Sleep Apnea is a serious disorder that affects millions of Americans. The gold standard of treatment has always been CPAP, unfortunately only a small percentage of patients actually tolerate CPAP. Numerous studies have shown that only 23-45% of patients use their CPAP on a regular basis. The patients who actually tolerate CPAP average only 4-5 hours of use a night.
Patients with untreated sleep apnea face a six-fold increase in heart attacks and strokes, are more likely to become diabetic and have gastric reflex. One study showed a 36% decrease in survival in patients with moderate untreated sleep apnea. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine now considers oral appliances a first line of treatment along with CPAP for mild to moderate sleep apnea. Patients with severe apnea who cannot tolerate CPAP are now considered candidates for oral appliances as well. The National Sleep Foundation has stated that; "oral appliances are a therapy whose time has come...."
Dr Shapira is a pioneer of Dental Sleep Medicine and has been helping improve the lives of patients with snoring and sleep apnea for over 25 years. He has a general dentistry practice, Delany Dental Care Ltd in Gurnee, IL with his partner Dr Mark J Amidei. He also is president of Chicagoland Dental Sleep Medicine Associates, which has recently opened offices in Skokie, Bannockburn, Schaumburg and Chicago, and he continues to see sleep apnea and snoring patients in his Gurnee office. Patients needing help in treating their sleep apnea and snoring issues can reach Dr Shapira at 1-8- NO-PAP-MASK or at his website http://www.chicagoland.ihatecpap.com/
Six exceptional dentists who have already been treating sleep apnea with oral appliances but desired advanced training attended the most recent course. An exciting aspect of this course was the participation of Dr John Bixby of Little Silver, NJ. He is the dentist who participated in the recent study at Rutgers on Pure Power Mouthguards. The PPM Mouthguards are the most exciting development in dental sports medicine. Athletes utilizing the PPM Mouthguards are enjoying better stamina, balance and peak performance. Drs Shapira and Amidei also make PPM Mouthguards but they have not seen an influx of professional athletes. Dr Shapira has made appliances to increase strength in athletes for many years utilizing the science of Neuromuscular Dentistry. He states that the PPM Mouthguards will change not just professional sports but will also have an enormous impact on amateur golfers and tennis players. He expects high school and college athletes looking for an extra edge to also be enthusiastic about PPM. Dr Meyer was thrilled to be able to learn how to improve his PPM Mouthguards from Dr Bixby's expertise.
The participants are also taught how to use Sphenopalatine Ganglion Blocks to relieve severe pain and migraine headaches. When Dr Shapira demonstrated the transitional transnasal technique on a participant in the course she described how the pressure she had felt in her head for as long as she could remember went away. Patients appreciate that the SPG block is non-invasive and does not require any injections or needles. An enormous advantage of SPG blocks is that patients can learn to do them at home to relieve a wide variety of chronic pain symptoms including chronic daily headaches and migraines. Spenopalatine Ganglion blocks are frequently used when routine therapy does not relieve symptoms of Temporomandibular Disorders (TMJD or TMD).
An Article in the journal Pain Physician, 2004;7:283-286, ISSN 1533-3159 described the Spenopalatine blocks work on the autonomic nervous system and are also used for treating causalgia, reflex sympathetic dystrophy, regional pain disorders, fibromyalgia and complex regional pain syndrome. According to the authors Robert E. Windsor, MD, and Scott Jahnke, DO "Currently accepted indications for the SPG block are sphenopalatine neuralgia, trigeminal neuralgia, atypical facial pain, acute migraine, acute and chronic
cluster headaches, herpes zoster involving the ophthalmic nerve and a variety of other facial neuralgias" Dr Shapira has trained numerous physicians and dentists in use of intranasal Sphenopalatine Ganglion Blocks.
A great deal of the course material focuses on the development factors involved in TMJ disorders and Sleep Apnea. Dr Shapira is passionate about helping children as early as possible because of his experiences with his son, Billy. His story can be found at http://www.ihatecpap.com/
Dr Shapira was the invited speaker on April 7, 2009 at the North Suburban Branch of the Chicago Dental Society where he spoke on the "Diagnosis and Treatment of Sleep Apnea in Relation to TMJ Disorder" The course was extremely well attended with over 90 members participating and following his presentation he spent an hour answering questions. He covered in great detail the developmental similarities of TMJ Disorders and Sleep Apnea.
Dr Ira L Shapira is an author and section editor of Sleep and Health Journal, President of I HATE CPAP LLC, President Dato-TECH, and has a Dental Practice with his partner Dr Mark Amidei. He has recently formed Chicagoland Dental Sleep Medicine Associates. He is a Regent of ICCMO, the International College of CranioMandibular Orthopedics and its representative to the TMD Alliance, He was a founding and certified member of the Sleep Disorder Dental Society which became the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine, A founding member of DOSA the Dental Organization for Sleep Apnea. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine, A Diplomat of the American Academy of Pain Management, a graduate of LVI. He is a former assistant professor at Rush Medical School's Sleep Service where he worked with Dr Rosalind Cartwright who is a founder of Sleep Medicine and Dental Sleep Medicine. Dr Shapira is a consultant to numerous sleep centers and teaches courses in Dental Sleep Medicine in his office to doctors from around the U.S. He is the Founder of I HATE CPAP LLC and http://www.ihatecpap.com Dr Shapira also holds several patents on methods and devices for the prophylactic minimally invasive early removal of wisdom teeth and collection of bone marrow and stem cells. Dr Shapira is a licensed general dentist in Illi
