scrapbook

Silent Nights?

Palate Implants May Help Provide Relief From Snoring

April 19? Tim Poulin, 49, is a snoring machine.

Poulin, a San Francisco resident, finally decided to do something about his problem when he went on a ski trip and nobody wanted to sleep on his side of the lodge.

"If there's a bunch of guys, that's OK," Poulin says of his snoring. "But if my girlfriend wakes and she has to go to another room, that's really bad."

For the Love of Pete, Stop Snoring

Poulin is among 40 million Americans whose palates ? the tissue in the back of the roof of the mouth ? flap in the wind, or vibrate as air passes through. It's one of the main causes of the noise that produces loud snoring.

San Francisco cosmetic surgeon Michael Macdonald offered a relatively new and unique solution: Pillar inserts.

"It's just a quick, easy, simple procedure with dramatic results," Macdonald says.

Inserts are an alternative to surgical techniques that sometimes involve several weeks of recovery and results that don't always work. Inserts consist of three small implants the size of small nails and made of the same material used in surgical sutures. They're injected into the palate to make the tissue more rigid so it's less likely to rattle into a snore. The procedure takes about a half-hour and requires cold spray, gel, and a few shots of anesthetic to turn off the gag reflex and the pain.

"If it's done carefully and properly ? you spray first, then a gel, and then some freezing ? they don't feel a thing," Macdonald says.

A Cure for Sleep Apnea?

Restore Medical, manufacturer of Pillar inserts, won FDA approval based on studies that found 80 percent of implanted patients found significant relief. A study is underway to determine if inserts also help relieve sleep apnea, a more dangerous snoring condition that cuts down oxygen flow to the brain and makes people repeatedly stop breathing or gasp for air. Apnea has been linked to a higher risk of stroke.

Macdonald says some snoring involves bony material in the nose or even the central nervous system, "and those types of snoring may need additional methods of remediation," he says.

Feelin' the Love Again

A month after his implant procedure Poulin feels like he's getting better sleep, but the proof may be in his love life. His girlfriend, Tara Brodkin, blushingly expressed what she has observed.

"A couple nights ago I was able to sleep until 5 in the morning in the same bed," Brodkin says. "So I think it's improving."

The procedure costs about $1,500 to $2,000 and is generally covered by insurance.

Posted by thinkum at April 19, 2004 12:51 PM