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Does your partner complain that you snore throughout the night? Do you find yourself waking up regularly, tossing and turning? Or are you groggy and feel like you just haven’t gotten enough rest when you wake up in the morning? If so, you may have sleep apnea, a disorder in which your breathing becomes restricted […]

SDB (Sleep disordered breathing) is a group of medical conditions that are characterized by abnormalities in the quality or pattern of respiratory activity. These include snoring, upper airway resistance syndrome, and OSA (obstructive sleep apnea). All of these conditions involve restriction of the airway. With snoring and upper respiratory resistance syndrome, the airway is partially […]

The development of sleep-disordered breathing Heads are complex because they are composed of an astonishing array of diverse organs and tissues in a comparatively small, restricted space. In an average adult human, these structures include 22 bones with hundreds of ossification centers (centers from which the bone grows) 32 teeth, dozens of muscles, the brain, […]

Dr. Mark A. Cruz is known for providing innovative, effective treatment options for sleep apnea to residents of Dana Point, Laguna Niguel, and other nearby communities. However, before the condition can be treated, it must be diagnosed. When the patient comes to Dr. Cruz, he begins with a screening. He does a physical airway exam […]

Facial development in infants and children Normally, in an infant who is still breastfeeding, the tongue is still out in a more forward position. As the face develops, the child starts having what is called laryngeal descent, the larynx starts descending so that they can start speaking. Then they have a difference in their swallowing […]

The way the medical community views, and treats, sleep disordered breathing is changing and for the better. For many years, the gold standard has been the CPAP. Almost on a daily basis, Dr. Cruz hears complaints from patients about this treatment, although for individuals with severe sleep apnea it is life support. It’s keeping them […]

Dr. Mark A Cruz is a leader in the treatment of sleep-disordered breathing. He practices coordinated care, working with primary physicians, sleep physicians, and other medical professionals to deliver individualized treatment to each patient. He is one of very few dentists treating this condition, and he takes a uniquely progressive approach. When you see dental […]

An important issue in sleep medicine, and in general, is that the sleep physician focuses on the nocturnal component (what happens at night) of this disease entity. We know, with strong evidence, that what happens at night actually affects the patient’s diurnal (what happens during the day) function. The sleep physician most often does not […]

Living a happy and healthy life requires that you eat the right foods, get enough physical activity, refrain from unhealthy habits, and get 7-8 hours of uninterrupted refreshing sleep every night. Unfortunately, many Americans are suffering from sleepless nights, or unrefreshing sleep caused by common sleep disorders, such as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and upper […]

Dentistry can be more than the examination and treatment of the teeth, gums, muscles, and joints. It can include a wellness approach to dental health and development versus only managing diseases. Dr. Mark Cruz of Dana Point not only understands this concept, but he leads in a movement with multiple doctors around the world to […]

When Dr. Mark A. Cruz talks about the importance of taking a multi-disciplinary approach to airway problems, he speaks from the heart. He can relate to parents who become concerned when their children have trouble sleeping. He knows firsthand how it feels when the doctor prescribes a diagnosis that does not seem quite right. Dr. […]

Undiagnosed sleep apnea can lead to a host of medical problems, and eventually death. The low rate of diagnosis is not a shortcoming in one type of specialist, but of the medical community as a whole. Virtually every medical specialty is presented with, and often overlooks, signs of apnea, as explained by Dr. Bertrand De […]