Throat specialist in London

• Snoring: This common problem is caused when the soft palate and tissue in the mouth, nose or throat vibrates. Most of the time it does not cause any problems, but if your snoring wakes you or your partner regularly, it may make you, or both of you, tired and impact the quality of your life.
  Understanding how to treat snoring depends on what is causing it. The amount we snore increases with age and other factors such as weight, alcohol, smoking and even a blocked nose may have an effect. Not all snoring can be cured, but our ENT specialists will discuss your snoring in detail, including your lifestyle and family history and will advise you on the best approach.
• Sleep apnoea: this is where you stop breathing when you're asleep. It's often connected with snoring because, sometimes, your throat may become blocked when you snore. When this happens you will usually wake suddenly - often with a gasp or a grunt.
  There are a number of causes including being overweight, your sex and age (it's more common in men and people over 40), alcohol, smoking, some medical conditions and taking medication which makes you drowsy. Understanding the cause is the key to finding the right treatment and our ENT specialists will discuss your symptoms, understand your lifestyle and medical history and advise on your treatment options.

We wouldn't want to admit it but we all get bad breath from time-to-time. For most of us it's an occasional concern, but about one in four of us experience bad breath on a regular basis.

Bad breath can be caused by a number of things, but it's usually a result of not brushing your teeth properly or regularly enough. So, if you have bad breath the first thing to do is improve your oral hygiene by regularly brushing your teeth (morning and night), flossing regularly and using a mouthwash. Keeping your tongue clean can also help and you can now buy special tongue cleaners (scrapers and brushes) designed for the purpose.

Other causes include food and drink, smoking, drastic changes in your diet such as crash dieting and some medications. It may also be caused by a medical condition such as bronchitis, sinusitis or acid-reflux.

We can help. There are various treatments, which often include a change in lifestyle to remove the cause of your bad breath, for example, smoking, dieting or a particular food or drink.

The medical name for problems with swallowing is dysphagia. Symptoms include:

• Coughing or choking when eating or drinking
• Bringing food up, sometimes through your nose, and
• Feeling as if food is stuck in the throat or chest

Problems with swallowing have a number of causes, including gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GERD), a condition where stomach acid travels up the tube that carries food (the oesophagus), or conditions of the nervous system, such as a head injury or a stroke. Swallowing disorders may also be a sign of cancer in the mouth or oesophagus.