Diagnosis of Sleep Disorders

There are many sleep disorders. Among them are:

There are many reasons for disturbed sleep. Making the appropriate sleep diagnosis is difficult and preferably made by an experienced, board certified, sleep specialty physician. The differential diagnosis between sleep disorder and seizure, pulmonary disorder or neurologic disorder is very complex, and often it is best made by a multidisciplinary group at a clinical case conference.

DENTISTS CAN OFTEN PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN REFERRAL AND TREATMENT - BUT NOT DIAGNOSIS.

The gold standard diagnostic tool for sleep disorders is POLYSOMNOGRAPHY (PSG). Polysomnographic testing, usually done at a sleep lab, monitors and records anywhere from 14 - 18 bodily functions while an individual is asleep. The electrical activity of the brain, body motion, eye movement, muscle activity, heart-rate, respiratory effort, air flow, blood oxygen, pulse rate, body position and limb movement are all simultaneously recorded and measured. This information is utilized by the sleep physician to make the proper diagnosis and determine its severity.

Decisions on treatment are customized for the patient based certainly on the PSG but also on the medical history, sleep specialist's physical examination, the individual's unique needs, preferences, other health problems and life style. Success of the selected treatment can and should be verified by a repeat PSG study.

 The Epworth Sleepiness Scale