Laser snoring treatment Snoring

This term is derived from the Greek word rhònchòs, an onomatopoeic sound emitted by a snoring person. Roncopathy is a snoring disorder caused by various factors and occurring proportionally to age, mainly in men (60% of the cases) above 40 years of age.

Roncopathy is entirely considered one of the main sleep disorders and it is not harmless, regardless of the fact that people suffering from such disorder do not take any medical measures or seek medical advice.

Snoring causes physical and psychological problems often confused with other disorders and lack of an adequate therapy may deteriorate the clinical conditions mainly regarding the heart system and arterial pressure.

Upon detection of the type of disorder, roncopathy requires targeted treatment. Nowadays, such disorder is overcome in a quick and definite manner thanks to the laser therapy with a quicker post-operation recovery and excellent chances of success with respect to traditional surgery methods.

Normal air flow during sleep

Normal breathing occurs through the nose and the same should happen also during sleep. Thus, breathing through the mouth is a non-physiological phenomenon which occurs when there are hindrances to breathing through the nose.
When breathing through the nose, air passes through a path at the rear of the so-called isthmus of the fauces, the tonsil-palatal narrowing. As a matter of fact, the airflow passes from the nostrils through the nasopharynx, the oropharynx and then the hypopharynx, without involving the oral part.

Breathing disorder: roncopathy

First and foremost, snoring is a breathing phenomenon whose intensity is variable though not always directly linked to the gravity of the problem.
Snoring occurs due to the complicated passage of air through the first airways during sleep. The ensuing vibration of the soft tissues causes the characteristic sound. During sleep, the relaxation of the mouth muscles, tongue and throat, obstruct the air passage. When the airflow is obstructed by the narrowing of the usual airway, the inhaled air enters at a higher speed and causes higher negative inhaling pressure. This, in combination with the lower patency of the air duct causes roncopathy, which might occur both in case of nose and mouth breathing, given that the obstacles obstructing the airways could concern either the nose, the oropharynx or the hypopharynx (septal deviation, turbinate hypertrophy, nasal polyps).

This leads to the vibration of the soft palate and vibrational structures during breathing.

Greater laxity of the soft tissues worsens the problem given that breathing becomes more complicated during sleep, until it deteriorates into apnoea within a few seconds, causing the hazardous sleep apnoea syndrome.