airway, there are still instances when traditional Mandibular Advancement Devices are indicated.
Prior to some of the treatment options we have now, the only non-surgical methods of addressing sleep apnea were CPAP machines and Mandibular Advancement Devices (MAD). Both of these modalities can be very effective in managing sleep apnea, but they are considered just band-aid treatments since they don’t address the root causes of sleep apnea. By not addressing the root cause, the patient’s condition typically worsens over time. Both CPAP and MAD are essentially a life-sentence of wearing this contraption for the rest of your life.
The MAD functions by protruding your lower jaw forward to hold your airway open. This can sometimes elicit TMJ symptoms which is why it’s important to have it fabricated by a trained dentist to mitigate this possibility. Other downsides of selecting this treatment is it doesn’t address constriction in the nasal passages and will only be effective when wearing the appliance. The Vivos system will not only grow the airway behind your jaws, but it can improve air flow through the nose as well. These changes will affect your breathing 24/7 instead of only when an appliance is being worn.
We still utilize these Mandibular Advancement Devices if other treatment options do not fit into a patient’s lifestyle. We sometimes still need to use these appliances even after growing the airway in order to support the airway during sleep. However, the MAD is much more effective when it’s supporting a large airway after it has been grown.
JOINT VIBRATION ANALYSIS DEVICE
While doctors and researchers are still not exactly sure what causes temporomandibular joint disorder (more often called TMD or TMJ), we do know that it is greatly affected by the tension patients carry in their jaw joints. We can accurately measure this tension and the balance between one side of the jaw joint and the other through the use of a joint vibration analysis device and its corresponding interpretation software.
If you believe you have TMD, we can help you by performing tests with this device and analyzing the results. This helps us determine the proper course of action to relieve your pain.
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