Watch as Dr Bruce Lee Chi Hong (Clinical Director, T32 Dental Centre) explains what Sleep Apnea is to kids, Vidette Goh (8 years old) and Ayden Koh (8 years old).
Get entertained by the children and together, learn what happens when a person snores at night and how to stop it. Learn the basics of Sleep Apnea and explore ways on how to treat snoring problems.
Video Transcript
Note: Parts of transcript are omitted for a better flow. Watch the full video to enjoy the funny interaction between Dr Bruce and the kids.
Dr. Lee: Today, I’m going to talk to you about sleep apnea. You tell me what I’m doing.
Vidette: Sleeping? Snoring. Snoring very loudly like a big fat pig.
Kids giggle.
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Dr. Lee: Do you know what happens when you wake up in the morning and you snore?
Vidette: What?
Dr. Lee: You get a very dry mouth. And sometimes you’ll cough. *imitates cough* You know? Because they *imitates snoring* snore the whole night, so it becomes very dry. Do you know how to help them stop snoring?
Ayden: Yeah.
Dr. Lee: How?
Ayden: Sleep early.
Dr Lee laughs.
—
Ayden: Cream!
Dr. Lee: What cream? You have a magic cream? You can help them stop snoring by rolling them to the side.
Vidette: Then they fall down?
Kids giggle.
—
Dr. Lee: Do you know how loud snoring can get?
Ayden: Like this.
Ayden imitates loud snoring and Vidette laughs.
Dr. Lee: Wow, you practice every night, right? The snoring can be as loud as a vacuum cleaner.
Ayden: Yeah, I already know that.
Dr. Lee: Why? Because daddy snores like a vacuum cleaner? If you have a vacuum cleaner next to you *imitates snoring* will it disturb your sleep? Do you think you can sleep?
Vidette shakes her head.
Dr. Lee: No, right? So what do you have to do to help?
Dr. Lee: Roll to the side. You know, some people who have sleep apnea also have headaches. Because they grind their teeth and then they “imitates snoring* snore all the time, so they get headaches also.
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Dr. Lee: They grind their teeth like that. *Imitates teeth grinding* When they snore halfway and then they keep quiet, they have stopped breathing. Then suddenly, they start breathing again. So for people with sleep apnea, actually, they can hold their breath in the night when they’re sleeping for more than one minute. Can you hold your breath for one minute?
—
Kids try to hold their breath and giggle.
Dr. Lee: All laughing. You cannot, right? It’s difficult, right? They cannot sleep properly in the night, so they feel tired all the time. So when they’re in school, or when daddy and mommy is in the office in a meeting, they will – *imitates sleeping and snoring*
Ayden: This is not how you talk in a meeting. Meeting is about talking. This is –
Dr. Lee: So they’re meeting like – *imitates sleeping and snoring* They’re supposed to be talking, right? But because they’re so tired, during the meeting they fall asleep. Then in school, if you’re in class, it’s not because the teacher is boring. It’s because they cannot stay awake. So you have to help to knock the table. *Knocks table* Wake your friend up. Okay?
Vidette knocks her head.
—
Dr. Lee: So you know those people with sleep apnea, if they don’t treat their sleep apnea, they get hypertension, high blood pressure –
Ayden: I thought they had dry mouth?
Dr. Lee: Dry mouth, yes, but that’s only at the early stage. But if they don’t treat their sleep apnea for many many years, they get hypertension, they can get heart attacks. Can you imagine if at night when you sleep, you don’t breathe for two minutes every hour? Will you die?
Ayden: Yeah.
Dr. Lee: Problem, right?
Dr. Lee: So those adults who don’t treat their sleep apnea, they get hypertension, they get heart attacks, they can get a stroke. After you see the doctor or see the dentist, sometimes they have to get treatment, right? So one of the treatments is called a CPAP.
Vidette: What is a CPAP?
Dr. Lee: Then you have to wear it and become – You wear it when you’re sleeping. *Shows how to wear a a snoring appliance* When they’re sleeping they will be wearing this so that it will help them breathe.
Ayden: How? There’s no air.
Vidette: How do they even breathe again?
Dr. Lee: How? So it’s connected to a pipe, that will blow air into it. So it’s like an astronaut, right?
—
Dr. Lee: This is what – *wears retainer-like snoring appliance*
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Dr. Lee: So wearing this, I will not snore and will not get sleep apnea so it will help me breathe.
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Dr. Lee: So tonight when daddy snores, what do you do?
Ayden: Push!
Vidette: Take a video.
Dr. Lee: Take a video?!
Everyone laughs.
Dr. Lee: Take a video. Take a video to put on YouTube?
Ayden laughs and Vidette knocks her head.
Dr. Lee: Then after that? Baby Shark…
Kids giggle.
Experiencing snoring problem?
T32 Dental provides solutions to patients suffering from snoring problem. Read more on our treatments.