The Secret Hero of Snoring: Our Nose

I’m sure many of you have heard or experienced stories of snoring. This week we will handle the topic ‘The Secret Hero of Snoring; Our Nose’ I want to talk about the details of the relationship between snoring and nose.

Snoring loudly during sleep is not a disease, it is a sign of health problems. In fact, snoring, which is a social problem, can have a negative effect on the social life of a person and may turn into a nightmare for our life

Snoring is the sound caused by the vibration of the air flow through the narrowing upper airways. There may be many underlying causes of snoring. Weight can be considered as the most important factor, for anatomical reasons, nose curvatures, jaw smallness, tongue root or small tongue growth are

the most common causes.

45% of adults snore from time to time and 30% constantly snore. When we evaluate the snoring problem according to gender, men with weight problems snore more than women with weight problems and snoring problem increases with aging process. Therefore, losing weight is one of the most important steps for the treatment of snoring.

The fact that snoring occurs at night, while sleeping, and that the patient is not aware of during daytime and that does not mean that the person is able to breathe normally or sufficiently in daily life. It actually shows that the person has an oxygen deficiency for 24 hours, not just at night. There are even people who have broken the world record and entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the most severe snoring sound known to be 102 decibels. This means that people make the same noise as racing motorcycle.

Every snoring case should not be addressed to surgery immediately. First of all, the patient should have examination of the ear, nose and throat and, if necessary, be subjected to sleep tests. Because besides snoring, the presence of sleep apnea syndrome means the danger bells ring for the patient.

Surgery is only one of the treatment methods. There are many different options for the treatment of each patient. Therefore, a detailed examination of all patients and evaluation by clinics experienced in snoring and, if possible, by the council of physicians from different specialties will increase the success of the treatment.

Firstly, we examine the soft tissues, nose, tonsils and tongue base. Our most common treatment is to relieve the complaints of nasal congestion due to the curvature of the cartilage and bone and nasal flesh called ‘turbinate’.However, in some patients, it may be necessary to remove the very large tonsils, or to stretch the soft palate that is sagging or to shrink the tongue. The common goal of all these interventions is to widen the airway and comfort the patient. At the end of these operations, the patients are eliminated from breathing and the problem of snoring is solved.