Snorers have many devices and therapies to choose from when looking for the best cure for snoring. There are snoring mouth guards, nasal devices and dilators, snoring chin straps, anti-snoring pillows, exercise therapies, and even hypnosis.
It is important to eliminate the possibility of the potentially life-threatening condition of sleep apnea before using any stop snoring therapies. Sleep apnea can be diagnosed by a a doctor or, more commonly, by a sleep laboratory or clinic.
It is also important to address any underlying health concerns that may have an impact on your snoring.
Another option that is available to a person who snores is to undertake surgery. Under some circumstances this can be the best cure for snoring and although the results may often prove to be disappointing there are several different types of surgery that can be performed.
Palatopharyngoplasty, also simply referred to as PPP is surgery that is performed to enlarge the airway at the back of the throat. The operation can include shortening an elongated uvula, partial removal of the soft palate and removal of tonsils and adenoids. This is designed to increase the airflow and reduce the amount of vibratory tissue in the throat.
This procedure may only be a temporary method of ending snoring. According to research studies, within two years only fifty percent of the patients that have undergone this surgery report having their snoring stopped or markedly improved.
A less expensive alternative to palatopharyngoplasty is laser-assisted uvulopalatoplasty (LAUP) that makes use of laser techniques to shorten the uvula as well as vaporize parts of the soft palate. Though palatopharyngoplasty must be performed under general anesthetic, uvulopalatoplasty can be performed under local anesthetic.
The effectiveness of LAUP may be marginally better than PPP although many patients have reported that snoring returned within two years or so after surgery, though there are also studies that show marked improvement in the patient’s snoring.
A third type of surgery is cautery-assisted uvulopalatoplasty whereby the surgeon uses cauterizing equipment in lieu of a laser and a heated wire or electrode is used to burn or scar most or all of the uvula and palate. The effectiveness of this treatment is similar to that of other surgical procedure for snoring and this operation is easy to carry out and is possibly less painful.
It should be noted, however, that most patients report severe post operative pain with any of these surgical procedures so surgery may not be the best cure for snoring.
