Why Anti-Snoring Devices are Better than Surgery to End Snoring

Snoring is a problem for the snorer themselves, as well as anyone else within earshot. Anyone who has lived with, or tried to sleep near, a loudly snoring person knows only too well how annoying and disruptive this condition can be. People who snore tend to get a lot of comments from their loved-ones and housemates encouraging them to do something to stop the annoying problem.

But more than being annoying, snoring can also be a sign of serious health problems, and snoring itself, if untreated, can lead to other health conditions. Many people with severe snoring problems, and those who live with them wonder if surgery is the best solution and how it compares to an anti-snoring device.

There are several reasons an anti-snoring device is the best place to start when looking for an end to snoring, whether it is your own or that of the person in bed with you.

What Causes Snoring

Snoring has several causes, and determining the cause is an important first step in finding the best remedy. These are some of the main causes of snoring:

• Sleep apnea is a dangerous medical condition in which breathing stops for short periods while a person is asleep. During these bouts of brief suffocation, the person can suffer significant oxygen deprivation which can lead to stain on bodily organs. About 17 percent of people over 30 and under 69 years old have sleep apnea.

• Problems with the position of the jaw during sleep is another cause of snoring. When the mouth and jaw assume certain postures in sleep, the tissue forming the air-passageway inside the mouth and throat can become obstructed, making it hard for air to pass in and out and causing the rattling, snorting, and chortling sounds associated with snoring.

• Weakness in the muscles and tissues inside the throat is another cause of snoring created by a misshapen airway that leads to airway obstruction. Just like when you sing or whistle and you constrict or expand certain parts of your mouth and throat to cause the sounds, snoring is caused by similar changes in the snoring person’s mouth and throat, although the sounds produced are seldom music to anyone’s ears.

• Drugs and alcohol use can also be a cause of snoring. This is because these sedative substances can relax the mouth and throat as in the other causes listed above, leading to the characteristic rattling and rumblings of snoring.

• Upper Airway Respiratory Syndrome is another name for a kind of severe snoring. It is also caused by an obstruction of airways in the mouth and throat, but it this case, the difficulty is significant enough that the person wakes up briefly while struggling to get enough air.

Many of these causes of snoring are not life-threatening, but benign snoring can progress and become worse as a person ages, as well as for people who gain weight. In some cases, snoring is a genuine cause for alarm, because the reverberations can eventually result in thickening in the carotid artery in the neck, leading to stroke, heart attacks, and even a loss of hearing, if snoring is very loud.

Non-Surgical Remedies for Snoring

Anti-snoring devices are medical devices which fit into the mouth or around the head or jaw and keep the airways open to prevent snoring. Some of these devices hold the tongue in place and others keep the jaw in a position that reduces or eliminates the obstruction of air.

When looking for an anti-snoring device, it may be necessary to try several different types before you find the right one for your condition. Because each device works in a slightly different way to hold open the airway, and snoring can result from several types of obstruction, you may need to try a number of different devices to get the one just right for your body and symptoms.

The Surgical Option

Surgery of any kind is a serious consideration. Besides going through the ordeal of a hospital stay, risking potential infections or adverse reactions to anesthesia or post-operative drugs, a surgery for snoring may not be successful.

You can come out of a snoring surgery and find that you still have a snoring problem, or that there are other complications, like scaring where incisions were made. Beyond that, the Center for Sound Sleep reports that many people who undergo surgery for snoring still have to use an anti-snoring device anyway.

Radiofrequency ablation is a newer type of surgery which uses heat created by radio waves to remove a section of tissue, rather than the old-fashioned scalpel method. But radiofrequency ablation is still a form of surgery, and it can lead to scarring and stiffening of tissue. Post-operative pain is also frequently reported by people opting for a surgical solution.

Advantages of Anti-Snoring Devices

Anti-snoring devices have a number of advantages over a surgical solution:

• Anti-snoring devices are much less expensive than an operation,

• There is no risk of scaring, infections, adverse drug reactions, or other possible side-effects of surgery,

• Surgical options cannot be reversed. If the surgery is not successful, you do not have much recourse to change it, and you may be stuck with new problems on top of the snoring,

• There are a wide-range of devices to control snoring available on the market. If one does not work, you can move on and try a different type. This is not an option if you go under the knife.

Many cases of snoring can be successfully treated with the aid of an anti-snoring device. Anti-snoring devices are inexpensive, effective, and considerably safer than surgical options for treating this condition. Surgery to end snoring is best left as a last resort option. Start by trying out some anti-snoring devices before you head for the operating table.