[Respiratory pathology of sleep and the upper airways]

Respiratory disorders in the upper respiratory tract during sleep are most often part of a continuous pathological process of long standing. Schematically, three clinical syndromes with increasing severity are described: breathing with the mouth open, snoring and the sleep apnea syndrome. These conditions always include a functional maxillofacial perturbation, which may be associated to a constitutional or acquired morphological disorder. Besides the medical approach itself, the treatment sometimes is surgical, always orthopedic. The earlier it is initiated, the more effective, simple and unconstraining it is.