Acid Reflux and Sleep Apnoea Go Hand in Hand!

There have been numerous studies and data collected on people who experience acid reflux. The medical term for acid reflux that occurs frequently is called gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GERD). In a study of sixty million Americans who were diagnosed with GERD, 80% of them reported their symptoms were worse at night, according to WebMD.

The College of Gastroenterology is always searching for reasons to discover why there is such a strong correlation between sleep apnoea and acid reflux. Turns out, according to gastroenterologist Ken DeVault, MD of the Mayo Clinic, “with sleep apnoea, people tend to breathe harder because their breathing has stopped, and that could induce reflux to flow into the oesophagus”.1 In other studies by physicians, night-time reflux was discovered as often being a primary cause of sleep disruption.

If you suffer from both problems, there is good news. There are treatment options that the team at Woollahra Dental Practice can help you with because they have a holistic approach.
Dr Tony Ancell has a special interest in Dental Sleep Medicine and can provide you with an at home sleep study and a sleep appliance, such as an Airway Ease dental appliance, to help you manage your sleep apnoea. Managing your sleep apnoea may be a solution to reducing/eliminating your night-time acid reflux as well. At required times referral to respiratory sleep physician can be made to our allied network of health practitioners.

Give Woollahra Dental Practice a call today 02 9363 5690, to book your initial consultation to improve your oral health and your overall health. Learn how it is possible to have a restful night’s sleep again.

Figure 1: Stomach acid travels up the oesophagus causing sleep disruption, especially when the airway is already narrow, making night-time breathing difficult.

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