If you have pain in your jaw that causes clicking and popping sounds, difficulty opening and closing the mouth, or “lockjaw” or pain that starts in the jaw and radiates throughout the body, this could be a sign of temporomandibular joint dysfunction, or TMJ dysfunction for short. TMJ dysfunction can be caused by several issues, including poor jaw alignment, genetics, injury and even other conditions, such as arthritis or fibromyalgia. If you experience pain throughout your body that you can’t explain, you could be suffering from fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia typically causes musculoskeletal pain ..read more

With so much turmoil going on in the world around us right now, it’s natural to feel added stress and anxiety. That stress and anxiety can manifest itself in many ways, including in our diets and in habits we don’t even realize we’re doing. For example, it may make people smoke more if they’re smokers, or bite their nails more if they’re nail biters. But one particularly dangerous way stress manifests itself is in teeth grinding – which could not only ruin your teeth, but also cause damage to your jaw. Teeth grinding, or bruxism, is an especially dangerous habit because we often aren’t aware ..read more

Asthma can be a very scary condition for many reasons. The disease affects an estimated 25 million Americans – over 7 percent of the adult population and over 8 percent of children. Asthma is an inflammatory disease that causes inflammation and narrowing of the airways, which in turn causes wheezing and difficulty breathing. Though there is no cure for asthma, many products, such as prescription pills and rescue inhalers, help treat the lung condition. As dangerous as asthma is to the lungs, a new study has found that it’s also dangerous to another area of the body: the gums. In fact, the stu ..read more

A new study in the journal Sleep and Breathing has revealed evidence that patients with scleroderma have a higher risk of developing pulmonary hypertension when they also have obstructive sleep apnea, or OSA. Scleroderma is an autoimmune illness that causes hardening of the body’s connective tissue. It can cause hardened skin and scar tissue, which can damage organs, including the heart, lungs and kidneys. While we don’t know what causes scleroderma, we do know it affects women more frequently than men – in fact, according to Scleroderma News, it is three to four times more likely to affect w ..read more

We already know that sleep apnea can wreak havoc on our sleeping patterns, our alertness during the day, and our mental health. But we are learning more and more each day about how dangerous this sometimes debilitating condition can be. Sleep apnea has been linked to illnesses as serious as diabetes and cancer, and a new study has revealed how closely tied sleep apnea is to cancer. The study was scheduled for presentation at the American Thoracic Society International Conference and measured the relationship between the severity of sleep apnea and the risk of developing certain types of cance ..read more

We know a lot about sleep apnea, but there’s a lot more we don’t know – including what causes the condition and how to reduce our risk of getting it. But a groundbreaking new study aimed to change that by examining the effects of exercise on patients with sleep apnea. The study, which followed more than 155,000 adults, found that simply exercising could reduce the risk of sleep apnea. Now, before you start fretting that you’ll have to take on long periods of rigorous exercise, there’s good news! The amount of exercise needed to reduce one’s risk is surprisingly low. Low- to moderate-level exe ..read more

With an estimated 34.2 million Americans suffering from diabetes, there is much research being conducted to learn more about this often debilitating condition. While much of the research focuses on a cure, some emerging studies are examining the connection between diabetes and other comorbid conditions. One of these conditions is sleep apnea. More specifically, researchers are looking into the connection between fasting glucose and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and what researchers are calling “fragmented sleep” in a new study that examines this connection in Black adults both with and without diabe ..read more

There’s no doubt that we are living in scary times. With the onset of the COVID-19 virus, it is particularly scary for the millions of individuals around the world with preexisting conditions. One such condition, sleep apnea, is a major cause for concern during the global pandemic. In fact, it has recently been revealed that sleep apnea may actually increase a person’s risk of developing severe COVID-19. Here’s why. Dr. Jim Block is a dentist in Fremont, California, who specializes in the treatment of sleep apnea. He says the risk lies in the fact that patients with obstructive sleep apnea, o ..read more

There’s no doubt we’re living in highly unusual and stressful times. With uncertainty about our health, our jobs and our economy, the anxiety we feel can easily take its toll on our mental – and oral – health. But there are things we can do to help de-stress and take some of the pressure off our bodies during the pandemic and other times. Here are some tips and tricks you can try anywhere to help release the tension without harming your teeth! What do you do when you get stressed? Do you snack? Bite your nails? Grind your teeth? These are all common stress responses, but none of them is reall ..read more

With many communities asking us to wear face masks out in public to help protect vulnerable people against the spread of COVID-19, many people are noticing something very unpleasant in those masks: They have bad breath! That’s because when you wear a mask, all that bad (or good) breath is trapped around your mouth and nose, lingering for just long enough for you to realize it doesn’t smell good – something you may not have noticed before you donned your mask. But bad breath isn’t a good excuse to skip the mask. So what can you do if you find your breath leaves something to be desired? Here ar ..read more