Untreated Sleep Apnea can increase the risks for heart attacks and strokes six fold. It is therefore amazing that so many patients refuse to use CPAP. One study showed a 36% decrease in 8 year survival in patients with untreated sleep apnea. Why would more than half of all patients prescribed CPAP not use it when it is clearly an excellent treatment. The reason patients will be happy to tell you is " I HATE CPAP!" according to Dr Ira L Shapira an Illinois general Dentist who has been treating sleep apnea since the early 1980's.
Dr Shapira listened to these patients and that is why his website is called I HATE CPAP!. "I don't Hate CPAP" says Dr Shapira but patients who have quit using their CPAP in spite of severe health risks do. The website http://www.ihatecpap.com is designed to have an emotional connection with these patients. "It was born out of the frustrations of these patients who just could not accept the standard CPAP treatment. Dr Shapira uses comfortable oral appliances to treat sleep apnea without the CPAP machines. without the masks and without the hoses. Dental Sleep Medicine is providing help for patients who Hate CPAP. A recent study has shown that patients who like CPAP from the beginning usually accept treatment while patients who do not tolerate CPAP at the start rarely adapt its use. "It is very important that CPAP be correctly introduced to patients" according to Dr Shapira. "Research has shown only 23-45% of patients utilize CPAP but some sleep labs do much better than others."
Dr Shapira has been treating sleep apnea patients at his Gurnee dental office and has recently opened Chicagoland Dental Sleep Medicine Associates http://www.chicagoland.ihatecpap.com/
Dr Shapira teaches courses to dentists from around the country who come to Gurnee and learn Dental Sleep Medicine. He limits his classes to six dentists and their teams so each member understand how vitally important every aspect of treatment is. He gives continual coaching to all of his students. Dr Shapira emphasizes the Dental Sleep Medicine is a part of Sleep Medicine and it is vitally important that Dentists and Sleep Physicians work together. "It is extremely important that patients have follow-up polysomnography to make sure the appliances are properly adjusted" according to Dr Shapira. "Sleep Apnea is a life threatening condition" warns Dr Shapira "and over the counter appliances such as "Pure Sleep" that is heavily advertised on late night TV can relieve the snoring and cover up the apnea problems. If an over the counter appliance is used it is absolutely necessary that a sleep test verifies efficacy in patients diagnosed with sleep apnea. A silent apneic is a patient where the snoring is eliminated but the sleep apnea remains.
Dr Shapira originally created the I HATE CPAP! website to market his practice but the incredible response he received from across the U.S. and across the world turned I HATE CPAP into a premiere site for the promotion of both Sleep Medicine and Dental Sleep Medicine. The website is connecting with well over 9000 unique visitors every single month most of whom are patients visiting for the first time who had given up on treatment. I Hate CPAP is helping them recognize the dangers (http://www.ihatecpap.com/
Dr Shapira is a pioneer in Dental Sleep Medicine and did research as a visiting assistant professor at Rush Medical Schools sleep disorder service in the 1980's where he had the privledge of working with Dr Rosalind Cartwright a pioneer in Sleep Medicine and probably the single most important person in the early days of Dental Sleep Medicine. Dr Shapira did research where he used neuromuscular dental measurements to evaluate the jaw positions of sleep apnea patients. His research showed that the apnea patients had jaw positions very similar those of TMJ patients. The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) now cosiders sleep apnea to be a TMJ disorder. You can find the important NHLBI report "CARDIOVASCULAR AND SLEEP-RELATED CONSEQUENCES OF TEMPOROMANDIBULAR DISORDERS" at http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/
Dr Shapira was one of 20 dentists across the U.S. who founded the Sleep Disorder Dental Society (SDDS) and was a credentialed member. The SDDS later became the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine. Dr Shapira is a Diplomate of The American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine, a Diplomat of the American Academy of Pain Management, A Fellow of the International College of CranioMandibular Orthopedics, and the Dental Editor of Sleep and Health Journal (www.sleepandhealth.com)
