Are you pregnant and have you been told that you snore? A new study suggests that treating this mild sleep disordered breathing can help improve the health of the unborn baby.

The January issue of the journal Sleep contains the results of this study which used a CPAP to treat the mild sleep disordered breathing experienced by the mothers. The health of the fetus was monitored using fetal activity levels, a common marker for how healthy the baby is. The results showed that the average number of fetal movements greatly increased (almost doubled) when the mom slept with a CPAP versus the night that CPAP wasn’t used.

“What would otherwise have been considered clinically unimportant or minor “snoring” likely has major effects on the blood supply to the fetus, and that fetus in turn protects itself by reducing movements,” suggested Dr. Collin Sullivan, principal investigator. “This can be treated with readily available positive airway pressure therapy and suggests that measurement of fetal activity during a mother’s sleep may be an important and practical method of assessing fetal well-being.”

CPAP is a wonderful treatment for sleep disordered breathing like obstructive sleep apnea and snoring but about half of patients cannot tolerate sleeping with the masks and hoses that come with the machine. A wonderful alternative for these patients is an oral appliance created by a specially trained sleep apnea dentist. Oral appliance therapy is proven effective and patients find using the oral appliance easy and comfortable.

Find out more about snoring and sleep disordered breathing and it’s effects on your health by contacting Columbus, OH sleep apnea dentist Dr. Mark Levy today at 614-476-6696.