THE ROLE OF DENTISTRY IN AIRWAY MANAGEMENT

THE ROLE OF DENTISTRY IN AIRWAY MANAGEMENT

Presented by Steve Acker, DDS and Nancy Hartrick, DDS

• Understand how breathing and airway impact “Breathing Disordered Sleep”.

• Realize the condition of the airway affects overall Health and Wellness.

• Learn the impact an unhealthy airway can have on total body inflammation and risk of heart attack and stroke.

• Recognize that breathing and airway disorders are related to structure, function and behavior.

• Know that soft tissue dysfunction affects craniofacial development, the foundation for proper airway development.

• Understand how early recognition and intervention of airway disorders help prevent further damage and distress.

• Learn the important role dentistry plays in screening as well as treatment.

•  Implementation of a system for screening, data collection, diagnosis and risk assessment, treatment, and outcome metrics for airway and breathing dysfunction.

• Understand dentistry’s role on a team of professionals in managing patients with airway and breathing disorders.

• Discussion of other health professionals needed in treating affected patients including myofunctional therapists.

• Know sleep apnea is the end stage of breathing disordered sleep and must be managed as a first phase of treatment.

• Understand how to recognize and treat patients with Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome.

• A strategy for managing sleep apnea: diagnosis, management, and potential resolution. 

• Understanding concepts of epigenetics.

• Suggestions for communicating related information to patients and other health care professionals.
  
  COURSE OVERVIEW: Attendees will learn how dentistry holds a key role and often primary role in recognizing, screening and managing airway related disorders during sleep and while awake.  They will also learn how craniofacial development plays a key role in the timeline of airway dysfunction. A full discussion of how soft tissue dysfunction compromises craniofacial and airway development, and ultimately creates risk for airway and breathing disordered sleep will be covered in detail.
  
  A system for screening, data collection, diagnosis and risk assessment, treatment options within the scope of dental practice and as part of an interdisciplinary team and measurement of outcomes of treatment will be presented.
  
  Links to handouts - www.wellnesdentistrynetwork.com - Go To Menu – Conference Materials – PW: Airway92018

  Our Speakers

  
  

  Dr. Nancy Hartrick founded Hartrick Dentistry in Royal Oak, MI, in 1988 and has developed a reputation for outstanding oral health care with advanced dental treatments and wellness-based dentistry.  Dr. Hartrick has completed many advanced dental educational curricula as well as leadership and management programs. During the last 18 years she has been most active with the Kois Center, Advancing Dentistry Through Science, in Seattle, WA. Dr. Hartrick is both a Clinical Instructor and member of the Advisory Board.

  Dr. Hartrick attended the University of Michigan and graduated with distinction earning a BS degree in Nutritional Science. She continued her education at the School of Dentistry and earned her DDS degree.  Dr. Hartrick completed the Airway Mini Residency in New Jersey and will be participating in the Orthotropic Concept Series in 2018 and 2019. Dr. Hartrick recently supported her two hygienists in 120 hours of training for orofacial myofunctional therapy

   

  Steven Acker, founded Elite Dental of Staten Island in 1989, a Health and Wellness based practice focused on Airway Health and Total Body Wellness.  He has also lectured extensively and serves as an Attending Doctor at The Brookdale Hospital and Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY since 1982.

  Dr. Acker is also a Clinical Instructor and Advisory Board member at the prestigious Kois Center for Clinical Excellence in Seattle, Washington, is a Graduate of the Misch Dental Implant Institute, and a Fellow of the International Congress of Oral Implantology.  Dr. Acker is a member of the American Academy of Physiological Medicine and Dentistry and is a member of the Wellness Dentistry Network.  He has a passion for the science and art of dentistry and his belief that Dentistry has a major role in the overall wellness and health of our patients. Dr. Acker believes that the Airway focused dentists should be the quarterback of an interdisciplinary group of physicians, dentists and other allied health professionals that understand the structure, function and behavior of the airway and breathing of our patients.