What Are Sleep Apnea Causes? - Dr. Mansfield (VIDEO)

Dr. Mansfield:

The causes of sleep apnea are basically blockages of the airway, an airway is nose and mouth and anything that’s in the way between nose, mouth and windpipe or lungs is going to block that passageway, and one of the structures is tongue and there are people just like other parts of anatomy in terms of hair, eye color, ear size etcetera, that large tongues or with some people with small tongues with some people and people with large tongues have much higher risk of blockages than those with small tongues.

Similarly, people with small jaws – when you have a big tongue and a small jaw the side effect of that is that the tongue at night time when you sleep has very little place to go but back and that of course would then block the windpipe during the breathing passage during the night time only, and during the day the patient is absolutely fine, but it’s at night when they sleep and tissues get weakened and the body becomes somewhat paralyzed during dream sleep where the blockages occur.

About Dr. Mansfield, M.D.:
At the Senta Clinic, Dr. Perry Mansfield specializes in diseases related to head and neck oncology. Nationally recognized leader in skull base disorders, Dr. Mansfield created and developed one of the premiere centers for skull base surgery in the Southwestern United States. His role as a head and neck oncologist focuses on tumors of the anterior and middle skull base, such as squamous cell carcinomas and other disorders of salivary glands and sinuses.

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Tags

• Sleep Apnea