Surgery AND an Oral Appliance for Sleep Apnea or Snoring

Posted by & filed under Sleep Apnea.

This past Friday, I had the privilege of speaking to the Western Los Angeles Dental Society about the surgical evaluation and treatment of obstructive sleep apnea and snoring during an educational course about sleep dentistry.  My grandfather was a dentist in Los Angeles who practiced for over 50 years, and I have always had tremendous… Read more »

American Sleep Association: Improving Awareness of Snoring and Sleep Apnea Treatment Options

Posted by & filed under Palate Surgery, Sleep Apnea, Snoring, Surgery, Tongue Surgery.

I was recently invited to join the Advisory Board of the American Sleep Association.  Because of their dedication to increasing awareness about the importance of sleep and sleep disorders, I agreed to this position and contributed website content related to surgical treatment of snoring and obstructive sleep apnea.  Here are links to those pages: Snoring… Read more »

Inspire Upper Airway Stimulation for Sleep Apnea–Role of Experience

Posted by & filed under Sleep Apnea, Surgery.

Inspire Upper Airway Stimulation for sleep apnea is a powerful and exciting treatment for many patients who do not succeed with positive airway pressure therapy (for example, CPAP or BPAP).  Inspire Upper Airway Stimulation for sleep apnea is a system that involves a surgical procedure to implant 3 components.  These components work together to deliver stimulation to the… Read more »

Snoring and Sleepy but No Sleep Apnea–What to Do?

Posted by & filed under Snoring.

As a snoring and sleep apnea surgeon, I see patients all the time who snore and report being sleepy.  We will order a sleep study, assuming that they have obstructive sleep apnea.  However, the sleep study may show no evidence of obstructive sleep apnea.  This can be both good and bad news.  The good news… Read more »

How Much Should My Child Sleep?

Posted by & filed under Sleep Apnea.

Last year, I shared the findings of a consensus panel indicating that adults should sleep at least 7 hours per night on a regular basis to promote optimal health.  The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has followed this with a similar expert panel to develop recommendations for sleep for children.  I treat adults with sleep disorders but… Read more »

Positive airway pressure after sleep apnea surgery: Catch-22

Posted by & filed under Palate Surgery, Sleep Apnea, Surgery.

I just returned from giving lectures at the 13th Annual Middle East Update in Otolaryngology conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.  I had never visited Dubai before, and it was wonderful to share experiences with colleagues from throughout the Middle East and beyond while having the additional bonus of seeing a new part of the world.  Beyond the conference, it… Read more »

ISSS Sao Paulo: sharing experiences in sleep surgery to help patients

Posted by & filed under Sleep Apnea, Snoring, Surgery.

On April 15-16, 2016, the seventh scientific meeting of the International Surgical Sleep Society was held in Sao Paulo, Brazil.  The ISSS Sao Paulo meeting was the largest and most-comprehensive meeting of our organization.  As a co-organizer, we took the opportunity to expand the program, especially the discussions focused on pediatric sleep surgery and treatment with maxillofacial… Read more »

Does nasal surgery for snoring work?

Posted by & filed under Snoring, Surgery.

This past weekend, I gave a lecture at the USC Advanced Endoscopic Sinus Surgery Course on the impact of nasal surgery for snoring and obstructive sleep apnea.  A previous blog post examined recent research showing that studies show that nasal surgery, by itself, does not alleviate sleep apnea in most patients but that it can improve… Read more »

Our snoring and sleep apnea course: Day 2 highlights

Posted by & filed under Palate Surgery, Sleep Apnea, Snoring, Surgery, Tongue Surgery.

Our snoring and sleep apnea course continued today with talks on a wide range of sleep apnea treatment, especially weight loss and surgical evaluation and treatment. Allan Pack, MBChB, PhD from the University of Pennsylvania started the day, speaking on key papers from the past year in the field of sleep medicine.  The prevailing wisdom… Read more »