There are a few different ways that you and your doctor or dentist may determine that you have some form of sleep apnea. These include:
Polysomnography. This fancy clinical work is simply a sleep test. The most comprehensive sleep studies occur in a sleep lab. For your test, you'd spend an entire night in the lab, sleeping with a number of different monitors measuring various vital signs, from your breathing to your heart rate to oxygen levels and more. Formal lab-centered sleep studies can be comprehensive, but they may also be somewhat uncomfortable for people who aren't used to sleeping away from home. For this reason, many patients are prescribed home sleep studies. These tests aren't as comprehensive as lab sleep studies, but they can capture sufficient data to reach an accurate diagnosis.
Medical history and physical examination. When you consult with your dentist or doctor about your suspicion of sleep apnea, they'll discuss your health and medical history to begin to understand your symptoms. They may also use visualization, measurements, and special instruments to thoroughly examine the tongue, mouth, neck, and other structural anatomy that may contribute to a sleep apnea risk.
Smartphone apps. This may be your very first-line test to explore whether or not you may have sleep apnea. There are several smartphone apps that record or track snoring. This can give you baseline information to then take to your doctor or dentist for further review. Because they only measure snoring, smartphone apps are not a substitute for a professional sleep study.