Sleep Apnea Machine May Cause Facial Changes

Study Shows nCPAP Machine May Cause Temporary Changes in Facial Structure

By Katrina Woznicki
WebMD Health News

Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD

Oct. 5, 2010 — Repeated use of nasal continuous positive airway pressure (nCPAP) machines to treat obstructive sleep apnea may have some side effects on facial structure, a study shows.
But researchers did not report any permanent damage to the face from the machines.
Researchers at Kyushu University Hospital in Fukuoka, Japan, and at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, studied 46 adults, 89% of them male, with obstructive sleep apnea.
Earlier research had reported craniofacial side effects among children who used nCPAP machines. But the researchers say there had been no documented evidence indicating there was also craniofacial changes in adults.
The researchers took X-rays of the participants’ faces after they had used the airway pressure machines for more than two years. Nasal continuous positive airway pressure involves wearing a mask to bed at night that is connected to a machine that helps patients breathe easier. Patients are typically fitted for their masks.
After evaluating the participants, researchers found that using these airway pressure machines was associated with reduced maxillary and mandibular or front jaw prominence, and altering the two dental arches.
Researchers suspect the air pressure from the machine may contribute to these changes. There were no significant correlations between the participant’s age, body mass index, apnea-hypopnea index (measurement of apnea episodes) and the craniofacial changes.
The concern is that repeated use of these machines could change one’s facial profile, reduce tongue space, and potentially worsen obstructive sleep apnea symptoms over time, particularly if craniofacial changes reduce the patient’s ability to breathe.
The findings are reported in the October issue of Chest, a journal of the American College of Chest Physicians.
The researchers note that these observations raise more questions and require more follow-up.
“The side effects of dental changes obviously have a small impact compared with the beneficial effects of nCPAP, such as reducing the AHI [apnea-hypopnea index] and daytime sleepiness,” the researchers write. “However, because the effects of these dental and skeletal changes have not been fully investigated, further study is required to uncover the factors affecting these changes

Articles written by Dr. Richard E. Klein

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Alaska

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Amazon

The Amazon rain-forest produces more than 20% the world’s oxygen supply.

The Amazon River pushes so much water into the Atlantic Ocean that, more than one hundred miles at sea off the mouth of the river, one can dip fresh water out of the ocean.  The volume of water in the Amazon river is greater than the next eight largest rivers in the world combined and three times the flow of all rivers in the United States .

Antarctica

Antarctica is the only land on our planet that is not owned by any country.

Ninety percent of the world’s ice covers Antarctica . This ice also represents seventy  percent of all the fresh water in the world. As strange as it sounds, however, Antarctica is essentially a desert. The average yearly total precipitation is about two inches Although covered with ice (all but 0.4% of it, ice.), Antarctica is the driest place on the planet, with an absolute humidity lower than the Gobi desert.

Brazil

Brazil got its name from the nut, not the other way around.

Canada

Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined. Canada is an Indian word meaning ‘ Big Village .’

Chicago

Next to Warsaw , Chicago has the largest Polish population in the world.

Detroit

Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, carries the designation M-1, so named because it was the first paved road anywhere.

Damascus, Syria

Damascus, Syria, was flourishing a couple of thousand years before Rome was founded in 753 BC, making it the oldest continuously inhabited city in existence.

Istanbul, Turkey

Istanbul, Turkey, is the only city in the world located on two continents.

Los Angeles

Los Angele’s full name is El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula — and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size: L.A.

New York City

The term ‘The Big Apple’ was coined by touring jazz musicians of the 1930’s who used the slang expression ‘apple’ for any town or city. Therefore, to play New York City is to play the big time – The Big Apple.

There are more Irish in New York City than in Dublin , Ireland ; more Italians in New York City than in Rome, Italy ; and more Jews in New York City than in Tel Aviv, Israel .

Ohio

There are no natural lakes in the state of Ohio , everyone is man made.

Pitcairn Island

The smallest island with country status is Pitcairn in Polynesia , at just 1.75 sq. miles/4,53 sq. km.

Rome

The first city to reach a population of 1 million people was Rome , Italy in 133 B.C.  There is a city called Rome on every continent.

Siberia

Siberia contains more than 25% of the world’s forests.

S.M.O.M .

The actual smallest sovereign entity in the world is the Sovereign Military Order of Malta  (S.M.O.M). It is located in the city of Rome, Italy, has an area of two tennis courts, and as of 2001 has a population of 80, 20 less people than the Vatican.  It is a sovereign entity under international law, just as the Vatican is.

Sahara Desert

In the Sahara Desert , there is a town named Tidikelt , Algeria , which did not receive a drop of rain for ten years.
Technically though, the driest place on Earth is in the valleys of the Antarctic near Ross Island . There has been no rainfall there for two million years.

Spain

Spain literally means ‘the land of rabbits.’

St. Paul , Minnesota

St. Paul, Minnesota , was originally called Pig’s Eye after a man named Pierre ‘Pig’s Eye’ Parrant who set up the first business there.

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Russia

The deepest hole ever drilled by man is the Kola Superdeep Borehole, in Russia . It reached a depth of 12,261 meters (about 40,226 feet or 7.62 miles). It was drilled for scientific research and gave up some unexpected discoveries, one of which was a huge deposit of hydrogen – so massive that the mud coming from the hole was ?boiling? with it.

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The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one-mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.

Waterfalls

The water of Angel Falls (the World’s highest) in Venezuela drops 3,212 feet (979 meters). They are 15 times higher than Niagara Falls .

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