Abstract
The Apnea Syndrome and Obstructive Sleep Hypopnea (OSA) is characterized by recurrent complete or partial obstruction of the upper airway during sleep, which affects about 4% of men and 2% of women. The aim of this study is to analyze the pathophysiology of OSA, from a review of causal factors of this pathology. Among the factors associated with sleep apnea syndrome are cited family history, obesity, increased neck circumference, increased waist-hip ratio, hypothyroidism, diabetes, acromegaly, chronic renal failure, pregnancy, snoring and age, among others. The apnea / hypopnea sleep have been shown to be the most important and frequent sleep-disordered breathing, constituting about 80% of cases seeking Clinics dedicated to studying the abnormalities of sleep is diagnosed with OSAHS patients presenting more than five events per hour of sleep. It is suggested that the multidisciplinary treatment of this condition is mainly including the ENT, physiotherapist and a dentist. Thus, although there may be a lack of dentists concerning indication of dental procedures suitable for this purpose, considering that it originally objective problem solving aesthetic and functional stomatognathic system and not the respiratory tract.