C-pap ruining my teeth?

Hi guy's,
So all my issues were solved and my therapy is great numbers below 1 all the time, but i am having issues with my teeth. I had 2 teeth in the back pulled, I was having horrible toothaches and now other teeth are doing the same thing its always worse at night. Is it possible cpap is causing this my dentist is kinda like duh when I ask?
I am very young 34 and i dont want to lose more I have tried perscribed mouthwash, sensodyne and a few other things and nothing works... Any thoughts

Hi proctor78,

At a guess, you may be clenching or grinding your teeth at night, and now that you're sleeping better, there are more hours in which you're clenching or grinding, hence tooth damage. Again, that's just a guess, I'm not a dentist (but I am a championship clencher). Do you ever awaken with a headache or pain specifically at your temples or where your jaws connect? Or has your dentist ever commented on abnormal wear on your back teeth?

If this is the issue, you can be fitted with a mouth guard to wear to prevent the tooth damage at night. They don't interfere with your mask. But if your dentist didn't tumble to this issue even with you losing a couple of teeth, then you might consider switching to a more alert dentist before raising the subject - I had to go through several dentists before I found one that really understood the issue and could fit a guard properly (he's a clencher himself, as is his wife, so he really knows).

Also - some people have success using the drugstore boil-and-bite soft mouthguards that athletes use; those didn't do it for me (I bit right through them) but your mileage might vary on that.

[Edit to add: Congrats on your great AHI numbers and successful cpap therapy!]

Just use a sports boil and bite mouth guard at night. It keeps you from grinding and clenching all night. You are a young fellow so I'm sure you have one around the house...if not they are REALLY cheap to get. I have been using mine for about 3 months now and really see (and feel) the difference.

proctor78 wrote:Hi guy's,
I had 2 teeth in the back pulled, I was having horrible toothaches

Why were they pulled? Teeth should not be pulled because of toothaches. The underlying cause of the aches should first be determined. Which teeth exactly were pulled?

proctor78 wrote:Hi guy's,
So all my issues were solved and my therapy is great numbers below 1 all the time,

It is unusual to get numbers below one every night. In the best cases the data will show a bit higher numbers even if they are false positives or events where you reflexively held your breath while you repositioned yourself in the bed. What does the leak line look like on a typical night?

Do you ever have dry mouth? What times?

It is unusual to get numbers below one every night.

Really? January 1st-15th, I haven't had a single night over 1. I had two zeros, and the closest I came to 1 was 0.95. Since December 19th, I've only had 2 nights over 1, and they were just barely over. No leak problems. For some of us, it's entirely normal to be consistently below 1, and it's not a sign that we're doing something wrong.

cowlypso wrote:

It is unusual to get numbers below one every night.

Really? January 1st-15th, I haven't had a single night over 1. I had two zeros, and the closest I came to 1 was 0.95. Since December 19th, I've only had 2 nights over 1, and they were just barely over. No leak problems. For some of us, it's entirely normal to be consistently below 1, and it's not a sign that we're doing something wrong.

Look cowlypso,

proctor78 has some serious sounding problems - "age 34, horrible toothaches, teeth extractions".

I am not involved in this thread to hear you brag about your statistics.

This thread is about questioning everything about proctor78's teeth problems and CPAP therapy and any possible connections between the two. It is about trying to point proctor78 in the direction of undiagnosed or misdiagnosed problems and suggesting next steps.

You detract from these goals by trying to pick apart a small bit of the posts here. If you want to prove your point about the statistics go open a poll in a separate thread.

Goodbye!

cowlypso wrote:

It is unusual to get numbers below one every night.

Really? January 1st-15th, I haven't had a single night over 1. I had two zeros, and the closest I came to 1 was 0.95. Since December 19th, I've only had 2 nights over 1, and they were just barely over. No leak problems. For some of us, it's entirely normal to be consistently below 1, and it's not a sign that we're doing something wrong.

Seconding that. Since October 24 when I started, I have only had two nights where AHI was over 1.

Therapist wrote: I am not involved in this thread to hear you brag about your statistics.

Oh really? It seemed to me that Cowlypso was presenting real data that contradicted your bald and uninformed pronouncement about AHI.

This thread is about questioning everything about proctor78's teeth problems and CPAP therapy and any possible connections between the two. It is about trying to point proctor78 in the direction of undiagnosed or misdiagnosed problems and suggesting next steps.

Uh, no - this thread is about a person asking for help, and getting it from a variety of individuals with experience and compassion, but without judgmental interference, false pronouncements as fact, or any one of us shutting down or denigrating another's valid experience.

Goodbye!

Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

My point is that there's no need to immediately suspect a leak or other malfunction when you see a good AHI. I agree that there are serious problems if there's so much tooth pain that teeth are being extracted. I also agree that the most likely cause for widespread tooth pain is grinding or clenching, and that a mouthguard should be tried. I was just pointing out that the OP should not be worried that he's got another problem on top of the tooth problem just because his AHI is low.

But thanks for biting my head off for trying to reassure the OP that his low AHI is actually okay, so that he can focus on his teeth and not worry about other stuff too.

cowlypso wrote:

But thanks for biting my head off for trying to reassure the OP that his low AHI is actually okay, so that he can focus on his teeth and not worry about other stuff too.

No he does not just need to look at the number of events. He needs to look at the total picture and all of the elements in it. That is basic problem solving. He needs to look at his leak line and consider whether he sometimes has dry mouth. This is very basic and should not be overlooked. proctor78 has not mentioned these two factors in this thread.

It would be a shame if proctor78 ran out and bought a toothguard, fitted it, spend a lot of time and energy learning to sleep with it, and much later found out he was mouthbreathing (using a nasal interface) and/or had large unintentional mask leak!

If that happens maybe proctor78 will want to bite off the heads of you and rocketgal.

I hope he is not now so distracted that he fails to answer the questions I posted.