The Institute For
Better Breathing

Do you snore?

Do you snore or are you tired of sleeping with someone who snores? The board certified specialists at the Institute For Better Breathing can reduce or eliminate snoring using a new simple FDA approved procedure, called Somnoplasty. The specialists perform this procedure at your convenience and in the comfort of their office. In less than an hour, Somnoplasty can eliminate some of the causes of snoring with little or no discomfort.

Who else snores?

Snoring occurs to some degree in most of us. When it is accompanied by symptoms to suggest obstructed sleep apnea or when it disrupts a bed partner's sleep it is time to seek help.

Do you suffer from chronic nasal stuffiness?

The board certified specialists at the Institute For Better Breathing can relieve chronic nasal stuffiness using a new simple FDA approved procedure called Somnoplasty. The specialists perform this procedure at your convenience and in the comfort of their office. In less than an hour, Somnoplasty can eliminate nasal obstructions with little or no discomfort. Moreover, Somnoplasty is effective in reducing some of the causes of snoring.

Snoring can be a sign of a serious disorder.

Besides being disruptive, snoring can be a sign of a serious disorder called sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a condition where a person has periods of decreased breathing during sleep, causing chronic sleepiness, daytime fatigue, poor work performance and poor sexual performance. Sleep apnea is even a major contributor to some kinds of heart attacks and strokes.

Why stop snoring?

Unless corrective action is taken, loud snoring lasts a lifetime with two consequences: the first is prolonged embarrassment accompanied with various social problems. The second and more serious is the possible development or the existence of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), a condition where you intermittently stop breathing during sleep.

Embarrassment

Your obnoxious snoring sound itself is not a health threat, but it is embarrassing. Your snoring is irritating to your wife, lover or partner. Often, because of snoring, spouses sleep in separate rooms.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA)

If you have sleep apnea, you stop breathing while you sleep. When you have sleep apnea, your tongue falls back into your throat, blocking your airway so air cannot flow in through your nose or mouth. Then the airway collapses and prevents airflow from reaching your lungs and bloodstream. This situation is like pressing a pillow over your face. The cumulative effect of these obstructed breathing episodes is reduced blood oxygen levels to the brain. This condition forces you to remain in a light sleep, depriving you of REM (rapid eye movement, deep-sleep- stage) and preventing you from getting a proper night of sleep. If untreated, severe sleep apnea can lead to serious long-term consequences.

Symptoms Indicating Sleep Apnea

If you suffer from sleep apnea you may have hundreds of involuntary breathing pauses, called apneic episodes, per hour, each lasting 10 seconds or longer. You will usually snore between episodes, and then snort, gasp or choke when you begin breathing again. Another symptom of sleep apnea is marked daytime sleepiness. If you have these symptoms or if your snoring is excessively loud, you should immediately see a physician.

Results of sleep apnea

If you are an OSA sufferer, you will never get a “good nights sleep” because the repeated sleep interruptions will deprive you of necessary deep sleep. A lack of sleep leads to morning headaches, irritability, poor concentration, chronic daytime exhaustion, obesity, hypertension, frequent nocturnal urination and daytime sleepiness. Daytime sleepiness and fatigue caused by sleep apnea has severe consequences, from job impairment to loss of life while driving a car. Furthermore, the results of improper sleep can lead to long-term cardiovascular stress, cardiovascular failure or to stroke.

How can the Institute for Better Breathing stop your snoring?

If you have tissue floppiness in your upper airways, the board certified specialists at the Institute For Better Breathing will use the FDA approved Somnoplasty procedure to permanently stiffen and alter the shape of these tissues to reduce or eliminate your snoring. Somnoplasty can also reduce or eliminate sinus headaches, post nasal drip and also reduce the impact of allergic reaction.

What is somnoplasty?

Somnoplasty is a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved treatment that uses radio waves to shrink and tighten the soft tissues in your upper airway. These tissues are at the back of the throat and enlarged turbinates in the nose. The reshaping and tightening of these tissues stops the tissue vibration, improves air flow and consequently stops your snoring. The doctors at the Institute For Better Breathing will perform the Somnoplasty procedure in their office using a local anesthetic. The procedure takes less than an hour with only 2-5 minutes of actual exposure to the radio waves.

More on somnoplasty

Somnoplasty is FDA approved for use in the treatment of four conditions: habitual snoring from the soft palate and uvula, chronic nasal obstruction from enlarged inferior turbinates and Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) and Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome (UARS).

Somnoplasty involves inserting a small probe into the palate. The probe directs low levels of radio frequency energy to the tissues of the uvula or soft palate. The procedure creates finely controlled zones of coagulation at precise locations beneath the tissue in the upper airway. This controlled destruction of tissue results in reshaping and tightening of the soft palate. Over a period of three to eight weeks, the treated tissue previously responsible for snoring is resorbed; that is, the body naturally removes this tissue and opens the airway.

Why does somnoplasty work?

The FDA approved Somnoplasty procedure treats snoring and obstructive sleep apnea by shrinking soft tissues in the upper airway. Somnoplasty permanently alters the shape of the soft palate. The new stiffer shape of the soft palate does not vibrate as much in a way that causes snoring.

Somnoplasty can also reduce enlarged turbinates in the nose, reducing the problems of restricted airflow in the nose. This improved air flow can resolve sinus headaches, nasal stuffiness, nasal drip and recurrent sinus infections.

What causes snoring?

When you sleep your body relaxes allowing the tissues of the soft palate and the base of the tongue to collapse, this obstructs the breathing airway. This narrowing of the airway increases the speed of the air movement. With the increased speed, the soft tissues of the palate, the uvula, and sometimes the tonsils vibrate, acting as noisemakers, causing you to snore.

Somnoplasty is safe, painless, and easy to have done.

Somnoplasty is safe.

Now, the Somnoplasty procedure available at the Institute For Better Breathing is a significant improvement over previous techniques. Somnoplasty will not destroy the delicate tissue lining of the throat like other types of snoring surgery such as laser or cautery. It is the destruction of this lining that causes significant discomfort as well as carrying other surgical risks.

The board-certified specialists at the Institute For Better Breathing perform Somnoplasty in their offices. The shorter a medical procedure is, the safer it is. Your actual exposure to low level radio waves is less than 5 minutes. You will be done with the procedure in less than 30-45 minutes.

Somnoplasty is painless.

For years, there was no available non-invasive solution for snoring reduction or nasal obstruction. Previously, surgical options would succeed in reducing upper airway obstruction, but carried significant postoperative pain and bleeding risk. Somnoplasty does not hurt. Since the delicate lining of the palate and nose are protected, the Somnoplasty procedure will allow you a quick and virtually painless recovery. You will usually resume your normal activities after the procedure using only a mild pain reliever such as Tylenol.

Somnoplasty is easy to have done

Somnoplasty is easy to have done because you are treated conveniently in the comfortable offices of the Institute For Better Breathing, eliminating inconvenient and costly hospitalization. Anesthetic is only a mouth gargle and a small amount of injected anesthetic similar to Novocain. Discomfort is minimal and you can return to your normal activities immediately after the procedure.

Stop using ineffective methods.

Stop using ineffective methods to cure your snoring. Some of these methods include the use of special anatomy contorting devices that attempt to prevent the vibrations that cause snoring. Some rely on behavior modification that inflicts self-torture or electric shock or the use of smelly greasy patent medicines. The last method suggests that you change your lifestyle habits by exercising more, losing weight or reducing alcohol consumption.

The ineffective attempts to cure snoring consist of four approaches:

1) This method is based on altering your position during sleep. Some suggested devices are special snoring pillows or nose strips popular among athletes and available at a drug store. If you suffer from sleep apnea, there are dental devices that hold the tongue and jaw forward to keep the passage in the back of the neck open. These methods are frequently uncomfortable and are less effective. More modern methods are available to control and detect sleep apnea.

2) This method is based on the idea of making you so uncomfortable that you will change your behavior. The method uses electric shock when you snore. There is no evidence that this works. On the contrary, there is no evidence you can control, either directly or indirectly, your snoring. Moreover, it might aggravate your snoring by depriving you of important sleep.

3) This method suggests that you try a life-style change. The suggestions usually include losing weight, exercising, stopping smoking and stopping drinking, especially at night. Even if these methods would work, and they do not, there is not a big enough book written that you can read to show you how to accomplish these ends.

4) This method employs snoring potions. These patent medicines are smelly and expensive. To avoid traditional surgical pain, patients with various nasal conditions resulting from enlarged turbinates often endure prolonged use of intranasal sprays and systemic medications, which have long term effectiveness and moreover have harmful side effects.

Start using an effective method.

Somnoplasty is a proven technique that will stop your snoring. Somnoplasty is a technique that relieves upper-airway obstructions with minimum intra-operative and post-operative pain. Somnoplasty is a safe method for palate-tissue reduction for the treatment of habitual snoring, and is effective in the improvement of nasal obstruction caused by turbinate hypertrophy. You will experience a reduction of snoring within four to eight weeks, sometimes much sooner.

Are you a candidate for somnoplasty?

If you are burdened with annoying disruptive snoring, habitual snoring, or snoring that prevents your partner from sleeping in the same room, you are a candidate for Somnoplasty. If you suffer from sinus headaches, snoring, allergies, post nasal drip or chronic nasal obstruction that is the result of enlarged nasal turbinates, you are a candidate for Somnoplasty.

Ruling out sleep apnea

It is important to discover if obstructive sleep apnea is a part of your problem. Please contact The Institute For Better Breathing. Our doctors will examine your medical history and determine if Somnoplasty or other procedures would solve your problem. When you come in for your initial examination, if you have suggestive symptoms, we will usually initiate a simple, painless overnight sleep test. If serious obstructive sleep apnea is ruled out and you snore loudly, you are certainly a candidate for Somnoplasty. If obstructive sleep apnea is not ruled out, you still might be a candidate, but further tests will be necessary.

How much does it cost and is it covered by insurance?

Somnoplasty is an FDA approved procedure for the treatment of habitual snoring. Please contact us for accurate information and to discuss your particular situation.

Initial evaluation of snoring and the sleep test for obstructive sleep apnea is nearly always covered by insurance. If you have sleep apnea, most insurance plans cover the cost of testing. We offer various package arrangements that cover the total cost of the procedure, including the doctor's fee for the first treatment.

Why wait? Get it done with the best!

Why wait? Stop your snoring with Somnoplasty. Get it done by board certified specialists at the Institute For Better Breathing. These specialists are among the finest and some of the first to perform Somnoplasty in the country. If you live in or are visiting Southern California, call The Institute For Better Breathing to discuss details.