Houston, Texas: Sleep Apnea Information and Comfortable Alternative Treatments to CPAP

Dr Ronald W. Konig provides Houston patients diagnosed with sleep apnea a valuable information resource offering comfortable alternatives to CPAP and surgery. Snoring elimination for happy marriages and peaceful restful sleep.
By: Ira L Shapira DDS, FICCMO,D,ABDSM, DAAPM
 
Jan. 9, 2009 - PRLog -- Dr Ronald Konig has joined with http://www.ihatecpap.com to help patients who do not tolerate cpap.  There are major problems for many patients diagnosed with sleep apnea. Most patients are immediately prescribed CPAP, or continuous positive air pressure consisting of a mask, hose, compressor and possibly a humidifier and sent home with their new devices. There are many great success stories with CPAP use and patients who do not tolerate the treatment often feel like failures.

Nothing could be further from the truth, in fact, according to numerous medical studies in the most prestigious journals only 23-45% of patients tolerate CPAP. These studies also show that even among patients who use CPAP most only wear it for 4-5 hours a night not the recommended 7 1/2-8 hours nightly.

Patients who cannot tolerate CPAP or who wear it but feel no better or worse are usually not informed of alternative treatments. Many who are told about alternative treatments often are referred directly to a surgeon because sleep physicians are more comfortable with physician referrals than they are in referring to a dental practitioner. The problem is that upper airway surgery has not been very effective in treating obstructive sleep apnea.

Dr Ronald Konig has joined with Dr Ira Shapira to make this important information available to Texans with sleep apnea and snoring. His Houston website is interactive with the national website. Find Dr Konig at http://www.houston.ihatecpap.com/index.html
Dr Shapira founded I HATE CPAP! LLC to help patients challenged by CPAP and his website www.ihatecpap.com is designed to help patients find their way thru the confusing maze of medical jargon and referrals. He emphasizes that he does not "HATE CPAP". He initially was met by resistance by a few members of the medical community because of the name of his website but enlightened physicians now recognize that Dr Shapira's website www.ihatecpap.com is not in competition with the sleep community but is actually promoting sleep medicine in a very positive way. Many patients who had quit their treatment with CPAP at great personal health risk have returned for sleep apnea treatment as a direct result of this website, This is also making the roads and highways in Chicago safer because patients with untreated sleep apnea have a 600% increase in motor vehicle accidents.

An article in Sleep and Health Journal discussed the advantages of oral appliances from a sleep apnea dentist over surgery. The article SLEEP APNEA TREATMENT: ARE DENTAL APPLIANCES MORE SUCCESSFUL THAN SURGERY? can be found at the following link.
http://sleepandhealth.com/modules.php?name=News&file=arti... another article in Sleep and Health Journal, Oral Appliances vs. CPAP, can be found at:
http://sleepandhealth.com/modules.php?name=News&file=arti...

A recently published article showed minimal improvement with CPAP tolerance after surgery. The article "Impact of upper airway surgery on CPAP compliance in difficult-to-manage obstructive sleep apnea" was published in Arch Otolaryngology Head Neck Surg. 2008 Sep;134(9):926-30 by Chandrashekariah R, Shaman Z, Auckley D.
Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, MetroHealth Medical Center, Case Western Reserve University

Their conclusion was "CONCLUSION: Upper airway surgery in select patients with OSA may improve CPAP compliance and should be considered as a potential adjunctive therapeutic measure in poorly compliant patients with OSA." Reading the study actually showed that the patients who were CPAP non-compliant defined as using CPAP for less than 4 hours a night increased their CPAP use only minimally and still required CPAP use. "A mean increase of 48.6 minutes in CPAP compliance was noted after surgery (P = .03)" The increase of 46 minutes(mean) showed that not only did the patients still require use of CPAP but that they were still using CPAP far less than the recommended time even after surgery.


Dr Ira L Shapira who originally put this site together is a Diplomate of the American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine and  a pioneer of this field.
He was involved in research in the 1980's as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Rush Medical School's Sleep disorder clinic working with Dr Rosalind Cartwright a psychologist who was involved in the creation of Sleep Medicine and is probably the single individual most responsible for Dental Sleep Medicine being accepted as a major component of sleep medicine. She published the first medical articles on oral appliances utilizing the Tongue Retaining Device invented by Dr Charles Samuelson a Psychiatrist. She has been a champion of Dental Sleep Medicine from its inception. The February 2006 issue of SLEEP published new parameters of care for oral appliances that recommend oral appliances as a first line of treatment equal to CPAP for mild to moderate apnea and as an alternative treatment for severe apnea when patients do not tolerate CPAP. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine endorse these findings. This is only possible due to enormous contribution of Rosalind Cartwright.

Dr Shapira returned to the Sleep Center at Rush in the 1990's and treated patients with oral appliances until 2001. He has continued his work in Dental Sleep medicine in the Chicago area. He teaches a course in Dental Sleep Medicine to dentists from around the United States at his Gurnee, Illinois practice. He has recently started a new practice Chicagoland Dental Sleep Medicine Associates dedicated to bringing the finest in dental sleep medicine treatment to Chicago and Suburban patients. He currently has four Chicagoland Dental Sleep Medicine locations in the Chicago area. Gurnee, Skokie, Bannockburn and Schaumburg but is planning several additional offices across Chicago proper and in other suburbs.

His dental practice in Gurnee, Illinois is Delany Dental Care Ltd and in addition to sleep apnea Dr Shapira and his partner Dr Mark Amidei practice General, Cosmetic and Reconstructive Neuromuscular Dentistry. They use their knowledge of Neuromuscular Dentistry to treat patients with Chronic Pain, Chronic Daily Headaches, Migraines and TMJ Disorders. They are also able to make Pure Power Mouthguards, which are used by professional and amateur athletes to increase physical performance and balance. See the PPM site for more information on these incredible mouthguards. http://www.ppmmouthguard.com/ An exciting study will be released shortly from Rutgers on the effectiveness of these Neuromuscular Mouthguards in enhancing athletic performance. Dr Amidei and Dr Shapira hope to fit members of the CUBS, BEARS, WHITE SOX, and BLACKHAWKS in the coming year and hope to make next year a championship year for Chicago.

Dr Shapira's research in the 1980's at Rush was to evaluate the jaw position of patients with sleep apnea and to compare it to the jaw relations of patients with TMJ disorders. Treating patients with chronic TMJ disorders and severe pain has been a professional passion of Dr Shapira. A story he wrote in Sleep and Health Journal, SUFFER NO MORE: DEALING WITH THE GREAT IMPOSTOR prompted hundreds of patients to find neuromuscular dentists to treat their chronic pain. SUFFER NO MORE IS AVAILABLE AT: http://sleepandhealth.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=237&tid=22

The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institute of Health (NIH) published a paper CARDIOVASCULAR AND SLEEP-RELATED CONSEQUENCES OF TEMPOROMANDIBULAR DISORDERS that confirmed the research that Dr Shapira did at Rush in the 1980's. This excellent article can be found at: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/meetings/workshops/tmj_wksp.pdf

Patients looking for help with TMJ Disorders, Chronic pain or wanting to learn more about Neuromuscular Dentistry can go to http://www.IHATEHEADACHES.org  or at http://www.iccmo.org

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information on sleep apnea, sleep apnea treatment and cpap alternatives are available at www.ihatecpap.com This is the premiere site for the promotion of Dental Sleep Medicine and Sleep Apnea Dentisits. CPAP intolerance is a major health problem and I HATE CPAP LLC addresses this problem with patient information on treatment.
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Source:Ira L Shapira DDS, FICCMO,D,ABDSM, DAAPM
Email:***@yahoo.com
Zip:60031
Tags:Cpap Alternative, Cpap Intolerance, Bipap, Oral Appliance, Sleep Apnea, Hypopnea, Snoring, Elimination, Tmj, Tmd, Lvi, Aasm, Aadsm
Industry:Medical, Research, Lifestyle
Location:Lake Forest - Illinois - United States
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