20% of all adults suffer from chronic snoring and almost half snore at least occasionally. Snoring is the harsh sound created by vibrations of the soft tissues of the throat – mainly the soft palate and uvula, but also implicated are the tonsils and tongue.
Frequently there is more than one anatomical area involved, which is the reason a multilevel approach is the correct method to manage snoring and Obstructive Sleep Apnea. 
Dr. Brodner is Board-Certified in Sleep Medicine, which qualifies him with the expertise to perform a comprehensive Sleep Medicine and ENT examination. At your first visit, he will assess your sinonasal and upper airways to determine which anatomic levels are involved in your snoring. Utilizing the latest equipment and techniques, including flexible fiberoptic endoscopy – a tiny camera which fully visualizes the inside of your throat – Dr. Brodner will localize the sites of your obstruction. Finally, you will be sent for a sleep study (polysomnogram) to ensure your snoring does not represent the more serious medical problem, Obstructive Sleep Apnea.
Dr. Brodner will personally read your sleep study and, if the data indicates the absence of Obstructive Sleep Apnea, he will notify you of the various treatment options available to improve your disruptive snoring. This may include lifestyle modifications, a minimally invasive in-office procedure such as Injection Snoreplasty or the Pillar Implant, and/or involve treating sinonasal problems like allergies, polyps, or a deviated septum.
Lifestyle modifications involve avoidance of the many factors that exacerbate the loudness and intensity of your snoring. Weight loss is recommended to decrease bulky tissues lining the throat, due in part to excess body weight, which worsen snoring by providing more vibratory material. Do not sleep supine (on your back) – it promotes snoring as gravity positions the uvula and soft palate downward, enabling more movement. Finally, shun anything that causes a deeper sleep – alcohol, sedative medications, or sleep deprivation. These all exacerbate both snoring and sleep apnea by making you less arousable, less likely to switch body positions, and have decreased muscle tone which leads to increased vibrations.
Dr. Brodner may determine that management of your nose and/or sinuses is pivotal to controlling your snoring. Nasal obstruction, with subsequent mouth breathing, worsens snoring by increasing the magnitude of soft tissue vibrations. The passageway may be obstructed by swelling of the turbinates due to allergies, a septal deviation (crookedness of the middle divider in the nose), or nasal polyps. Medication and/or surgery to address these problems can improve the flow of air through the nasal passages, thus reducing troublesome snoring.
If nasal obstruction is not an issue, Dr. Brodner will determine if your anatomy is conducive to surgical correction of the snoring. He offers the latest in-office minimally-invasive procedures – Injection Snoreplasty and the Pillar Implant. Both are performed in the office, under local anesthesia, with you awake. The concept is to stiffen the palate tissues by creating a scar, which vibrates less and therefore decreases the intensity of your snoring. If your anatomy warrants a more aggressive approach, Dr. Brodner is experienced with uvuloplasty reconstruction performed in the operating room under general anesthesia.
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