You can get this thing from chemists that is baiscally like those gum guards (I assume) you have for American football (if not, we have them for the more manly rugby here - basically they’re plasticky moulds you stick your teeth into and it holds your skull together while playing rugby, especially as a young teen - even if you don’t hae them for American football I assume you get what I mean) with the exception that instead of holding your teeth in a normal ish position what it does is stick your lower jaw as far forward as possible. The aim is to reduce sleep apnea and it is in fact reasonably effective in moderate cases and the reason is fairly clear - to understand why just imagine a cross section of yer throat perpendicular to you looking forward. This gum thingy moves your palettes away from one anther.
I’ve spent five minutes trying to work out how to get an image URL n an iPad and have failed so am not quite able to show you how said cutaway works so you do have to imagine it or google it.
What matters is this - is the characteristic overbite of humans related to us snoring, or is up overbite teeth related? Seems to me that chimps have an underbite. And if we have started snoring for the sake of having an overbite - why on earth is this? Why do we want an overbite so much? Please tell me they aren’t related.
I had braces to correct an overbite - mine was a result of the angle the teeth were set in my jaw, not where the jaw was in relation to the upper mandible.
I snore like a chainsaw, didn’t when I was little and had the overbite, it started when I got fat in about 1990. Although my Dad also snored like a C5 landing, and he was fit until almost the end of his life [he ended up needing a knee replacement at 82 and got it at 84 so he didn’t get much walking type exercise done in the almost last years of his life. He ended up stroking out shortly after as a result of clots from a second operation [after rehab on the first knee they did.]
I have actually trained myself to first not touch teeth to combat my bruxism [grinding my teeth] and secondarily to change the angle I hold my jaws in while I sleep to combat the snoring.
My sister and I have dramatic overbites and don’t have issues with snoring, much less sleep apnea. We’re also very thin. From what I’ve read, if apnea has a physical cause it’s usually a soft tissue problem, made worse by carrying extra weight.
Yes, sleep apnea can be related to an overbite (deep bite or overjet). There is even research to back this up. However, there are many characteristics that can predispose someone to having sleep apnea. Being overweight, as has been mentioned, is one, as is genetics. However, just because you are overweight or have an overbite does not mean you WILL have sleep apnea. It merely means you are more likely to than someone who is not overweight or has an overbite.