silly question:if UA collapses, can atill breath thru mouth?

[rbanavara]

Apnea is case where in the soft palate (the soft upper part of mouth cavity), collapses on to airway, thus blocking air passage from nose to mouth. But the passage from mouth to wind pipe will still be open. Can the person undergoing apnea not breath through mouth freely? How can the breathing gets blocked...? I know I am missing something, just trying to get it clarified (Just started reading again about sleep after a long gap!!!).

[elena88]

I think most of us, whether things are collasping and relaxing really get nailed when our tongue falls back and COMPLETELY blocks
our throat opening..

at least that is what happens to me.. I have a five story tongue living in a one story condo..

[rbanavara]

Was bit too early to post the question... still reading ont he link posted by KatieW (http://www.osahelp.com - sleep study slides). The apnea occurs as mentioned by elena88, tongue as well collapses blocking the passage from mouth to airway. Acccording to the illustration on the slide referred above, the lower jaw sinks down (most probably) thus pushing tongue and the soft palate (just below to the tongue when sleeping) against airway and blocking complete airflow.

[chunkyfrog]

My guess: there's probably a video (maybe even 3D) of this happening.
Somewhere--love to have a link.
I mean, you can get a video of your fetus; so. . .

[rested gal]

I think Muffy phrased it this way once... "everything north of the vocal cords is the 'Upper Airway'. "


ResMed video showing what happens during sleep apnea.
"Understanding Sleep Disordered Breathing"
http://www.resmed.com/us/multimedia/und ... 40x380.swf

Below I've typed that same link with a space I've put before the word "resmed" so you can see all the words in the link. Take out the space to make the URL work.
www. resmed.com/us/multimedia/understanding-sdb-english-640x380.swf

[roster]

Was bit too early to post the question... still reading ont he link posted by KatieW (http://www.osahelp.com - sleep study slides). The apnea occurs as mentioned by elena88, tongue as well collapses blocking the passage from mouth to airway. Acccording to the illustration on the slide referred above, the lower jaw sinks down (most probably) thus pushing tongue and the soft palate (just below to the tongue when sleeping) against airway and blocking complete airflow.

The ResMed links explain it well.

The jaw does not have to fall back to cause apneas. In fact, the jaw can be unnaturally and significantly advanced by a mandibular advancement device (MAD) and apneas can still occur.